Skate Story

Have you wonder wh- HOLD YOUR HORSES! I’ve covered three titles published by Devolver in a row! This is the first time that has ever happened! Does it mean I have a partnership with the company? Will I be covering more of their games while sacrificing everything else? Am I a nob gobbler for Devolver Digital!? Well no. I don’t do partnerships seeing how this is an independent blog I don’t make money off of. That and I don’t think Devolver would want to partner up with me after what I said about their most popular title to date. However, I do hold a lot of respect for Devolver Digital as they helped numerous small devs get their projects out there. Some of which probably wouldn’t exist without Devolver’s support and occasional funding. Fair amount of folks know Devolver for their bigger releases such as Enter The Gungeon by Dodge Roll, both of the Hotline Miami by Dennaton Games, and Cult of The Lamb by Massive Monster. They put out a lot of games by solo developers. Games made by people most likely working within a basement or apartment with a single bedroom. I have a lot of respect for solo indie devs. It is what I strive to become once I’m done with college and settle into a nice paying job. It’s my dream to make a video game someday, despite how crazy the video game market is at the moment.

You have Children of The Sun by Rene Rother, Ball x Pit by Kenny Sun which we covered just a few days ago, the three thrillrides by Daniel Mullins, and today’s subject matter. Skate Story by Sam Eng, released late last year after having spent close to five years in development. I closely remember seeing footage of Skate Story mid-development. A glass skater zooming through what seemed like a crazy technical showcase. A filter as if it was being projected using a VCR, a ton of reflective surfaces, and the skater shattering into hundreds of pieces upon falling over. Only to then get brought back up as if nothing happened and keep on skating. The idea was weird, but in the back of mind I knew Skate Story was going to be special. Skateboarding games are making a comeback whether that be in the form of the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater remakes, Rolledrome being this crazy combination between Pro Skater and May Payne, or last year’s surprise early access release of Skate 4. A game that’s either your dream skating game, or massive disappointment the folks at Electronic Arts stuffed full of microtransaction and poor optimization. It’s most likely the second category, but I got good news for you dear reader. Skate Story finally came out, only cost twenty US dollars, and was made by a dude who actually cares.

Now before playing this part of me wondered why it took so long to make. It is not a particularly long game, but the more I played it the more I understood why. Skate Story took a long time to make not just because of its art direction, technical achievements, and the thought that was put in. Skate Story took a long time cuz Sam Eng wanted to capture a specific feeling with it. I shall assume you’ve seen a good chunk of the reviews written for this game. That it is a title all about the vibes, or  the wistful soul of a skater. The zenlike state one enters once in the skater mood. The carefree attitude of doing something you love even if you’re not perfect. I think Skate Story is a game that will speak to a lot of folks t. The game doesn’t have the deepest message in the universe, nor does it really exist. The game is not trying to tell a story despite there being one, and one that pours a lot of effort in. The game is about YOU, and what YOU the player feel while journeying through this ten chapter long journey. Skate Story is not for everyone though. Not gonna lie, this one humbled me. I’m not good at games where the goal is being expressive in style, and I died so much during certain occasions. Yet, something kept me coming back to play more of this game and I don’t think it was the core gameplay loop despite how well executed it was. There was that secret sauce all good indie games have, and that’s what we’ll dive into. So today we’re gonna be talking about Skate Story, and why it may deserve your attention.

Story

The plot is that hell is real, but it’s not a fiery realm where everyone is constantly in agony. Nor is it dark and depressing, or consisting of multiple regions like the Greek mythological hell. Well it is, but in the same sense where there’s an Elysium and an Asphodel. Hell consists of roughly nine layers and a good chunk of them consist of a moon hanging over it. The moons gleam over the demons, and make it difficult for them to sleep. Any sleep they can get is short lived, and so this is somewhat torment. No physical executions or punishments. Just the ability to never rest, but one day a single demon decided to fight back. Work against the devil and create a hell where no one no longer has to suffer. He signed a pact, and that pact granted him a magical skateboard. This board contained a map of the underworld painted on, and tricks that would allow the skater to damage the moons. Weaken them so he can enact his grand plan to devour. Consume moons, contain them within his stomach, and confront the devil. Demand change within the underworld, and allow the demons to finally be able to rest. This agreement the skater makes though comes at a cost. He’ll be granted the skateboard, but his skin will be turned into glass. Shattering easily if he’s not careful. Feeling terrible pain only to be reformed seconds later to skate once more. The sad thing is that the skater is not familiar with skating, but it’s something he’ll have to master if he wants to consume the moons. The skater will become friends with multiple weirdos, see all of hell, and become the one who changes the world.

Gameplay

I’m not the most familiar when it comes to skateboarding games or titles about being stylish with tricks. The only three I ever played were Rolledrome, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, and OlliOlli World and aside from the last one most of these stray far from what traditional skateboarding games do. After playing this game I have a much better idea of how traditional skateboarding games work. Weird comparison, but they remind me of character action games like Devil May Cry to a degree. There is a moderate skill requirement and there are a good amount of times the game challenges you. Higher than that is the skill ceiling where players are allowed to push their expressive style to the limit, and be rewarded for it in the form of more points to your score. There are a variety of tricks to perform in Skate Story, and new ones are unlocked as you hit certain points in your journey. You gain more points from performing tricks precisely, or varying them as if you do the same trick repeatedly you obtain less points and your trick multiplier slowly starts to go down. Now remember your body was turned into glass as part of the contract the protagonist signs. If you collide with a surface too hard or fall off the skateboard it’s instantaneous death. You’re sent back to the closest checkpoint and got to redo it.

Challenges come in many forms whether it be racing to a gateway at the end of a track, obtaining a high enough score within a designated amount of time, doing tricks by floating eyeballs, etc. It is a nice way of testing your skills in different manners, but at the end of each chapter there is a boss fight. The moons you desire to eat, and they won’t give in so easily. Flooding arenas with all sorts of hazards, and running away from the skater. The way boss fights work is that they each have a reflection. A small zone of line you can enter, and performing a trick in that zone will go damage the boss. Much like your score multiplier you deal more damage by varying your tricks, not doing the same ones in rows, or performing different tricks before doing the one you attack with. It’s hard to explain, but when you play it you’ll quickly pick up on how it functions. There is also a ticking timer when a boss fight begins, and when it reaches zero your soul gets wiped out. Forcing the skater to redo the encounter. Practice makes perfect, and slowly but surely you will be able to defeat the moons. Eat them whole, and hopefully this deed shall be done.

Thoughts

Game development has gotten quite lengthy in recent memory. Silksong took six years to make, but the wait was worth it as we received a stellar sequel to one of many all time greats. It took 16 years for Psychonauts 2 to get greenlit and come into existence, and 13 years for Alan Wake 2. If a game takes that long to make then it better be good, and for the most part it is. I know there has been debates about long development times recently. How back in the day studios were able to put out multiple projects within short periods of time, and it was due to having better focus on smaller scaled releases.  Some games are taking too long to make, only for the results to be too similar to what came before. I understand the disappointment of when a game gets delayed or if they have to announce a rework. It not only kills hype, but makes you wonder what;s going on with the dev team to lead to this. Sometimes a game doesn’t live up to its long dev time, such as Cyberpunk 2077 which spent nine years in the oven only to move backwards. After several years of fantastic RPGs and games made by the same studio. The reason why I bring this up is because it took five years for Skate Story to be finished. 2 times where a delay happened, and for a long stretch of time I wondered if this game would ever exist. In the same way I wondered if Silksong would exist, but then I remembered a good old phrase by Shigeru Miyamoto, “A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad.” Skate Story is a game that spent five years in the works, and it manages to stick the landing..

I will admit that Skate Story took a bit of time to get used to. I‘m  not familiar with skateboarding games like I stated earlier, and the first few hours were rough. Incredibly so, because I remember hitting one hundred deaths at full speed during the halfway point of my playthrough. I had a hard time varying my combos during bosses, and being skillful. Although being skillful is not a major requirement. There is a goal, and that goal can be achieved under whatever means necessary. The way you are skillful is not the same as how others are skillful. There are some occasions where you don’t have to be skillful. Just cruise along and get to the goal. The game has a moderate skill requirement, but a high skill ceiling which I love. Even if you are struggling during the moments where you need to be expressive or obtain a goal in a certain time there are modifiers. Modes in the option menu to make playing Skate Story more manageable, which I appreciate. The game is already hard enough especially with how it handles player damage and checkpoints. The controls took me a bit of time to get used to. I played this on a PlayStation 5, and maybe I just sucked but I could not condition myself out of thinking X is the jump button when it’s actually a circle. You also have how you perform tricks, and sometimes my finger jumbles trying to perform a jump. Realized early on I wasn’t very good, but I kept coming back.

The skater was cruising down a hill, sparkling lights flickered in the background, and as he grew in speed a booping track played. Smooth synthwaves and an elegant voice to carry me through. It’s surprising how Skate Story wasn’t nominated for best soundtrack last year, because the songs in this game are immaculate. All of which are composed by indie pop group Blood Culture, and I don’t think there was a single piece of music I found bad. All of it fit the vibe of the game, and created a sense of immersion I wasn’t expecting. Not in the sense that the world of Skate Story is absorbing, but we’ll get to it later. It’s immersive in that it captures what I was stating in the intro of this review. Skate Story is not about a particular message, but the feeling YOU create through just playing the game. What you end up walking away with, and for me personally it was finding the joy in something I’m not particularly good at. During any point I could’ve stopped, ragequit, called this game pretentious, and move on with my life. Instead I kept coming back all because of the feeling I got from cruising and enjoying the trippy LSD presentation on screen. I’d throw Skate Story into the small pile of titles of, “Games where you think you’re on drugs but not.” The pile that consists of Hylics and Dread Delusion. Weird forms of art at their highest peak.

We’re highlighting how the feels and vibes of Skate Story are incredible, but there is a story here. A story about a demon wanting to eat all the moons, confront the devil, and change hell. A ton of thought has been put in, and to be honest I couldn’t really care for it. Not because it’s written in a bad manner, but there’s nothing that really grabs me aside from the ending. That doesn’t mean it is not memorable, because much like the trippy music you come across a lot of peculiar sites. A laundromat where you have to dry the devil’s clothes, and then walk out to a bustling city. The bagel shop one chapter before, which does the exact same thing. Actually now that I think more about it that’s how a majority of locations play out. You skate through some tunnels, reach the place, go inside, and walk out to find a colorful raytraced world. None of it’s bad, but after the third time the surprise of it wears down. Hate to say that, because the art direction of this game is great. Again, it’s an LSD trip. A world that can only be imagined if someone were to understand what it’s like to do drugs or be on drugs themselves. I would never do drugs, but it’s good to see just how it would look like. The way Skate Story uses reflective surfaces and character designs that do and don’t make sense all at once. The game has style, and sometimes style is a substitute. Creating an experience that stays memorable even if it doesn’t do much.

It’s amazing how Skate Story manages to contain boss fights despite skateboarding games having no room for them. Encounter design is creative so that different moons test different skills, and the reflection you must perform tricks in are shifting in different ways. The second moon has you chasing after it as it teleports around, summons lightning out of thin air, and covers the ground in sparks. The third moon has two giant scorpions you must manage at the same time. There is high creativity on display, but that does not mean I enjoyed every boss fight. The giant diamond is just when I started getting fed up. With three trick spots that are constantly moving, and it seems like trick variation and the combo meter works well. I don’t know what I was doing wrong, but the game was giving me a rough time around that point. I did mention Skate Story wouldn’t be for everyone, and this is exactly what I meant. The unique art direction and style might give players visual overload, and a difficult time to see and determine what to do quickly. Accessibility is really good and I used it, but for those wanting to play the normal way I expect a difficult time as you approach the later game bosses and challenges that require close to near perfection. 

In the end I’m really glad I stuck around with Skate Story. Some portions frustrated me, but not to a point where I thought the game was unfair. I kept playing not to see what lied at the end, but for the feeling. The way I PERSONALLY felt going through, and if you decide to play this game I’d like to see what YOU take away from it. The feelings the game provided to YOU, because it will vary from person to person. I lightly recommend this game despite it being really niche. I am going to have to give Skate Story an 8.5/10 for being pretty good.