Posted this over at /r/projectsession and /r/session as well, and wanted to ask here for sake of fairness and getting input from both sides of preference.

Full disclosure: I already own Session as of a few days and a few hours played and really enjoy it. I picked up Skater XL as I was comparing the two games previously. I wasn't originally going to get Skater XL, but some cool vids (and particularly the Arsenal Park one on the front page now) convinced me to pick it up. Not super regretful, but it feels arcadey, and not what I was expecting.

Lots of reviews on Steam saying "Get both! You won't be disappointed!" But I kinda am. I dunno, I don't think I'll refund Skater XL but I'm having way more fun with Session.

Session seems harder, more realistic, and the physics are on point. Nailing a grind is hard. Rails have friction. Hurricanes are hard and wheels lock depending on the grind. Pop on ollies seems as expected, maybe a bit lower than I'd expect, but again, realistic. Nailing a good trick or line feels really, really satisfying.

There's a ton of great spots on the default map, and mod maps are gaining traction. Getting off the board and finding a great spot seems fun, and ploppables means setting up trick lines that otherwise wouldn't exist.

Grabs aren't properly implemented, but I'm sure it'll get there. But they've got street and flip tricks on lock, and the twin stick moves just feel more natural to me.

The one thing I find lacking is vert. Half pipes and bowls aren't a thing, and something about the gravity makes getting enough speed for one seem off, and not quite possible, but that's my only complaint and hopefully will improve in time.

In Skater XL, everything feels so floaty. You can pop 4 or 5 feet off the ground easily. The board flips feel like it's connected to your skater with a rubber band and the board seems to launch into its own routine separate from your skater's motion. Despite the high pop on jumps, the animation for jumps looks weird.

Grinds seem... really off. You just kinda nail them no matter what, even if it looks good as long as your at the rail or lip edge. But it doesn't look right, and it's really weird that every rail seems covered in grease given the lack of friction. You can grind a horizontal rail seemingly forever into the horizon.

Also, the default parks are rather lackluster, and I felt like I was bored with them really quickly, like under an hour, unlike Session where I'm serveral hours in and still finding cool spots. Granted, Skater XL has some cool mod maps like NYC Park, Les NYC, Arsenal, Therapy Session, and so one. That's definitely a point in favor of Skater XL and I'm looking forward to digging into the mods.

I guess my issue is with the floaty physics, Skater XL feels too "gamey" to be sim, but too realistic to be something like a Tony Hawk replacement. It feels like it doesn't have a good place because it's not really "best" at any one thing or type of gameplay. Even with realistic looking parks it's like... "I wish this park was in Session," y'know?

The grabs are nice, and it has bowls and half pipes (well, bowl, without mods, but I'll count mod maps). But the physics inside the bowl can be weird and suddenly my feet are rotated 180 or something or I fall despite not doing anything.

So... what am I missing? Why does Skater XL feel so off to me? And since there are mods, is there anything out there that improves these aspects and makes it better?

I'm very much expecting to get flamed and downvoted for this opinion but figured what's the harm? Session is exactly what I wanted, but I really want to like both of these games.

Edit - Also, can anyone recommend any good gameplay mods other than skate parks? Is there anything that makes the gameplay or physics feel any better or more realistic?