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If ever you wanted an instance for the ‘video games as artwork’ debate, look no additional. As a creation, Sam Eng’s startling Skate Story is a monumental achievement. As a skateboarding recreation it is essentially stable however much less convincing. As an leisure product? It is laborious to say precisely who it is for… nevertheless it’s undoubtedly not for everybody.
This can be a story-led skateboarding recreation which sees you are taking management of a skateboarder ‘fabricated from glass and ache’, in search of to eat the moons lighting the sky of the underworld. No typos there, you actually are attempting to eat moons. The thought goes that every moon in your abdomen weighs you down into the subsequent layer of the underworld, till you’ll be able to meet the satan himself and reclaim your soul.
You possibly can be forgiven for asking how skateboarding suits in with any of that. Skateboarding is what you do probably the most, definitely, however it’s kind of like Sayonara Wild Hearts in that the technique of locomotion is nearly incidental as it is the aesthetic complete that you just’re having fun with, not essentially the nuts and bolts gameplay. However this is not the place for ambiguity, so with many of the recreation spent on 4 wheels, lets say it is a regular skateboarding recreation for a second and see the way it holds up.
Shall I carve?
Quick information
Launch date: December 8, 2025
Platform(s): PC, PS5, Nintendo Swap 2
Developer: Sam Eng, Snowhydra
Writer: Devolver Digital
To start with, management feels means too free as you careen by way of slim hallways making an attempt to not shatter into 100 items by colliding with too many obstacles alongside the way in which. The digicam is low and offset, making it difficult to intention for grind rails and the like, although by the point you end the sport, you may be fairly adept at hitting all the things you propose to. It is extra about intuition than precision.
It does not play like Tony Hawk’s Professional Skater, as a substitute being a surprisingly life like simulation. It is much less fiddly than the unique Skate, permitting you even to land sideways, and it is extra constrained and funneled than Skate 4. The sport does an ideal job of instructing you, trick by trick, drip-feeding complexity fairly rattling completely till you are nollieing, reverting, and chaining your strikes with pleasing fluidity.
There’s a superb combo completion ‘stomp’ function the place you simply need to ollie then hit Sq. to complete your combo and financial institution your rating. This additionally doubles up as an assault, draining a proportional quantity of enemy well being. Add in some timers and occasional command strings to comply with and you have an honest skateboarding recreation that rewards combos with development quite than excessive scores.
On the identical time, it is not a skateboarding recreation in any respect. It is an interactive story that takes in strange characters like a form of speaking pillow, a rabbit that purrs, and extra that I will not spoil. By the tip, some really feel like mates, although it is all so surreal you will not know who or what to belief. Story scenes really feel intentionally janky, and no characters are voiced, which is at odds with the remainder of the prime quality presentation.
One other prism system
Your skateboarder’s prismatic look is gorgeous, reflecting and refracting the environments earlier than shattering with convincing physics whenever you crash. The underworld itself shifts and strikes, with translucent photographs transferring throughout the display screen in opposition to your personal turning. Textual content jitters prefer it’s a 3rd technology VHS copy, full with coloration bleed, and even the 3D visuals wobble when you look intently sufficient.
Your skateboarder’s prismatic look is gorgeous.
This presents an issue. Regardless of how a lot I adjusted the fish eye lens, pulled the digicam out and turned off digicam shake and ‘handheld’ impact, the sport made me really feel unwell. Over the previous 35+ years of gaming, solely a handful of video games have given me movement illness, however this has clear and particular physiological results on me. I needed to cease enjoying on my typical 55-inch display screen and change to a smaller monitor after simply quarter-hour. I used to be in a position to end the final half of the sport on a 27-inch 4K display screen, however that was briefly bursts. Be warned, the motion and flashing imagery is certainly worthy of the warning initially. Fortunately, I used to be in a position to end the sport, which took some 5 hours in whole. Not massively lengthy, however even then the ending feels needlessly protracted because it meanders previous the logical ending, including in just a few fairly intelligent moments however not concluding notably brilliantly.
Some commenters are approaching Skate Story as an interactive music album, however that is probably not the way it’s introduced. Earlier I discussed Sayonara Wild Hearts, and whereas the music by Blood Tradition is robust, there’s by no means a second right here that matches or surpasses the stainless ‘Start Once more’ in Simogo’s recreation. The motion right here does not sync with the music, although particular music is queued to hit key moments. It is clearly superb, nevertheless it’s not fairly nice, not less than not in comparison with gaming’s most interesting. Undoubtedly worthy of being talked about in the identical breath, not less than.
There’s loads of thesaurus-baiting dialogue that is punctuated with moments of daftness and some popular culture references too. TV conventions are toyed with, gaming tropes borrowed then deserted, but the fragmented degree design really gives pleasingly concise, bite-sized challenges with well-placed degree furnishings. If something the gameplay’s strengths are underplayed and will have been expanded drastically, however then that might have detracted from the story. And it’s known as ‘Skate Story’.
Whereas it runs completely on PS5, the glass skater fell by way of the ground on a number of events, and the collision detection really failed within the final scene, which was disappointing. Replaying complete ranges after lacking a portal by 3 seconds is annoying, and there are just a few moments the place you could be uncertain what to do subsequent, although there’s normally the power to hit proper on the d-pad and get a navigational trace.
Skate Story is a nice murals. It is also an excellent skateboarding recreation, however one which’s subsumed by heavy display screen filters and the wild storyline. Offered it does not make you are feeling unwell, there’s just a few hours of well-crafted, entertainment-as-art right here that you just definitely will not neglect in a rush.
Skate Story was reviewed on PS5, with a code offered by the writer.
