I feel like I need to create a new shelf for a subset of games that this slots into. I'm talking about games that take slightly niche sports and create fantastical gameworlds around these sports. I'm talking about Rollerdrome (roller derby) and Wheel World (cycling) and now this game.

Skate Story is definitely the most fantastical of all, taking the protagonist through layers of hell as imagined by a surrealist skatepark designer. The game references Alice in Wonderland, Greek mythology, and the modern urban pave-scape along the way. There are humorous and memorable characters along the way, many of whom serve no purpose but to provide anti-lore drops. I say anti-lore because the game seems more interested in providing a sense of poetry and fun gameplay than in having the player understand anything about the wacky world our hero must get through.

The game itself is generally quite forgiving in its gameplay. There are a few challenges that are time-limited but those rarely posed a problem. In line with some of the other ways the lone dev who built this artistic masterpiece ignored perceived wisdom, the most difficult part of the game was a random timed obstacle course about 3/4 of the way through the game. By comparison, the final boss was nothing.

I played this on my Steam Deck. I likely missed out on some of the beauty a larger screen and better graphics card would offer but it worked perfectly.

Definitely a recommend. Totally worth a try so long as you don't demand a truly difficult challenge.

Wow okay yeah this is great. Incredible vibes and gameplay and just loved the ending sequence.

Just felt so good slowly learning how to skate more and do more tricks, and it's just so fun to roll around doing some dumb stuff with the board. Also just love the visuals and the overall silliness of the story. It also kind of ends up feeling a bit emotional too which was nice.

I also love Blood Culture's Happy Birthday album so hearing songs from that was a really nice surprise, and fit the vibe a lot better than I expected.

There are some flaws of course, I feel like some of the ideas here weren't fully fleshed out such as the zones where you can kind of explore as they don't really feel all that enjoyable. Also some of the techniques seem kinda redundant such as being able to close sewer grates. The currency as a whole too seems kind of whatever since you get so much from the normal story and it ultimately isn't used for much. Idk not huge complains from my end but it just kinda highlights that there are some things lacking that imo would have elevated this game even more if they were fully present and fleshed out.

That being said though this is still a great game that is just so fun to play and clearly made with so much passion. Probably like a 4.5 from me.

Lowkey wish this had an endless mode so I could just play it when I'm bored, since I'm not the type to want to go through the entire main story again. Just kinda wanna skate through the portal sequences with some music.