New York is a mobile game that manuals the line between casual and deep play

Skate City was Apple Arcade launch title back in 2019, developed by Agens and published by Snowman, a company known for its mobile games such as Alto’s Adventure, “continuation” Odyssey Alta, When the cards fall and several other intriguing titles. More than five years have passed since then Skate City arrived for the first time, but the Snowman/Agent team returned with Skate City: New Yorkwhich came out on Apple Arcade Today.

There have been a few content updates to the original game over the years, but this is a complete new game that feels quite familiar, but also features a number of improvements and updates. I had a chance to try Skate City: New York days before its launch, and I spoke with Snowman’s Ryan Cash and Andrew Schimmel about the new game, which they say has been in development for a good three years.

As with the first Skate City, here you scroll from left to right in a classic side-scroll format. To make things accessible, you can perform tricks by swiping in one of the eight directions on the bottom half of the screen; the left side is for ollie-based tricks, while the right side switches you to nolly. You don’t have to do anything precise to land, just run a trick and the game will make sure you land on the ground (unless you land on a ladder or obstacle, of course). This is the basic starting point, but you can also do spins, manuals, grinds and more. It’s easier than games like the classic Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series or the recent game. OlliOlly Worldbut it still takes a lot of time and dexterity to be successful at running.

As you’d expect, the visuals are more dynamic and the backgrounds are vastly improved over the original (which was still a great game). But what sets it apart most, according to Schimmel, is the fact that the Pro Skate mode, which is the most challenging part of the game, uses procedurally generated levels.

“We didn’t want to limit ourselves to the original. [game’s] “Procedural generation was the answer and the biggest technical challenge.” It’s not something I could immediately understand since I only played the game for a couple of hours, but Schimmel is confident that it will work Skate City: New York have even more replayability than the original.

Pro Skate reminds me a lot of Snowman’s Alto’s Adventure, but translated into skating, the goal is to go as far as possible and score as many points as possible, while completing three tasks to increase your progress. Goals are things like “do three 180-degree spins” or “run 100 meters.” But since the levels are more unpredictable than in the previous game, you’ll need to be better at reacting quickly to new obstacles that could end your run but also give you the opportunity to get a good workout or pull off a stunt.

As with all Snowman games, there are no in-app purchases; instead, you’ll earn points for completing challenges and leveling up in Pro Skate. You can then use them to customize your character with a much more flexible and advanced skate shop. You can customize your character’s body, hair, facial features, clothes, skateboard and so on. I haven’t played with it much yet, but it’s immediately clear that there’s a lot more personalization here.

As in the case Skate CityThe Snowman promises that next year and beyond there will be a constant stream of new challenges and new parts of the city to explore. Schimmel called it a “live services” game, although there is no monetization aspect to it. I also asked how the team decided to release Skate City: New York through Apple Arcade instead of making a one-time payment or even including paid upgrades to the game – Cash called it an “easy choice.”

“We haven’t done a paid game since Odyssey Alta in 2018,” Cash said. “Apple Arcade and Netflix Games is where we are now. And it was an easy choice when it came to Skate City: New York, because the first game was the launch game and was a big success there. It just made sense to bring it back to Apple Arcade.” Skate City it eventually came out on both console and PC, and Cash said it’s definitely being considered in the future, but the goal is to make the game as good as it can be on mobile.

Although the game is not very different from its predecessor, Skate City: New York still feels like a premium mobile game, even if it’s hard to find. And Snowman and Agens have done a great job of balancing the pick-up-and-play aspects of a good mobile game with a deeper experience, at least from what I’ve seen so far. “We want the seven-year-old kid who is into skateboarding to have fun,” Cash said, “and also people like us who grew up loving skateboarding and really want a challenge.”

Skate City: New York releases today exclusively on Apple Arcade.