Skateboarding Stories is my most anticipated indie game right now. I played it for about 45 minutes in a small dark room in sunny California at the 2024 Summer Game Fest, and it lived up to all of my expectations for it. It also surpassed my expectations with little kick-flips that truly blew my mind. Whether you’re a skateboarding fan or not, this is a game you absolutely must keep an eye on.
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It’s been on my radar ever since it was unveiled at Devolver’s 2022 digital showcase. Its stunning visuals and otherworldly soundtrack kept me hooked. It looks like a game that attempts to capture the spirit of a skate video in a mysterious, postmodern box. But how well the game actually plays, and whether the magic of the trailer translates well into tangible gameplay, is a mystery. After all, Devolver Digital is a master of presentation, skilled at cultivating a unique style of cool, subversive gameplay and presenting it in a fun, heartfelt format. For video game enthusiasts, MSG is as tantalizing as a tongue.
I found Skate Story to be astounding, like building a fantastic PC and booting it up for the first time, letting out a whoop when all the lights click into place. Whoever signed this game at Devolver must have felt like they had found a treasure. And they probably did.
Sitting next to Sam Eng (the indie developer behind the game), I played the first part of the game. You’re pushed onto a skateboard in a mysterious ritual (with the vague goal of eating the moon) and then set off on a real skateboarding journey. You start out with no knowledge and no skills. Instead, you learn how to get on and off the board, how to build speed, and how to do simple jumps. At this point, eating the moon seems like an impossible goal, just like becoming a great skateboarder, full of countless failures and huge mistakes. This seems to be what the game is about, a rite of passage full of failures – but you have to keep going. This is my favorite approach to skateboarding games.
As you progress, you’ll gradually master new skills, like kick flips and ollies, and the game doesn’t rush you into new challenges and new tricks, but instead lets you try them out on your own. The game opens doors for you and takes you through these cool corridors, and you just have to get to the end. There are no time limits, no requirements, just a narrow playground for you to play in. Skate Story understands that trying and mastering tricks is its own reward. Skateboarding is cool, you don’t need to force it.
That’s fine on its own, but the way Skate Story presents it takes it to a whole new level. The aesthetic is straight out of VHS “video hell,” with buzzing flames blocking your path and shattering your glass skateboard. The game abruptly switches between midnight modern metropolises, stone ruins, and Y2K vaporwave mind palaces. A lesser game that dropped you into Dante’s Inferno skateboarding story would have plastered it with fire and brimstone, halfpipes, and random tracks ripped straight out of Bam Margera’s garage. Skate Story takes a completely different and frankly unique direction that sets the game apart from the rest of the genre, carving out a home for boundary-pushing creative minds in a corner of the video game industry.
Add to that the soundtrack by Blood Cultures and John Fio, and you’re instantly inside Sam Eng’s head. There’s a paradox here: You can really get lost in the relaxing, upbeat music while your character hurtles down the trail at 50 mph, tumbling over burning thorns. The clash of these opposites is like mixing sea salt and caramel; it elevates the entire experience. I must have looked like a total nerd in that preview room, grinning and nodding my head as I took in the awesome demo of Skate Story.
During previews like this, you usually stop the game for a moment, jot down interesting aspects of the game – things you like or don’t like – then pick up the controller and immediately start playing again. Skate Story had me hooked. So much so that I had to hop on a seat outside the Devolver booth and quickly jot down everything. Skate Story is a game that’s hard to put down.
Oh, and there’s the camera. In a departure from the norm for games of this type, players are presented with a generally lower view of the back and sides of their character’s legs as they skate. This approach, along with the game’s fisheye lens effect, perfectly emulates the legendary skate videos that helped popularize the sport. Pulling off a trick is one thing, but the game seems to know the best position to set the camera so that you can watch from the front row as you pull off the perfect ollie. This visual feast is not only exciting to play, but it’s also equally exciting to watch and hear.
If I were to compare it to a skateboard video right now, I’d say this. The much-anticipated skateboarding game Skate 4 is like the Halloween Hellbomb series. Big, over-the-top. More focused on the hype and over-the-top stunts that are on display – well-loved and widely admired, and a lot of fun. Skate Stories is more like Pizza Skateboard’s Beaks: a lighthearted expression of the love of the sport itself, with a camera right next to the board when the skater lands that golden trick, blood in the mouth and skin falling off be damned.
Skateboard Stories is expected to be released in 2024, which is something you should keep in mind if it sounds like something you’d like.
But I would say that every one of you should put it on your wish list now and buy it when it finally comes out. That OK