Skate Story review - shattered my expectations

Demons don't sleep in the underworld. The moon shines bright, and it shines all the time. I'm a demon, and I'm fed up with the previously described circumstances. The only logical course of action is to eat the moon, and I'm damn well not walking there, so I do what anyone would and sign a contract without really reading it. A skateboard is the reward for my carelessness, and with it, I might be able to chomp down that hateful night light and finally get a good nap in.

Skate Story is, despite the rather nondescript name, a wonderful tale of desire, redemption, and helping a pigeon finish his manuscript. It's also a game about skating, of course, and it performs, at least on a basic level, like many things I've played before - tricks, combos, and high scores are my path through the underworld. The long-dead don't always appreciate my rad moves, but we must forge ahead, one kickflip at a time.

Indeed, forging ahead is the only choice, as you use your skills to pass through several layers of hell, encountering twisted city streets, spike-lined tunnels, and deserted theaters, as well as fellow damned citizens like Phil (they're a philosopher) and a pigeon with writer's block. Rather than Biblical fire and brimstone, this vision of hell is like looking at the real world through cracked glass. It's what we know, but tilted just enough to make it feel uncomfortable.

Flowery prose stands side by side with mundane, everyday conversations, and each character you cross paths with approaches their life with the trudge of a safe 9-5. The sentient pillow who runs the local laundromat is annoyed that the Devil's laundry has broken their machines, but also thinks it might be quite nice to close up and go for a walk. After each chapter comes a poem, and I looked forward to every single one.

I thought that the opening scenes of Skate Story would prime me for the next few hours, but the abstract environments and bizarre, yet surprisingly eloquent, cast of characters kept developing layers, building into something more complex than I initially gave it credit for. The underworld's explorable areas feel barren in the most intriguing way, with even the most basic of sections still offering plenty of opportunity for some skating showmanship.

The beauty of having a game set on wheels is that the basic act of getting from A to B is engaging in itself. Narrow corridors connect larger hub areas, and even those functional tunnels are opportunities for creativity and pure speed. Skate Story eased me into the bag of tricks, although it still felt a little clunky at first.

Years of Tony Hawk and Skate have taught me that there's more than one way to shred, and Skate Story's pared-back scheme let me to slip into a flow state, freeing me from having to think about what I was going to do next. You can time your tricks using a spinning meter in the corner of the screen, but anything resembling perfection was usually the result of happy accidents. I spent the first few hours in a mild panic, just short of button mashing, but I eventually knew what I wanted to achieve and how to do it, with the game giving me just enough room to express myself

The deep synth of Blood Culture's soundtrack, mixed with the chaotic visuals, blended to form something altogether different from the urban concrete and 90s pop-punk most associated with skating games. Skate Story feels more like a concept album than a traditional game. It comes at me from different directions; it occupies my hands, my eyes, my ears, and when it properly kicks off, I feel submerged in it - all of the sights and sounds and the task at hand.

This beautifully simple control scheme, paired with a truly fantastic soundtrack, gives Skate Story a flow that nothing in recent memory can match. Prolonged silence punctuates the often booming experimental pop, with the woozy vocals, catchy synthesizer hooks, and thick bass propelling me forward. Always forward. To the moon, if you will.

Skate Story is a game that should be seen in motion. It's tricky to explain exactly what's going on, and occasionally difficult to rationalize while in the moment. Still, we're talking about a person made of glass skateboarding around the underworld in an attempt to eat the moon. The half-dreamlike, half-nightmarish experience elevates a normalized activity like skating to beyond cool, using an anti-authoritarian symbol to stick it to The Man. Or The Devil, in this case.

You should play Skate Story. I think you should play it even if you don't really care for skateboarding, because, really, it isn't about that. It's about everything else. But if you can approach all of life's problems in the raddest way possible, then why wouldn't you?