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Admittedly, I'm not particularly nostalgic for the heydays of skateboarding games like Tony Hawk Pro Skater or Skate. But I'd be lying if Skate Story didn't immediately grab me due to its stunning iridescent visuals and intriguing premise.
Skate Story follows a crystalline demon in hell who has signed a contract with the Devil that in order to break free, it must eat the moon. Sure, it doesn't really make sense, but it adds to the overall charm. I was enamored by how chill everything felt. Instead of hellfire, Skate Story utilizes a vaporwave aesthetic to create an emotional journey throughout the Underworld. The lack of any sort of voice acting is a double-edged sword. It allows the lo-fi and experimental soundtrack to really immerse you, but it could've also used a voice for the narrator to give the story a bit more gravitas, especially as beings from higher powers speak down towards your vulnerable glass self.
Skateboarding is often an act of defiance. Despite not being a skater myself, I've experienced others threatening to call the cops on them, only for the simple joy of having fun. Sticking it up against godly and celestial entities encapsulates the defiant nature of skating -- Skate Story nails this meta context perfectly without coming off as too much on the nose or corny.
Skating around and pulling off tricks is relatively easy, as most of them end up being simple ones like kickflips, ollies, and grinds. I never felt that the game pressured me with overly complex controls or combos, letting me groove smoothly along with the journey. Even when I wipe out and the demon explodes into a million different shards of glass, checkpoints are no longer than a few seconds away, making getting back into the motion of skating painless -- despite the crashout looking quite painful.
The boss fights are also a delight in Skate Story. Their trippy designs scream "manmade horrors beyond comprehension" and have a biblically sinister aura to them. In these fights, you'll have to perform a variety of combos to deplete HP. Even though I had a few hand cramps trying to pull off tricks from playing primarily through my Steam Deck, I thoroughly enjoyed how psychedelic and unique these encounters were. One boss fight had skating on top of water while I had to try avoiding laser beams in another.
Skate Story is much less of a technical game focusing on achieving high scores on a leaderboard like the aforementioned Tony Hawk Pro Skater or Skate games, and more of an atmospheric adventure that primarily uses skateboarding as a vehicle to tell a story. As such, Skate Story may not appeal to those who are looking for the former, despite the emphasis on the skateboarding aspects.
You won't find elaborate skate parks or halfpipes as high as skyscrapers in Skate Story, but the vibes are immaculate. While it is somewhat of a one-trick pony, Skate Story's brisk 6-8 hour runtime is perfect for this kind of game. It doesn't overstay its welcome and is an experience unlike any other.
Score: 8/10
Skate Story is available now on PC, PS5, and Nintendo Switch 2.
Disclosure: Devolver Digital sent me a copy of Skate Story for the purposes of this review.