Skate Story hands-on: Kick, push, shatter

Push. Push. Push, push, push, soar —

All 4 wheels reconnect with the glowing pavement in a slap of crisp plastic and crunching wooden.

Push, push, push, push, soar kickflip —

One other slam, a fast screech.

Push, push, push, ju —

A shattering crash. The world flips on its head in an explosion of glittering blacks and iridescent pinks. I set free a small snort, regulate the controller in my fingers, and lean ahead. Reset.

Push.

In a hyper-chilled demo area at Summer time Sport Fest, Skate Story creator Sam Eng drew an image of a flaming skateboard on a enterprise card whereas I performed his sport, sometimes lifting his head to giggle at my crashes and reply my questions. He described Skate Story as an try to seize the sensation he typically has whereas skateboarding, invincible in a single second and totally weak the subsequent. Fragile, like glass.

Skate Story completely crystallizes this sense. You play because the glass skater, a demon made from translucent ache, and your objective is to skate to the moon, eat it, and escape this hell. The sport takes place in a sequence of surreal playgrounds within the Underworld, providing lengthy catwalks for gaining velocity, winding pathways lined with deadly crimson shards, and open areas dotted in concrete ramps, gaps and waxed ledges. The Satan and his minions are your enemies, and their solely weaknesses are your candy tips.

Skate Story is coming to PC and I performed the demo with a regular Xbox controller: Press Y to hop on the board, A to realize velocity, X to powerslide and B to ollie. Holding A pushes the glass skater ahead in a gradual rhythm, holding B does the next ollie, and mixing the set off and bumper buttons with a soar executes a trick. I leaned closely on ollies, kickflips (left set off + B) and grinds (close to a ledge + B), however I additionally landed just a few strikes that included these inputs plus a nudge of the appropriate analog stick, swapping stances.

As I ollied my manner via the Underworld, I encountered a wide range of floating stone heads — some pleasant, some vicious — and I collected objects to unlock new development areas, slamming my board into the bottom to resolve little puzzles. There was a store with customized decks and elements on the market, and wide-open areas for practising tips. The demo’s concluding boss struggle, versus a large stone thinker’s head no much less, supplied a concrete area for me to carry out tips and deal injury with my rad skateboarding prowess.

I’m craving just a few uninterrupted hours with the sport, ideally at dwelling and after just a few edibles, so I can excellent its mechanics, unlock upgrades and study new strikes. I crashed a dozen instances in my 45-minute demo, typically in the identical spot repeatedly and at all times with a powerful, shattering explosion — however resets have been swift and never too punishing. The crash at all times hit more durable after I’d discovered a stream state, holding down A to push and leaping easily over neon spikes embedded within the shimmering black asphalt, taking a danger and touchdown a kickflip, reaching peak velocity, feeling fully free. After which I’d clip a sliver of concrete and the trip could be over, sudden and harsh. In Skate Story, sidewalk-high edges are simply as harmful as glowing-red obstacles, and the sport requires a continuing buzz of situational consciousness. Lots like skateboarding in actual life, I’d wager.

Skate Story induces a limbo-like haze via its mechanical rhythm, VHS-filtered visuals and the fixed, low whoosh of the glass skater’s wheels rolling throughout the Underworld’s concrete. Technique turns into not possible and the one possibility is to really feel your manner via the brutalist, pearlescent landscapes. The sport’s soundtrack is supplied by New York artist Blood Cultures and it is a soothing, lo-fi vibe fest, like OlliOlli’s stream music however with a distorted edge. It appears like an ideal match.

Skate Story encourages you to enter a peak state early on, solely so you may chase that feeling the remainder of the sport. It’s an extremely compelling loop, with room for payoff or failure in each push.

The Underworld is a lot bigger than the slice I explored in Skate Story’s Summer time Sport Fest demo. The total sport has greater than 70 tips to study, recent gear to amass and a leveling system to unlock. Skate Story appears like a sport that may simply swallow hours upon hours of my time. As simply as consuming the moon, not less than.

Skate Story is due out this 12 months (not 2023, as instructed by the highest trailer) on Steam, developed by Sam Eng and revealed by Devolver Digital.

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