Skateboarding and its culture has quite a profound connection to video games. Mostly due to the popularity of Activision’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series and EA’s skate nearly a decade later, skateboarding games often drum up fond memories. The same can be said about the bizarre Skate Story and after a few difficult years in development that saw the game delayed more than a couple times, one has to wonder who this game is actually for.
Skate Story is exactly what its title says. It’s a story about skating. Is it that simple? Yes and no. You play as a demon in hell, who’s made out glass, and made a deal with the devil to skate to the moon and eat it in exchange for freedom. If you think that’s crazy and doesn’t make any sense, that’s most of the game.
Developed by independent developer Sam Eng, Skate Story is very a much a feast for the senses. All it takes is one look at a trailer or some extended footage to appreciate the effort and vision that came with creating the visual style the game has. Mix in the experimental sounds from Blood Cultures in the game’s incomparable soundtrack, and you have a game with very distinct vibe. As soon as I saw it, I had to have it.
But as soon as I got it, while it had its moments, I found it difficult to enjoy, especially at the beginning.
One of the levels is trash. Great.
Here’s the thing with skateboarding games; if you go in expecting something along the lines of the aforementioned Tony Hawk or skate franchises, it’s extremely easy to be underwhelmed. This is the exact same thing that happened with SkateBIRD, and while a lot of people can agree that game was mediocre, I think Skate Story will draw its own unique share of divisiveness.
The reality that you play as a crystalized demon is a feature. If you so much as hit a wall at too high of a speed, you shatter into millions of pieces and respawn. While that’s easier said than done, as board control is really the main fundamental to grasp as you continue to play, despite being a skateboarding game, there really isn’t too much you can “mess up” on. As you’d expect, Skate Story features a solid trick system, and it owes a lot to skate as it’s mainly oriented to street skating. That said, performance of these tricks is more along the lines of how you do tricks in THPS without needing to land each trick perfectly to prevent a bail.
It’s really easy to compare gameplay to THPS and skate simply because they’re the best and most comparable options out there, but if you go into Skate Story with any sort of muscle memory to those games, I’d recommend you forget everything you know in order to make the most of Skate Story. Tricks still revolve around the ollie, which counts as a trick within itself, but you’ll also be reliant on flips (activated with timed button presses of the ollie and left or right shoulder buttons), grinds, and manuals. There really isn’t a whole lot to it, but if you make the mistake of unleashing your plethora of THPS knowledge, you’ll fail fast. Luckily, the only thing you really lose is time.
So if you do have any of that institutional knowledge, the game’s first section is a solid tutorial to get you through most of the basics. One of the most enjoyable parts of the game are these on-rail levels that just require you to get from point A to point B, sometimes making sure you’re over a certain point threshold to progress. Oftentimes these are downhill levels that emphasize speed, and you’ll find yourself holding the X button (on PS5) trying to get as much speed as possible, just so you can be done and the thrill of skating fast remains exhilarating. But like I said earlier, if you crash, you die, so there are points where you’ll really have to control your momentum, and that’s something that becomes more ideal during the game’s boss fights.
This is a hellish version of New York you can appreciate.
Yes, Skate Story has boss fights. You’re a demon trying to get out of hell after all. There’s a lot of seemingly menacing and dangerous stuff and characters in the game, but there really isn’t a whole lot “out to get you.” Most of the times you die will be your fault. Your main way of “hurting” bosses is by performing a bunch of tricks to build your combo, followed by stomping on certain parts of the ground. The funny thing is you’re not really hurting anybody, it’s moreso making fun of their pride.
Since every boss relies on you to put a bunch of tricks together, you’ll be pleased to know that each “battleground” is essentially a skate park for you to shred. There’ll be ramps to ollie or trick over along with lips and rails to grind, and as long as you aren’t doing the same trick over and over, you’ll be able to do a lot of damage for every time you stomp a boss’ weakness, normally marked by a certain color. The main issue I had with these boss fights was the fact that I spent a lot of time dodging and getting away from certain harm that I was forgetting to do tricks, and if you run out of time, you have to start the boss over again.
It felt like a microcosm of skating culture. Anything and everything you do that can result in your lack of safety is your fault, but if you think you can do something like a trick or an insane maneuver, you do it. That’s it. Maybe you can get sponsored one day, but that’s not what this is about. A lot of times you just gotta stick through it and not think.
That might be part of why I didn’t have as much fun with it as other people will.
You can use the currency in the game to get stuff like decks and stickers, but there really isn’t much of a point to that.
Every new area in the game sort of works like a hub, and there’s definitely stuff for you to do, but it’s hard to tell what. It’s not like any of those other skating sandbox games which gives you a list of objectives. You’re really just expected to go where your mind takes you and progress from there. I spent like 45 minutes skating around the second area not realizing that I had to destroy the monoliths that teach you how to do certain tricks. I thought they were just there to get currency, which allows you to buy customization parts and stickers that I didn’t really care much for since they just felt tacked on. I’m someone that likes to get right down to the point, and Skate Story doesn’t really do that.
Just to go back to appreciate the game’s style the dark, and neon void of Hell really is something to experience. Sam Eng really captured a wild, yet calm euphoric look of hell with New York as sort of a setpiece. From crowded small roads to the metroline subways, all the way down to the lights. It’s clear that Eng took inspiration from just about everywhere he walks and skates, and the trance and pop vibes from Blood Cultures really ties the experience together.
Despite it’s unique look and feel, Skate Story isn’t one of those indies that’s gonna change the world. The game is fine, but once you get through the game’s nine sections in the six hours or so to do it, there isn’t much to have you go back except to start the game over again. I hate to have kept mentioning THPS and skate, but when this game started development, I doubt there was any sort of expectation that it would come out at a year where we got both, and that makes Skate Story a harder sell. I wouldn’t say it’s not worth the $20, but with so much good stuff out this year, it’s hard to justify the time unless you have access to the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog (where it’s available day one) and fall in love from there.
Despite it’s unique look and feel, Skate Story isn’t one of those indies that’s gonna change the world. The game is fine, but once you get through the game’s nine sections in the six hours or so to do it, there isn’t much to have you go back except to start the game over again.
Skateboarding and its culture has quite a profound connection to video games. Mostly due to the popularity of Activision’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series and EA’s skate nearly a decade later, skateboarding games often drum up fond memories. The same can be said about the bizarre Skate Story and after a few difficult years in development that saw the game delayed more than a couple times, one has to wonder who this game is actually for.
Skate Story is exactly what its title says. It’s a story about skating. Is it that simple? Yes and no. You play as a demon in hell, who’s made out glass, and made a deal with the devil to skate to the moon and eat it in exchange for freedom. If you think that’s crazy and doesn’t make any sense, that’s most of the game.
Developed by independent developer Sam Eng, Skate Story is very a much a feast for the senses. All it takes is one look at a trailer or some extended footage to appreciate the effort and vision that came with creating the visual style the game has. Mix in the experimental sounds from Blood Cultures in the game’s incomparable soundtrack, and you have a game with very distinct vibe. As soon as I saw it, I had to have it.
But as soon as I got it, while it had its moments, I found it difficult to enjoy, especially at the beginning.
One of the levels is trash. Great.
Here’s the thing with skateboarding games; if you go in expecting something along the lines of the aforementioned Tony Hawk or skate franchises, it’s extremely easy to be underwhelmed. This is the exact same thing that happened with SkateBIRD, and while a lot of people can agree that game was mediocre, I think Skate Story will draw its own unique share of divisiveness.
The reality that you play as a crystalized demon is a feature. If you so much as hit a wall at too high of a speed, you shatter into millions of pieces and respawn. While that’s easier said than done, as board control is really the main fundamental to grasp as you continue to play, despite being a skateboarding game, there really isn’t too much you can “mess up” on. As you’d expect, Skate Story features a solid trick system, and it owes a lot to skate as it’s mainly oriented to street skating. That said, performance of these tricks is more along the lines of how you do tricks in THPS without needing to land each trick perfectly to prevent a bail.
It’s really easy to compare gameplay to THPS and skate simply because they’re the best and most comparable options out there, but if you go into Skate Story with any sort of muscle memory to those games, I’d recommend you forget everything you know in order to make the most of Skate Story. Tricks still revolve around the ollie, which counts as a trick within itself, but you’ll also be reliant on flips (activated with timed button presses of the ollie and left or right shoulder buttons), grinds, and manuals. There really isn’t a whole lot to it, but if you make the mistake of unleashing your plethora of THPS knowledge, you’ll fail fast. Luckily, the only thing you really lose is time.
So if you do have any of that institutional knowledge, the game’s first section is a solid tutorial to get you through most of the basics. One of the most enjoyable parts of the game are these on-rail levels that just require you to get from point A to point B, sometimes making sure you’re over a certain point threshold to progress. Oftentimes these are downhill levels that emphasize speed, and you’ll find yourself holding the X button (on PS5) trying to get as much speed as possible, just so you can be done and the thrill of skating fast remains exhilarating. But like I said earlier, if you crash, you die, so there are points where you’ll really have to control your momentum, and that’s something that becomes more ideal during the game’s boss fights.
This is a hellish version of New York you can appreciate.
Yes, Skate Story has boss fights. You’re a demon trying to get out of hell after all. There’s a lot of seemingly menacing and dangerous stuff and characters in the game, but there really isn’t a whole lot “out to get you.” Most of the times you die will be your fault. Your main way of “hurting” bosses is by performing a bunch of tricks to build your combo, followed by stomping on certain parts of the ground. The funny thing is you’re not really hurting anybody, it’s moreso making fun of their pride.
Since every boss relies on you to put a bunch of tricks together, you’ll be pleased to know that each “battleground” is essentially a skate park for you to shred. There’ll be ramps to ollie or trick over along with lips and rails to grind, and as long as you aren’t doing the same trick over and over, you’ll be able to do a lot of damage for every time you stomp a boss’ weakness, normally marked by a certain color. The main issue I had with these boss fights was the fact that I spent a lot of time dodging and getting away from certain harm that I was forgetting to do tricks, and if you run out of time, you have to start the boss over again.
It felt like a microcosm of skating culture. Anything and everything you do that can result in your lack of safety is your fault, but if you think you can do something like a trick or an insane maneuver, you do it. That’s it. Maybe you can get sponsored one day, but that’s not what this is about. A lot of times you just gotta stick through it and not think.
That might be part of why I didn’t have as much fun with it as other people will.
You can use the currency in the game to get stuff like decks and stickers, but there really isn’t much of a point to that.
Every new area in the game sort of works like a hub, and there’s definitely stuff for you to do, but it’s hard to tell what. It’s not like any of those other skating sandbox games which gives you a list of objectives. You’re really just expected to go where your mind takes you and progress from there. I spent like 45 minutes skating around the second area not realizing that I had to destroy the monoliths that teach you how to do certain tricks. I thought they were just there to get currency, which allows you to buy customization parts and stickers that I didn’t really care much for since they just felt tacked on. I’m someone that likes to get right down to the point, and Skate Story doesn’t really do that.
Just to go back to appreciate the game’s style the dark, and neon void of Hell really is something to experience. Sam Eng really captured a wild, yet calm euphoric look of hell with New York as sort of a setpiece. From crowded small roads to the metroline subways, all the way down to the lights. It’s clear that Eng took inspiration from just about everywhere he walks and skates, and the trance and pop vibes from Blood Cultures really ties the experience together.
Despite it’s unique look and feel, Skate Story isn’t one of those indies that’s gonna change the world. The game is fine, but once you get through the game’s nine sections in the six hours or so to do it, there isn’t much to have you go back except to start the game over again. I hate to have kept mentioning THPS and skate, but when this game started development, I doubt there was any sort of expectation that it would come out at a year where we got both, and that makes Skate Story a harder sell. I wouldn’t say it’s not worth the $20, but with so much good stuff out this year, it’s hard to justify the time unless you have access to the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog (where it’s available day one) and fall in love from there.
by Danreb Victorio
