RELATED: Pro Tips For Session: Skate Sim
The easiest way to get realistic gameplay is to change the difficulty preset. Players have the options of Assisted, Easy, Default, and Hardcore as presets; all with unique conditions making each more brutal than the last. For example, playing on Hardcore will allow for the most realistic gameplay from presets and skips past the tutorial entirely. The difficulty preset can be changed anytime via the pause menu → Options → Gameplay → Difficulty Preset. If none of the presets scratch that realism itch, Session has a Custom option that allows skaters to change each setting individually. Let’s review the best settings to change to get that real-deal skateboarding gameplay.
Board Settings
The first place to start for realistic settings is Board settings. They mainly focus on the trucks and the wheels rather than the board itself, and players can tweak them in several ways. The first thing to change is turning Sync Truck Tightness off. Truck tightness affects how much resistance is felt when banking or turning. Session allows players to either sync up the tightness in the front and back or change them individually. The latter is much more realistic for how boards are set up in real life.
Another Board setting to change is Wheel Bite. Wheel bite refers to when a player turns, and their board will sometimes hit their wheels if the trucks are loose. So, it goes hand-in-hand with truck tightness, and while players have more freedom to customize their board setup, they also have to deal with the consequences of this realism, and turns will be riskier.
Flip Trick Settings
Flip trick settings cover a wide range of things, but many of the settings have to do with board control. Board control refers to catching it after tricks, tweaking the direction it flips, the height it can reach, and more. To make these settings the most realistic, players should make catching and controlling the board manual. Skaters must enter another input to land the tricks when catching is manual. Otherwise, they will crumble, and it won’t count. The control mode is about how the board moves in the air. When it is manual, foot placement or movement will affect how the board flips, such as making it an angle or changing the direction.
Another flip trick setting to change is pop height mode. Pop height mode is another one that changes how tricks look. If it is on Global, all tricks are the same height no matter what, but when turned to Unique, the height depends on foot placement or stance. While these settings do make the game technically harder, they are more accurate for what skaters can expect in the real world.
Grind Settings
Grinds are popular tricks in skateboarding; they add complexity to tricks and look incredibly cool. There are a few grind settings that affect the realism Session. The first one is turning Casual Grind mode off so that connecting to grinds requires more effort and will only sometimes work if the inputs are on point. The second grind setting to change will be the Grind Input. Players can choose between Full Release mode, Partial Release mode, or No Release mode. Full Release is the most realistic because the input has to be removed and reapplied to get the correct foot pressure required to grind rather than it happening automatically.
Lastly, changing the Grind Alignment dramatically affects how easy or difficult grinds are. Grind Alignment is set on a sliding scale. The higher the alignment, the easier it is for players to maintain a grind. Turning the alignment down means a little more skill will have to be applied to stay on a grind, but turning it to the lowest point isn’t recommended since that makes it unrealistically tricky. There is a sweet spot that leans toward negative alignment in moderation.
Big Drop Landing Input Enabled
While predominantly on the ground, skateboarding consists of quite a few tricks that require getting in the air, whether through flip tricks, ollieing down staircases, or jumping huge gaps. Skating simulations usually include the crumble or fallout after not landing a trick or losing footing on the board. Session shies away from adding graphic falls to increase realism, but players can edit settings to determine whether or not they have to enter an input to avoid bailing from a certain height.
From the standard Gameplay settings menu, there is an option called Big Drop Landing Input. Whenever this is enabled, a separate input to stick both feet out is required to land tricks with large drops. This is familiar, as players must do the same when trying to land 50-50 grinds, and this extra step prevents the game from doing it automatically to test coordination skills.
Wear and Tear for clothing and board both On
One of the more cosmetic settings is the Wear and Tear for clothes and boards. Enabling these settings will let the skater gradually get their clothes dirty and apply real-world wear-and-tear gear. Regarding realism, wear-and-tear doesn’t affect gameplay, such as having to replace trucks or buy new clothes. However, players can pretend and use it as a cue to change up their look or board after they deteriorate to a point.
This is mainly changed depending on how often skaters fall. The more times they hit the ground or lose their board, the quicker things get dirty. This wear-and-tear doesn’t reset automatically by traveling; skaters have to either change in their apartment or visit a skate shop to revamp themselves. It is more of a fun ode to realism, especially considering how many other settings make the game harder.
Advanced Settings
Realism is left up to personal interpretation, so this is where Advanced settings (found at the bottom of the gameplay settings menu) comes in handy. Players can tweak and adjust Advanced settings to customize the game’s physics fully. This includes things gravity, push force, grind friction, and more. The Advanced settings are toggled on a sliding scale that can be decreased or increased one click at a time.
The below Advanced setting inputs are what we recommend for the most realistic gameplay:
Session: Skate Sim is available on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S
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