Tony Hawk’s 3+4 has an outside chance of becoming *the* game of 2025

It’s been one of the games industry’s worst kept secrets lately. And after much whispering and wallet chain-polishing, the remake of Tony Hawk’s 3+4 has been confirmed by publisher Activision and developer Iron Galaxy Studios.

The latter also co-developed the Tony Hawk’s 1+2 remake back in 2020, which was about as close as you’ll ever get to playing a perfect videogame. Quite exciting to hear there’s another on the way on 11 July, then, and to watch this reveal trailer.  

However, it’s not quite so easy for 3+4 to stick the landing as you might think. Whereas the 2020 release modernised two classic titles in Unreal Engine that were structurally very similar – here’s a level, here’s some objectives, you’ve got two minutes – the original releases of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 and 4 were quite different, the latter ditching the timer. 

However, Eurogamer reports the structure of 4 has been changed in this upcoming remake to sit more in line with the others. Gone are the NPCs who previously triggered objectives when you talked to them, replaced by the two-minute timer and a more straightforward objective list that lets the game sit flush with 1-3 structurally. 

With that cleared up, let’s talk platforms: it’s coming to a lot of them. PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC (via Steam, Battle.net and Microsoft Store) and Nintendo Switch are all graced with Mr. Hawk’s latest release, and it’s particularly interesting to see there’s no Epic store exclusivity on PC this time, as there was for 1+2. 

So why should anyone in the year 2025 be getting themselves in a Kickflip McTwist about a remake of decades-old skating games? Because Vicarious Visions and Iron Galaxy delivered the best distillation of pure fun in the 2020 remake of 1+2 that the games industry has been blessed with for many years. 

It was a reminder of why the series transcended the medium and became part of culture in the first place - there’s an intrinsic, mechanical satisfaction to grinding rails, chaining combos together and forging routes through levels that other games just can’t compete with, because they’re too busy trying to justify vast, empty worlds or endless battle pass tat. 

This is an important series that connects us, the players, back to having actual fun, so yes, we’re being absolutely serious when we say that filling up a special meter and perfecting your hospital flip+revert+nose manual+900 in these two reimagined, re-Unreal Engine-ed titles is very likely going to be one of 2025’s gaming highlights.