Shred with friends in Skater XL's new multiplayer beta

The pandemic has put the kibosh on hanging out in person, so the more games with multiplayer modes, the better. And if you've been itching to grab your board and hit the streets or skatepark with your friends, there's now another option.

Skater XL is the latest game to let you spend time with your friends virtually. It now has a multiplayer "free skate" mode that supports up to 10 players. You can skate with random players or create a private room and skate with your pals.

"After a lot of work designing and refining the base for the multiplayer system in internal testing the gameplay is feeling very smooth, lag free and a whole lot of fun," reads the update on Skater XL's Steam page. "The ability to just kick back and skate with the homies is a much needed escape from the tumultuous times we might find ourselves in, and the ability to connect with other people and skate is more important than ever."

The mode has just entered open beta and is currently being treated as a "stress test" on PC, so there may be some bugs or issues. There's a feedback form link in the main menu of the game if you encounter any problems you'd like to report. It's also advisable to remove some or all mods you've been using in Skater XL if you have problems getting the beta to run properly. Custom maps should work, but you need to allow time for them to install so everyone in your session can use them.

To try out the multiplayer beta, you'll need to opt in on Steam by following these instructions:

Right click 'Skater XL' in your Steam library and open Properties.
Select the 'beta - Open Beta' branch.
Steam should start downloading this version of the game.
The game name in your library should now show "Skater XL [beta]".

To return to the normal version of the game, repeat the steps but select "NONE - opt out of all betas" in the drop down menu.

Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.