The second season of Skate arrives with the confidence you'd expect from a live service game that has settled into its own identity. Season 1 was messy, charming, uneven, and often light on things, not to mention that like any Early Access game, parts of it were broken. Titled Future Radical, Season 2 feels like developer Full Circle is tightening its grip on what this era of early access should look like: ever-slow, ever-steady, but noticeably more deliberate. It's a bigger and brighter season, and in many ways essential.
A little bigger, a little more social San Vansterdam
The big headline this time is a party game. Season 2 introduces a new co-op mode, party voice chat, and party beacons (basically a dot you put out into the world so randos can join your party). The social direction is smart. This makes the city feel populated, although the execution still has some timely access issues to work out. For example, in the preview build, my party member was fully invisible, which made skating together feel like working with a shredding ghost. But the moment I released Party Beacon and someone else immediately joined, I saw the potential.
This is a game that's inherently more fun when you treat the open world like an open lobby, and adding more tools to easily find people is the right move. I didn't have time to test the new party chat, but having it at all is a win. The dream here is obvious: more ways to be social without interrupting the flow.
Yes, I'll say it, I'm still waiting for proximity chat. Let me hear someone explode when standing nearby.
But I spent most of my time in the newly expanded city. Map updates in San Vansterdam are gradual but meaningful, especially if your favorite way to play is to just skate and listen to music and tackle challenges at a leisurely pace. The new Eelside Tunnels carve neon purple arteries under the city, turning the underground section into a surprisingly nice skate line.
Above ground, several roofs have been reworked, most notably the tallest building in the game, which now has better fluidity and more ways to chain tricks. More verticality is always welcome. It expands the city in a way that matters: more places to explore and more lines to experiment.
An improvement, but still some friction
Season 2 also brings two new tricks: Impossible Flips (a franchise first) and a set of new hand plant variations. On paper, adding only two trick categories per season sounds small, stingy even, especially with such a long time between major updates. But in practice, they're fun to play around with, and I'll admit that I was unreasonably proud when I first landed on the Impossible. The slow rollout of tricks still feels like Full Circle calibrating the base before the big trick flood arrives, and while I have that restrained approach in early access development, the list could definitely use more seasoning.
Character models also get their first visual pass this season. They're still cartoons, which is what fans seem to be divided on, but there's less of the plasticky, over-hardened look of before. The extra details help and the customization gets a decent bump with the 80's themed cosmetics. I like the vibe, but if you're going to go 80s, go 80s. Let me dress like someone who got kicked out of a mall arcade for breakdancing too close to a pretzel stand. It's cute now, but it could be campier and a lot more confident.
Improvements in earning rewards are also more noticeable. The greeting screen moves faster, item earning is more snappy, and the Season 2 Skate Pass adds two extra pages. It's still a lot of layers, but the tuning makes the grind feel less like drudgery. The season's approach to challenges — more of them, refreshing several times — also addresses one of Season 1's biggest complaints: there just wasn't much to do.
I'd like to say I spent time with the new Own the Lot mode, which is designed as a social, fast-paced, challenging sprint where you and friends complete as many objectives as possible within a timer. Unfortunately, my preview build reset my progression and forced a replay of the tutorial that locked up until I restarted and I couldn't get back to my progression in time to unlock the mode. It's hard not to see the irony in a season focused on social functions that are partially blocked by bugs, but that's a timely approach for you.
That's Season 2 in a nutshell: slightly better, but still undeniably unfinished. I ran into two bugs during the session, nothing catastrophic but enough to remind me where the game is at right now. Still, Season 2 adds weight to the city, improved progression, and more ways to play with (and around) people. It won't convert skeptics who want a finished game, but it will give people who enjoy endless skating more places to roam, more tricks to try, and more reasons to hang out in San Van.
The pace Skate has chosen seems to be slow and steady. Season 2 doesn't reinvent anything, but it makes skating and the world around it just that little bit richer. It's a meaningful Impossible Flip in the right direction for this game.
- Released
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September 16, 2025
- ESRB
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Teen/crude humor, lyrics, mild violence, in-game purchases, user interaction
- Developers
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Full circle
- Engine
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Frostbite
