Skate Story is, as you might imagine, a game about skateboarding. Specifically, a game about skateboarding as a glass demon. And yes, it’s just as awesome as you might imagine.
Created by developer Sam Eng (featuring music by band Blood Cultures and published by the iconic Devolver Digital), this one has spent a while in development. That wait was worth it. Not content with merely being a blast to play, Skate Story also splices together an incredible soundtrack, jagged visuals and a touching story.
The result is something of a modern masterpiece.
Pure Momentum
You are (as this game takes pains to remind you, and as you’ll never forget) a demon made of glass and pain. Armed only with a skateboard, a pair of sneakers and an armada of sick tricks, you will descend into the depths of the underworld. You will devour the moons.
Skateboarding as such a delicate, chromatic figure is, of course, a challenge. Hell is no easy place to navigate, and with every kickflip or twisty turn, you risk shattering yourself on deadly spikes or just an inconvenient wall. And yet, with destruction so close, you cannot help but up the speed and pivot into your doom. Each risk you take feels undeniably worth it.
Shattering comes easy, but so does repair – so fast that you barely notice it’s happened. You’re back on the board in an instant. Controlling the skateboard and executing tricks is easy, simplistic even, so the only thing you need to think about is the here and now. Your movement. Your timing. You barely have time to think in some stages, but you don’t need to. All you need is to skate. It’s a game of pure momentum, of unending flow, and it feels amazing. Smooth. Just as polished as your shining body.
The game not only treads that fine line between praise and punishment of the player, but grinds on it with ease. Shattering into a billion pieces has never felt so easy to recover from, or so satisfying.
Even with the feeling like you’re in a never-ending flow state (or should I say, flow skate), eating a moon is almost as difficult as it would be on Earth. As you pass through each layer of hell, you join its people in a central area from which you can begin your pursuit of that gleam in the sky, or just chat to the characters and customise your skateboard.
Each layer is a new environment, with its own challenges. Long and hazardous tracks, with limited time, so that you have to skate that fine line between speed and caution, making difficult jumps and corkscrew turns without shattering too often. Combo chain challenges, where you are asked to fulfil a list of tricks or gain enough points by a certain time. Even boss battles, true boss battles in a way rarely seen in skating games, where completing an impressive combo deals damage to your moonlit foes.
These new areas, new gauntlets, and the new tricks you learn as you go deeper and deeper keep the game feeling fresh and new right up to the end. While it could stand to have a little more variety, it’s all built on such solid, fast-moving skateboarding gameplay that every moment feels like a joy to play.
The Beauty of a Broken World
One of the characters in this game is constantly talking about ‘vibes and honestly? They were right to do so. Vibe-y is exactly how I would describe Skate Story’s aesthetic.
Its visuals are, undeniably, incredibly textured. Gritty. It’s all rough edges and chunky models, (kick)flipping between overwhelmingly loud colour palettes and understated ones dirtied by shards of brightness.
The sights weigh the game’s atmosphere down, making it feel just as filthy and jagged as it looks. The sound lifts it back up and sends it soaring.
When the music kicks in – perfectly timed to the moment you hop on your skateboard – it’s like an intake of breath, one you might find yourself trying to hold for the song’s entire duration.
Created by genre-bending band Blood Cultures, who drew from and sampled the sounds of New York to bring it to life, the soundtrack elevates this game. Sam Eng was stoked to have them working on this, and the moment I heard their sound I could see why.
Airy and light, yet grounded in industrial, solid beats, it may seem like an odd contrast to Skate Story’s visuals. But the moment you skate dangerously fast around a corner and pull off a pop shuvit over a brutal-looking spike pit to this soundtrack, you’ll realise just how perfectly they fit together.
There’s a similar satisfaction to be garnered from the rest of the sound design. All the little clunks and clicks and grinds of a real skateboard are here. Heavy landings and combo finishers are given the weight they deserve. It’s visceral and tactile, almost as much as real skateboarding is.
Well-tuned gameplay isn’t the only reason that this game, despite the dark tone and setting, feels silky-smooth to play. It’s also that perfect marriage of the visual and the auditory.
Stick it to the Devil
I’m not sure this would be a real skateboarding game if you weren’t able to customise your board, at least a little. And luckily, this is a real skateboarding game.
As you progress, descending through the layers of hell, you’ll be able to unlock a series of skateboard designs. Intricate drawings of monsters, the first letter from Frankenstein, the game’s audio tracks, and much more. There’s also a selection of trucks (the metal bit that attaches the wheels to the board), wheels, and a whole collection of stickers with quirky and cool designs. A red moon with the text ‘do not eat’, anyone? Perhaps a hot dog or jug of milk is more your speed.
You can even arrange the stickers, leaving me constantly torn between the desire to add a silly new sticker and the aversion to covering up my awesome sardine board.
This is one of those games where the love and passion that went into it shines through, and the skateboard design and customisation is a place where that veil is particularly thin.
The width of the sticker and skateboard customisation is delightful, yes. But it also forces you to change it up as you go along. See, grinding and reverting your way through the underworld takes a real toll on your board, and soon enough, your favourite new design is going to start looking pretty battered and bruised.
They didn’t have to do that. I’m kind of mad they did because I LIKED those boards I wrecked. But I’m also kind of glad – these details, so small and yet so charming, are part of what makes this game feel like such a special and original experience.
This customisation is not the only tiny moment of delight present, either. The underworld is a place full of secrets and of people with their own stories, all for you to discover. There are so many unexpected things for you to find here, and so much I was shocked to find I’d missed on my first playthrough.
Not all of the game is quite so well-tended, however. There are some moments where the roughness seems more than a mere visual and auditory effect, and some of the characters feel a little thin rather than the rounded, compelling allies they’re intended to be. Luckily, these moments are few and far enough apart that they don’t damage the overall experience.
Putting the ‘Story’ in Skate Story
You might be wondering, through all this, why the emphasis on ‘story’ in the title of this game. And, of course, if that story is really as important enough to make it into the title.
Yeah. Yeah, it is.
Skate Story is a tale about a demon doing awesome combos to chill beats and eating moons whole. But it’s also about destroying and rebuilding yourself again and again. It’s about eternity and finding an end in something you thought lacked it. It’s about breaking free, even if that means breaking yourself.
It’s also about trying to be an artist when you think you might hate making art, and at times, physically or mentally struggle to do so.
The story is weird and not particularly straightforward. It’s one of those ones that hands you some answers, some obvious themes, but hides others behind its back and makes you figure it out on your own.
It’s intriguing. It’s heartwarming. It’s one I will be digesting, alongside the moons, for a while.
Final Thoughts
Every little part of Skate Story comes together so perfectly, so beautifully. So beautiful to behold, to play, to hear, it is a treat for all the senses. It’s fun, yet calming, and I enjoyed every moment of my time with it.
Skate Story is a little messy at times. It’s not perfect, but it’s raw and bleeding and above all deeply sincere. I love it for that. And I think you will too.
FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Highlights: Satisfying gameplay, Great music and visuals combo, touching story
Lowlights: Minor polish issues
Developer: Sam Eng
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Platforms: Windows PC, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, macOS
Available: Now
Review conducted on Windows PC with a release code provided by the publisher.
Featured header image also provided by the publisher.
