Push. Push. Push, push, push, bounce —
All 4 wheels reconnect with the glowing pavement in a slap of crisp plastic and crunching wooden.
Push, push, push, push, bounce 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 chortle, modify the controller in my fingers, and lean ahead. Reset.
Push.
In a hyper-chilled demo house 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 and seize the sensation he usually has whereas skateboarding, invincible in a single second and completely susceptible the following. Fragile, like glass.
Skate Story completely crystallizes this sense. You play because the glass skater, a demon product of translucent ache, and your purpose is to skate to the moon, eat it, and escape this hell. The sport takes place in a collection of surreal playgrounds within the Underworld, providing lengthy catwalks for gaining pace, winding pathways lined with deadly pink 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 normal Xbox controller: Press Y to hop on the board, A to achieve pace, 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 bounce executes a trick. I leaned closely on ollies, kickflips (left set off + B) and grinds (close to a ledge + B), however I additionally landed a couple of strikes that included these inputs plus a nudge of the appropriate analog stick, swapping stances.
As I ollied my method via the Underworld, I encountered quite a lot of floating stone heads — some pleasant, some vicious — and I collected objects to unlock new development areas, slamming my board into the bottom to unravel little puzzles. There was a store with customized decks and components on the market, and wide-open areas for training tips. The demo’s concluding boss struggle, versus an enormous stone thinker’s head no much less, supplied a concrete enviornment for me to carry out tips and deal harm with my rad skateboarding prowess.
I’m craving a couple of uninterrupted hours with the sport, ideally at house and after a couple of edibles, so I can good its mechanics, unlock upgrades and be taught new strikes. I crashed a dozen occasions in my 45-minute demo, usually 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 threat and touchdown a kickflip, reaching peak velocity, feeling utterly free. After which I’d clip a sliver of concrete and the journey 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 relentless buzz of situational consciousness. Quite a bit 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 inconceivable and the one choice is to really feel your method 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 seems like an ideal match.
Skate Story encourages you to enter a peak state early on, solely so you possibly can 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 be taught, recent gear to accumulate and a leveling system to unlock. Skate Story seems like a sport that can simply swallow hours upon hours of my time. As simply as consuming the moon, at the very least.
Skate Story is due out this yr (not 2023, as prompt by the highest trailer) on Steam, developed by Sam Eng and printed by Devolver Digital.
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