You start as a shard of a thing — a demon made of glass handed a skateboard and a contract. The premise couldn’t be stranger: eat the moons of the underworld to win back your soul. From there, Skate Story unspools as equal parts skate sim and fever dream, a game that asks you to string together tricks the way a poet strings words, and then throws eldritch moons and skeletal philosophers into the rhythm.
A game you can feel under your wheels
Mechanically, Skate Story is mercilessly focused on momentum and flow. The controls are lean: shoulder buttons shift foot positions, a tap does an ollie, and a handful of longer combinations unlock harder flips and slides. That smaller trick pool is deceptive — it’s enough to build long, satisfying combos once you learn how to steer the board and the camera into the right angles. Collisions are meaningful: shatter too hard and your glass protagonist explodes into thousands of pieces. But restarts are immediate, which keeps the pressure electric rather than punitive.
The game alternates between two speeds. In linear, corridor-like chapters you’re hurtling through tight gauntlets — portals, spikes, and rhythmic hazards — aiming for speed, trick variety and timing. Then there are the open hub areas where you wander, chat with weird local fauna (a pigeon blogger; a frog barista), and take on errands that increasingly feel like small, absurd plays. Boss encounters cap many chapters and they’re structured like dances: you perform combos to charge attacks, then land a finishing stomp to deal damage. When those elements click — music, level design, and precise execution — it’s one of those rare videogame moments that feels transcendent.
A lot of that transcendence rides on the soundtrack. Blood Cultures’ score is a pulse: it shoos you into that flow state and then pushes you harder during the moon battles. Coupled with the game’s visual filters — jagged, gothic palettes softened by unexpectedly cute NPCs — Skate Story winds up looking and sounding like nothing else on store shelves this season.
Personality, absurdity and a few rough edges
Skate Story’s soul is its absurdist writing and the warmth beneath the aesthetic. The underworld is filled with small, funny touches: running the devil’s laundry, bagel shops staffed by anthropomorphic creatures, even a cheeky jab at generative AI on a default skateboard skin. Those moments stop the game from tipping into pure pretension; they humanize a weird quest to swallow moons.
Critically, the game isn’t flawless. Several reviewers have flagged the hub areas as undercooked: they invite exploration but don’t always reward it in a meaningful way. Shops sell cosmetic decks and parts, but changes are mostly skin-deep and don’t alter how the board handles, which made the currency grind feel optional rather than compelling. The narrative pacing also wobbles; chapters can crescendo and then oddly deflate, giving the impression of repeats rather than a single, rising arc.
Technical performance varies by platform. The Switch 2 release looks and sounds terrific, but can suffer from frame dips and unstable framerates in busier scenes — a caveat if you plan to play handheld. The game’s Verified rating on handheld-friendly platforms gives hope that you’ll be able to take it on the go, but expect trade-offs when particle effects and shaders go full spectacle. For readers tracking the newer hardware ecosystem, Nintendo’s unexpectedly strong console momentum makes this a well-timed release; the Switch 2 has been selling very well lately and is part of why indies get noticed on the platform Nintendo Raises Switch 2 Forecast as Console Sales Soar. And if you’re a Deck owner who keeps an eye on handheld ergonomics, the broader Steam Deck improvements are easing the portable play experience for ambitious indies Steam Deck Gains Long‑Requested ‘Display‑Off’ Low‑Power Download Mode.
A couple of other practical notes: Skate Story is compact — many players finish it in a single sitting or two, and it’s built as a tight, one-and-done piece of creative expression rather than a multiplayer or endlessly repeatable sports sim. That design choice will delight some and frustrate others who wanted more post-credits modes.
If you’re choosing where to play, the game ships on PS5, PC and Switch 2 — and it’s a title that leans into the sensory strengths of big consoles as much as portable boxes. If you want to enjoy it on a high-end TV, a beefy console like the PS5 or its future iterations will showcase the spectacle best; the PS5 Pro is the obvious hardware pick for players who want the smoothest big-screen presentation.
Skate Story is one of those rare indie releases that feels like an auteur’s cassette tape: idiosyncratic, occasionally raw around the edges, but filled with a personal logic and a stubborn belief in its own weirdness. When it works, the game turns skateboarding into something poetic — a way to move through an idea instead of simply through a level. When it falters, you notice the seams. That tension between art and craft is precisely what makes Sam Eng’s underworld worth visiting.
Release: December 8, 2025. Platforms: PS5, PC, Nintendo Switch 2.