Skate Story Is An Absurdly Stylish Skating Game
Skating in the moonlight.
I've spent several days piecing together my Skate Story impressions, and it's not been particularly easy. Not because Sam Eng's latest game lacks any impact, far from it, more that it's the type of game you have to try to truly “get.” It's the sort of wonderfully irreverent experience you often get from a Devolver Digital published game, and I fear words alone don't completely do it justice.
Though I've jumped across a few skateboarding games over the years, what sets Skate Story apart immediately is the surrealist story and visuals, which, despite being hyperstylised, never take themselves too seriously. As a fragile crystalline demon subjected to the underworld's oppressive moonlight, you receive a skateboard after making a deal with the devil to aid your ambitious attempt to, uh, eat the moon. Yeah.
What follows is a more story-driven journey than you'd typically expect from skateboarding games, a stark contrast compared to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater or EA's Skate series. You'll take on quests to help the underworld's inhabitants, a lively cast ranging from disembodied philosopher heads to anthropomorphic characters. Optional tasks are available, though it's never something I feel particularly compelled to try.
No, Skate Story's main appeal lies in its narrative spectacle. Eng delivers an incredibly stylish journey with some of the most uniquely memorable visuals I've seen for a while, which feels like an otherworldly take on New York that's both twisted and surprisingly chilled out at once. That's complemented further by Blood Cultures' exemplary soundtrack, which has entered my regular rotation even outside the game.
Clearing this campaign typically requires completing skateboarding challenges across courses, broken up by hub areas that allow you to freely practice, and crashing means starting over again after you shatter into multiple pieces. There's no messy button combos to memorise here, and you've got your usual suspects like grinding, ollies, slides, and so on, though wider trick variety feels a touch lacking.
What's surprising to me is how the actual skating is much more straightforward than I anticipated. Slinging tricks together works well enough, turning feels sharp, and activating tricks feels mapped out well enough across your controller, but I rarely feel challenged in Skate Story. You can create some satisfying combos during boss fights, though, so far it's mostly just styling on them by building combos to increase your score.
Even still, it's otherwise hard to fault Skate Story after playing for a few hours on Steam Deck - performance on which has been great so far. Sam Eng's crafted a highly impressive skating game that's got style and substance in spades, delivering one of 2025's more memorable experiences. It's wonderfully absurd, and I recommend having a look.
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