Someone’s actually making a surfing game

And that someone is Climax Studios

Better than nothing? That’s the question I’m trying to answer with respect to Surf World Series.

It has the distinct benefit of gracing a subgenre we rarely see any more, but it also does not look like an especially good video game. I’m torn. It’s in production at Climax Studios, which you might remember from titles like Silent Hill: Shattered Memories and the Assassin’s Creed Chronicles line.

“Surfing is an amazing sport that’s been pretty underrepresented in games for some time, so we wanted to bring surfing fans a fun, arcade-style experience that’s all about mastering waves and racking up huge high scores,” says CEO Simon Gardner. That’s certainly a respectable goal.

Aside from what you can glean from the short introductory trailer, there’s talk of five destinations (including Hawaii and Portugal), 45 single-player challenges with an emphasis on tricks, 16-person multiplayer across three modes, and a ranking/customization progression system for your surfer.

I’m debating telling my extreme-sports uncle about this. He at one point owned Kelly Slater’s Pro Surfer for Game Boy Advance, so he’d probably be down for this or seemingly any surfing game. Surf World Series will be out next year for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.