According to the studio, the camera controls have been overhauled in terms of both its positioning, as well as its realignment speed. Through this, the in-game camera now provides a better view of incoming obstacles so that players can prepare for their next tricks and lines.

“We’ve had some core camera issues since launch, making it harder to consistently land your tricks & lines,” wrote the developer in its announcement. “The focus on this overhaul has been on keeping the player & gameplay options clearly visible & on screen at all times while also ensuring you can see what’s coming so you can adapt accordingly!”

The core gameplay has also seen some refinement in the update, with the New Physical Animation feature being permanently toggled on. The physics assets on player characters have also been rebuilt, allowing for better feedback for players with regards to their skateboarder’s posture and reaction to inputs.

When it comes to performance, the update has now removed the option to run Session: Skate Sim at 45, 90, and 120 frames per second. Players will instead only have the option to play the title at either 30 or 60 frames per second, with 60 FPS being stated as the ideal option.

The update also brought with it a re-release of the New York Sewer map for free. Originally part of a collaboration with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the map has been redesigned to remove all of the TMNT branding. Those that had managed to unlock the Sewers map during the promotional event will be able to access both versions of the map, including the TMNT branded one.

For more details about the update to Session: Skate Sim, check out the full patch notes below.

Session: Skate Sim patch notes:

Camera Overhaul

• Camera positioning & realignment speed overhaul while On Board
• Ensure the camera provides visibility on what’s ahead to better help prepare for tricks, lines, and landings
• Retain player on cam at all times – including on turning & at speed
• Camera while grinding follows the player around curves
• Camera logic & flow on banks, quarter pipes, and liptricks – it helps to see where you’re landing!
• Provides height on cam to provide improved landing visibility
• The camera has better world avoidance techniques
• Camera follows the player on bail instead of the board
• Camera menu options updated / simplified

Improved skate feel & fluidity

This deliverable is more the sum of many core changes, and not all benefits of this work are clear in the gameplay at this point in time. The bulk of the work done is on the code foundation that will facilitate future fixes in both feel & fluidity of the skater. This will also contribute to the flow and friction of the skater, and board, in relation to the game world!

• The New Physical Animation update is ALWAYS on, it was previously off by default.
• We rebuilt the physics assets on the player characters – changing their posture and reaction to player inputs
• Flow & Friction pass #1 – The foundation to the future Flow update this Summer!

Other feel & fluidity bug fixes

• Fixed Goat Feet bug when skating fast
• Fixed Mongo Push Bug – causing the player to bail and bug when not completing a full push

Frame rate Updates

We had previously supported non-optimal frame rate settings in Session, leading to extensive variations in gameplay bugs due to our gamecode structure. Reducing these options allows for a more consistent gameplay experience.

• Removed – 45 / 90 / 120 FPS
• FPS settings are 30 & 60 now – with 60 being ideal

General Bug Fixes

• Skateshop – DLC Merch Cannot Be Sold / Removed From Inventory
• Shop/Apartment – Equipping New Griptape Resets Board to a Blank Deck
• On Board – Skater Turns Too Sharp When Skating Fast
• On Board – Skater Flung Across Map After Respawning Near a Wall
• Landing – Big Drop Landing Causes Instant Fall When Getting Back On Board
• Missions Game loses focus when triggering talk prompt for NPC and walking
• Prog – Unable to Sprint, Set Marker or Push After Changing Map While Prompt is on Screen
• Object Dropper – Object Dropper HUD Persists During Cutscenes
• Loc Scoop+Flip tutorial mission uses inconsistent trick name for 360 Flip.

The developer and publisher Nacon has released an infographic indicating the most played maps (New York, San Francisco and Philadelphia), the popularity of each skateboarding stance (Regular wins out over Goofy) and the number of game sessions since 1.0’s release. However, it also revealed its next big content drop: Paris.

Releasing on July 18th, players can visit iconic locations like the Place de la République and the Le Trocadéro et son esplanade. Alternatively, they can hang out by the banks and enjoy the scenic beauty of the 777-kilometre-long Seine river.

For more details on Session: Skate Sim, check out our review here and stay tuned for updates on the release of Paris in the coming weeks.

PS5 players can look forward to Hardspace: Shipbreaker, while PS4 players gain access to LEGO City Undercover, Just Cause 3, Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun and Surviving the Aftermath.

PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers can look forward to four classic titles. Rally Cross and Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace are playable on PS4 and PS5, with both titles released on the PS1. Street Fighter: 30th Anniversary Collection, Legend of Mana and Secret of Mana (the 2018 remake) are playable on PS4.

Thanks to backwards compatibility, all PS4 titles will also be playable on PS5. As for PS Plus Essential subscribers, check out the latest offerings here (which includes A Plague Tale: Requiem).

Teardown

Tuxedo Labs has delivered an enticing playground of destruction with Teardown, which lets you lose in complex levels with nothing but a set of tools and your imagination to pull off heists with increasing difficulty. The game features fully destructible environments with physics properties, and the game encourages you to smash walls and blow up stuff to chart the most efficient path to your objective and back to the starting point. The voxel based art style might look primitive at first, but it has its own distinct charm that will slowly grow on you as you spend more time with the game.

Elden Ring

Elden Ring is as perilous as any of the Souls games, but on a larger scale. Nevertheless, knowledge is power, from knowing enemy placements and patterns to weaknesses, and will ultimately tip the scales in your favor. The Full-Grown Fallingstar Beast and its asinine hitboxes can still die in a fire, though.

As mentioned previously, Session: Skate Sim is a proper simulation of what it’s like to ride a skateboard in real life. So unlike its obvious inspirations like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, pulling combos isn’t just a matter of pressing the right button combinations after a jump; Session: Skate Sim demands that players have a deep understanding of how the board and the jumps work in order to perform them in the game. The controls seem pretty unintuitive at first; the two thumbsticks control the front and the back foot respectively while the two triggers help steer your player character in the respective direction. Acceleration is performed through two face buttons (one for each foot), all of which culminate in a pretty steep learning curve that’s hard to get used to. Even doing basic maneuvers like skating and steering requires some experience with these controls, and you are probably going to fall a lot during your first couple of hours with the game.

" So unlike its obvious inspirations like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, pulling combos isn’t just a matter of pressing the right button combinations after a jump; Session: Skate Sim demands that players have a deep understanding of how the board and the jumps work in order to perform them in the game."

Upon booting Session: Skate Sim for the first time, you will be taken through a basic tutorial that will teach you the basics of movements and how to perform a couple of stunts and feats. There’s also a pretty in-depth character creator that allows you to create a custom skater by choosing from a bunch of different apparel and facial styles and whatnot. The final release also features pre-made character models of some renowned skaters such as Torey Pudwill, Nora Vasconcellos, and Ryan Thompson just to name a few.

Once you are done with these formalities, you are dropped right into the deep end of the pool. One of the biggest additions with the final release of Session: Skate Sim is the story mode, which sees you completing a set of missions scattered all across the map as you embark on a journey from being a nobody to a pro skater. Missions are pretty basic in their scope, but completing them will net you cash and exposure, and currencies are needed in order to gain access to better boards and gear from the in-game store.

While the writing itself can be smirk-inducing at times, it’s pretty bland for most of its runtime with nothing in the name of plot twists or character arcs, or anything in that vein. The mission objectives are pretty similar too, tasking you with performing highly specific moves at specific spots around the map – which can get frustrating especially early on when you aren’t all that well-versed with the controls. Furthermore, the lack of advanced tutorials and the hit-or-miss registration of the stunts can make getting through some of these challenges way more frustrating than it needs to be. All in all, it’s a pretty barebones campaign that’s meant to ease players into the world of Session: Skate Sim – but I can’t help but feel that it could have been so much more than that.

" All in all, it’s a pretty barebones campaign that’s meant to ease players into the world of Session: Skate Sim – but I can’t help but feel that it could have been so much more than that. "

As such, I found myself mostly ignoring the story missions altogether and just trying to carve out my own fun in the multitude of skating arenas in the game. Session: Skate Sim is physics-driven for the most part, and requires precise movements to nail flips and ollies or any trick that you can come up with. Even minute factors such as the type of terrain and board length and wheel size all contribute to the stability and utility of your skateboard. Between this and the fact that the camera is jutted at a very close angle to the player, gauging the appropriate distance for jump and noticing some terrain irregularities became a pretty prominent issue for me which led to more than a couple of goofy fails. But crea-ture has implemented some accessibility mechanics to combat this inherent frustration, such as being able to mark a start spot for instant respawning after any unfortunate accident.

Of course, once you master these mechanics – you will have plenty of opportunities to pull off ludicrous stunts ranging from manuals to ollies to kickflips and what have you. Session: Skate Sim features a wide variety of maps for players to goof around in, ranging from underground stations to skate parks to alleyways to main roads just to name a few. Some of them are even based on real-life skating spots as well, so there’s that too. Furthermore, you’re also free to pick up your board and explore these levels on foot, which can be helpful if you want to navigate through complex areas or just want a change of things.

Session: Skate Sim has received a slew of notable additions since its early access beginnings thanks to plenty of content updates, all of which pay off in the final release. Lip tricks and animation blending are two new experimental features, alongside animation blending and NPC presence on maps. And yeah, there’s also a feature-rich replay editor that you can use to cinematically capture your tricks and flips with plenty of control should you have the mechanical prowess to actually pull them off. These additions might not mean much to anyone following the game for a while, but when looking at the big picture – Session: Skate has certainly added many things to the experience.

"Visually, the game just looks bland with lifeless textures and poor lighting and visibly low draw distance. There’s no voice acting in the story mode, and the world itself is lifeless and non-reactive to a fault. "

But a major gripe that really sours the experience is a visible lack of quality in terms of overall presentation. Visually, the game just looks bland with lifeless textures and poor lighting and visibly low draw distance. There’s no voice acting in the story mode, and the world itself is lifeless and non-reactive to a fault. There are plenty of featured soundtracks, but none of them really stood out during my experience with the game. While it’s understandable that an indie game like this one wouldn’t have the resources to compete with AAA levels of production quality, the visual presentation ends up being so flat that it verges on the edge of being off-putting. While the game itself is technically stable for the most part, I did experience a few graphical bugs and glitches here and there as well.

In conclusion, Session: Skate Sim is a hardcore simulation game which means it might not probably appeal to anyone not willing to spend dozens of hours in trying to understand the many nuances of this complex web of mechanics and physics. On the flip side, the bland visual presentation and the lackluster story campaign will put off even the most ardent fans of the genre.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

The Last of Us Part I

Naughty Dog’s 2013 classic, which mixes cinematic story-telling with action-adventure and survival elements, remains an unforgettable experience. On September 2nd, fans can relive that experience on PS5 (for a $70 price tag, of course) with The Last of Us Part 1. Built from the ground up for the console, it offers more detailed environments, improved animations, shorter loading times, DualSense support, and a wide range of accessibility options.

AI improvements, a revamped crafting bench, and much more also await. Though multiplayer isn’t included, it’s still worth looking into for the sheer visual splendor.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero

Twelve years after its original release on PlayStation Portable, Falcom’s The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero is finally being localized to English and released worldwide. Set months after the end of Trails in the Sky the 3rd, the story moves to Crossbell, a city-state of advanced technology and economic wealth. Crime and conspiracies run rampant, which results in the formation of the Special Support Section led by Lloyd Bannings.

Releasing on September 27th for PS4, PC, and Nintendo Switch, the English version includes High-Speed and Skip Modes along with improvements to texture quality, bug fixes, and much more.

NBA 2K23

Dread it, run from it – NBA 2K arrives all the same. The year’s release features the usual ensemble of MyCareer (with The City and The Cruise returning for current and previous gen platforms), MyTeam, MyGM and MyLeague modes featuring both NBA and WNBA teams. However, significant revamps have been made to the gameplay, from new Pro Stick combos and Adrenaline Boosts to new Shot Meters and Shooting Attributes.

Even the Badge System and Player Builder have been improved, providing more freedom in customization. If that weren’t enough, The Jordan Challenges from NBA 2K11 return with the original 10 rebuilt and five new challenges added. NBA 2K23 is out on September 9th for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch. Hopefully, it amounts to more than another yearly microtransaction fest.

Splatoon 3

Splatoon 3 will feel very familiar to fans of the previous two games, which is a good thing, but there are plenty of new features. Splatsville is the new hub with shops like Naut Coutour and Crush Station to purchase different gear, Ammo Knights for weapons, and a new digital CCG called Table Turf Battles. There are 12 stages for multiplayer in total, some new and several returning, along with new weapons like Stingers and Splatanas.

Even the core gameplay has received some new moves like the Squid Roll and Squid Surge maneuvers. Of course, those keen on PvE can experience a brand new campaign, “Return of the Mammalians,” and co-op with Salmon Run Next Wave. Splatoon 3 is out on September 9th for Nintendo Switch, with additional weapons, stages, gear catalogues, and more coming free after launch.

Soulstice

Reply Game Studios’ Soulstice may seem like your average hack and slash action game with launchers, Stingers, combos and so on. But there’s a lot more to this tale of two sisters, Briar and Lute, as they venture to the city of Ilden and battle forces from beyond the Veil. The dark fantasy art direction and story-telling, combined with the solid combat variety and intriguing story, should make for an interesting experience.

Soulstice is out on September 20th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC, with a free demo available to try on Steam.

Slime Rancher 2

Monomi Park’s Slime Rancher 2 going into early access on September 22nd for PC and Xbox Series X/S. While Beatrix LeBeau returns as the protagonist, players will venture to the new Rainbow Island to gather its slimes. Though it offers improved visuals and new slimes, you’ll still be collecting and raising them to earn Newbucks and expand the farm.

Though the full extent of content for the early access launch has yet to be revealed, the developer promises “a big world to explore, many different slimes to collect and combine, and an introduction to the game story and the mystery behind Rainbow Island.”

FIFA 23

Unlike its contemporaries, FIFA 23 signals the end of an era as Electronic Arts’ agreement with FIFA comes to an end. As such, it offers much of what fans expect – over 19,000 players, more than 100 licensed stadiums, 30 licensed leagues, over 700 clubs and so on. In addition to HyperMotion2, which uses machine learning for more than 6,000 animations, and Technical Dribbling for more responsive turning and dribbling, this year features the FA Women’s Super League and French Division 1 Féminine (with more coming post-launch).

The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup will be playable alongside the 2022 FIFA World Cup. And of course, it wouldn’t be FIFA without the return of Ultimate Team, for better or worse. Unfortunately, many of the new gameplay features are exclusive to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC and Google Stadia. Furthermore, the Nintendo Switch is getting the same Legacy Edition as the past few years with very few gameplay changes. With FIFA 23 releasing on September 27th, it remains to be seen if it ends the series on a high note.

Serial Cleaners

As the follow-up to Draw Distance’s 2017 breakout hit, Serial Cleaners leans more into the “fantasy” of portraying a cleaner for the mob. This time, there are four cleaners to choose from, each with their unique skills. However, you’re still working through different environments to dispose of dead bodies, clean up the evidence and avoid any police that happens by.

With a fast degree of stealth, open-ended maps with dynamic scenarios, and a non-linear story with different choices to make, Serial Cleaners promises a gritty experience inspired by Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. It’s out on September 22nd for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, PC and Nintendo Switch.

Return to Monkey Island

It’s been almost 31 years since the mysterious ending of Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge. Director Ron Gilbert thus returns to provide the thrilling conclusion to the saga with Return to Monkey Island, releasing on September 19th for Nintendo Switch and PC. It sees Guybrush Threepwood (reprised by Dominic Armato) getting his mojo back, encountering new and familiar faces, and ultimately, maybe, finally discovering the Secret of Monkey Island.

New locations like Brr Muda and Terror Island await along with reactive dialogue trees, an integrated hint system and even a new Casual Mode for the less hardcore players to enjoy the story.

Session: Skate Sim

Session: Skate Sim has been in early access since September 2019 for PC and Xbox One. Along with dual stick controls, it offers realistic physics, four difficulty levels and various locations to skate in like New York City, Philadelphia and the recently revealed San Francisco. In addition to challenges, which net cash for spending on t-shirts, caps, shoes, and more, players can customize their skateboard with over 250 parts.

There’s also a full-fledged video editor for creating clips, complete with different viewpoints, filters, and so on. Can Session fill the void before the new Skate launches? We’ll find out when version 1.0 arrives on September 22nd on PC, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS4, and PS5.

Along with the Bay Area, players can venture to China Banks and Pier 7, among other famous landmarks. In a Steam post, developer crea-ture Studios said there would be an overhaul to the Grind System, along with cleaning up True Stance and Power Slide. While post-launch content hasn’t been outlined, the development team is committed to making all gameplay features available for free.

Downloadable content will be locked behind a paywall and includes new skates, new locations, more items, and so on. More details will be shared in the “months to come.”

Session: Skate Sim is out on September 22nd for PC, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS4, and PS5. Current owners and pre-orders can receive the Brandalised DLC pack for free, which offers eight t-shirts/sweat-shirts and eight new board designs.

Session: Skate Sim has been in early access on Xbox consoles and PC (via Steam and the Epic Games Store) for a while at this point, and now, we also know when exactly the game will be launching in full. Nacon confirmed during its recent Nacon Connect event that Session: Skate Sim will receive its full launch on September 22. It will be available for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

Reception for the game in its early access period has been solid, so for fans of the genre, this is a game worth keeping an eye on. Check out its release date reveal trailer below.