Skate Story Overview (PS5) | Push Sq.

We have performed many nice skateboarding video games, however none have ever appeared or felt like Skate Story.

This is not about chasing huge scores or discovering loopy strains; it is a single-player journey by the underworld, enjoying as a crystalline demon on a mission to save lots of himself.

The Satan says he’ll return the demon’s soul if he can swallow the moons of Hell’s many realms, armed with a skateboard and aided by a mysterious rabbit.

It is a foolish setup, particularly paired with a skateboarding recreation, but it surely’s so artfully completed that it is simple to be swept alongside.

Whereas it tells a linear narrative, most of the recreation’s phases are open-ended areas in which you’ll be able to skate freely.

The skating right here is hard; nearly totally based mostly on road/flatland tips, that is in some methods a reasonably practical interpretation.

Controls really feel fiddly at first, with shoulder buttons mixed with Circle to drag off tips. Feeling comparatively competent on the recreation takes time, however that appears intentional; with persistence and observe, you will get higher, similar to the true sport.

Doing a kickflip right into a grind, then doing a pop shuvit out — that is the extent of skating we’re speaking about, and pulling off your meant strikes feels very satisfying. Finishing the sport’s many duties — serving to out a personality, progressing the principle quest, tackling an non-compulsory problem — is nice enjoyable, and new methods are properly metered out.

The sport’s ending feels extra like 5 endings, so it loses a few of its steam, however broadly, Skate Story is properly paced. Whether or not it is speedy hall sequences that take a look at your reflexes, these open areas, or the various imaginative boss encounters, the sport is at all times introducing new concepts and reminding you the way rattling cool it’s.

The presentation is a large a part of that; the mixture of the trippy visuals, the nice music, and the writing — typically poetic, typically ridiculous — contributes massively to a completely singular expertise. The vibe is downtrodden, moody, and rebellious, and it conveys its distinctive vitality with easy confidence.

One factor that dragged the entire thing down for us is that, after you roll credit, there isn’t any solution to return to the hub and discover these open ranges; you need to begin a brand new recreation, which restarts your progress. This seems like an oversight, and we hope the sport is up to date to alter that.

There is a pretty apparent level of no return, although, so proper now it appears the optimum solution to play is to by no means contact the finale, and simply exist on this fashionable, difficult skateboarding title, unlocking new decks and exploring each nook of its oppressive underworld.

Whereas it lasts, that is fairly simply probably the most strikingly distinctive and visually fascinating skating recreation you’ll be able to play, and we will not assist however respect its relentless effort to go in opposition to the grain.