Skate Story Is A Triumph Of Creation

I love anything that needs no justification for its existence. As the mainstream becomes more shallow and market-driven there's an appetite for things that simply are- things that revel in the fact that all they do is self explanatory. 

Skate Story is one of these games, an avant-garde indie game by developer Sam Eng and published by Devolver Digital. There's no proper words to describe it, but I want to give it a go anyways. 

Title: Skate Story

Developer: Sam Eng

Publisher: Devolver Digital

Platforms: PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2

Glass And Pain 

I sincerely believe skate games might be the most ideologically pure genre in the industry. From OlliOlli World to Rollerdrome to even games like Denshattack, all games seem to understand a simple truth: the human brain is most receptive to bold ideas when part of it is busy trying to do a cool combo. Skate Story joins this pantheon too by just delighting in being out of this world. The premise is simple: You are a demon made of glass and pain, and you need to devour the moon. Everything else is just garnishing to an absurd premise for an absurd quest.

Everything about the game's presentation is just lit in a kind of love for creation. In an industry where the phrase "Unreal Engine look" is thrown around for generic art direction, Skate Story feels micro-picked at every design choice. What do you mean I'm being judged by a statue head? Why does everything kind of look like an old VHS? What is going on with these moons? I mean, even the subtitles are stylized, giving flair to the game's already-gorgeous prose. 

It's kind of a testament to art direction vs individual assets. Look at the rabbit, the skull, the moon, and it's not like they're triumphs of 3D Modeling. But Skate Story brings them all together, puts them in a rendition of an urban reskin of hell and suddenly it's the most interesting visuals I've seen all year. 

We haven't even talked about the music, either. This game is just a fan music video for a Blood Cultures album, with tracks both old and new lighting up the game's sequences as you defeat The Moon by doing sick tricks. It's not quite what you'd expect from skate game music, but it's exactly what you'd expect for this one. Every drawn out synth, every ghastly vocal just locks you in as you move around the game's stages, grinding on rails and hitting tricks. 

You Must Skate

I'm so glad that Skate Story is basically visual perfection because on top of that, it's a pretty damn good skate game. Skating is at the core of everything you do, and the game's different chapters do a good job of hitting you with different tests of your skate mastery. In one area, you're doing Tony Hawk-style letter-collecting, while in another you're doing more OlliOlli-style speed-platforming- all while making sure you hit those combos to flex.

The lack of any kind of upgrade system is where I really like it. Technically, you could do high level tricks any time you wanted. The game does slowly introduce these to you, but the tenet is simple: if you took time off to simply explore the game's systems on your own, you can skate like a god. 

You see it in the game's story too, Skate Story has a very personal opinion about the act of skating- it's a ritual of devotion to the self. Your character has literally no other defining traits, other than their desire to skate and eat moons. To that end the game's difficulty spikes never feel too steep. Instead, the challenges are typically about cleaning up your playstyle: bossfights are on a timer, and in the back half they'll have caps for how much damage they can take before the next phase starts. 

The result? Now you're controlling your combos, making sure to get as close to the damage cap for each health bar (and obeying other mechanics). It's a very satisfying way to learn- you never feel like there's some impossible thing to work into your routine, instead you're just cleaning up and refining your personal style of skating. 

Skate Story Verdict

If you've ever wanted a game that pushed the envelope of what it can do in its genre, you should pick up Skate Story. It's a game about pushing back, and it's a game about joy of being at peace with yourself- especially while you're grinding a railing. More importantly, it's a game about love.

It loves where it came from in such a unique and beautiful way, to the point that it's one of the few games that has a sense of self. Many games think homaging the culture around something has to be direct and visual. Yet despite the surreality that Skate Story lives in, you can see a heart that beats for the concrete jungle that skate culture built itself on. 

In a year bookended with discussions about artificial creation, about "streamlining" processes by spitting out mediocre ideas in the name of "efficiency", you can feel the human touch behind Skate Story. You can feel its love, and the game is but a mere vocalization, celebrating the joy that something beautiful has been created. 

At worst, your mileage on Skate Story will vary on your stomach for what it's doing. If you don't like its Lo-Fi visuals or bizarre characters, I can't promise it ever lets up. But take it in and enjoy one of the best indies out this year. 

Game reviewed on PC. Review copy purchased by reviewer