Rooftops & Alleys review – a flipping good time for Tony Hawk fans

Rewind the clocks to 2007, and the now-defunct but legendary GamesMaster Magazine is running a preview of Rebellion Developments’ Free Running. An imperfect but refreshing take on Tony Hawk-style tricking and traversal that relished the sophistication and grace of parkour. Rooftops & Alleys, led by the solo developer MLMEDIA, resurrects this concept and modernizes it in a post-Skate world.

You’ve likely seen TikTok clips of Rooftops & Alleys in recent months, all of them featuring fluid free-running feats or dazzling parkour trickery. That’s where my interest in the new Steam Deck game began, at least. Born out of experimentation with Unreal Engine 5 in 2023, this is the passion project of lone developer Michel Losch. After a successful launch in early access, with over 150,000 copies sold, the game is finally ready for a proper release.

Amusingly dubbed ‘the parkour game’ on its social media handle, Rooftops & Alleys presents a simple yet satisfying gameplay loop: roam around levels, complete challenges, and master tricks. It’s the bread and butter of aforementioned genre competitors such as Skate and Tony Hawk, with the game’s tricking combining the two into a wondrous concoction. Rooftops & Alleys may seem a little daunting at first, posing a level of challenge that games like Session and Skater XL command you to accept from the get-go.

Luckily, things are forgiving here. The right shoulder trigger keeps you in a sprint, while you can combine the left shoulder trigger with the face buttons to maneuver up and over obstacles with flair. You also use it to run along walls, slide down poles, and use ziplines, too. The granular element comes into play when you perform parkour tricks like gainers, corkscrews, and other aerial feats

They make my knees and back feel sore just seeing them unfold. With some patience and plenty of trial and error, combining all of these hits the same level of satisfaction that Skate 3’s trick-lining community gushes over. The sense of progression, at least concerning the game’s core mechanics, is euphoric.

There’s even a first-person mode, which is both thrilling and disorienting in the same breath. I highly recommend giving it a blast, though, especially if you’re keen to relive some of Mirror’s Edge’s glory days. Tapping into slow motion after building up momentum enhances this and has me twirling my camera to admire how damn cool I look mid-trick.

Rooftops & Alleys is perfect for bursts of pick-up-and-play, just like my beloved Tony Hawk’s Underground still is to this day. However, unlike some of the game’s genre legends, Rooftops & Alleys leaves plenty to be desired out of sheer skill progression. Beating challenges with better times and unlocking new cosmetics is fine in concept, but I wanted to see these missions offer more creativity. Given the game’s standout aesthetic and impeccable vibes, it’s a shame there isn’t any of that spark there.

On the former, Rooftops & Alleys is undeniably a game oozing with vibrancy and atmosphere. Despite the perceived mundanity of the game’s arenas, Losch extracts the best out of them, delivering versatile maps that encourage out-of-the-box thinking when it comes to navigating them. Darting across them with a perfect trick chain is extremely gratifying. There’s an immediate aura of the developer’s influences, whether it’s Mirror’s Edge or Jet Set Radio. Losch manages to use them all to elevate Rooftops & Alleys’ world without feeling derivative.

Assassin’s Creed fans will get a kick out of the game’s pigeon, a customizable friend that can discover new areas, scout new routes, and give you access to fast travel. All of it is scored by a brilliant soundtrack of trance, R&B, and electronica earworms that are begging to find spots on my Spotify On Repeat playlist.

Throughout my review, I primarily played Rooftops & Alleys on my Asus ROG Ally Z1 Extreme. Performance is nothing to worry about, with the game comfortably sitting in the high settings area, whether that’s on the handheld’s 15W mode or squeezing extra frames in the 25W and 30W options. It’s also Steam Deck verified, so you can give it a blast on Valve’s handheld instead.

Rooftops & Alleys is also coming to Nintendo Switch, but I didn’t get the chance to check out how it handles there. Although I expect it runs especially well on the Nintendo Switch 2. Where the new Switch game shows lots of potential is in the multiplayer. Currently, Rooftops & Alleys features Capture the Flag, Tricks Battle, and Tag are the three primary modes, with a free roam option too. You can play these with up to four players, but cross-play sadly isn’t available at launch.

It’s a huge stinger for the game, considering its glowing reception on Steam, with plenty of people ready to squad up. The multiplayer could be a social staple with more modes and a higher player count, and I hope that becomes a reality.

Rooftops & Alleys is a highly promising rejuvenation of sports games past, and a game I believe has vast amounts of potential. Despite its slightly lacking mission content, Rooftops & Alley’s glorious tricking system is worth the price of admission alone.

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