Skate Story Review

They called me “Mr Glass”...

Skating as self-expression has always, always been at the fore of the activity. We say activity in this sense because skating isn’t always a competition. Like surfing or snowboarding or wakeboarding, how you approach the contraption beneath your feet is, frankly, your personal jam. Your line. Your expression.

This reviewer knows when I rolled, it certainly was mine.

How skaters use this, external to the activity, is an interesting thing. As is representation of it. From hilarious flicks like Gleaming the Cube that utilised a checkerplate fatty likely heavier than both 3rd-Phase Boss office pugs, combined, in its final act to bring down the movie’s big bad, to the dystopian (and currently on-the-nose) Prayer of the Roller Boys that attempted to amplify the menace of inline skating to cultish levels (which visually worked, to be honest), the worlds of so-called “action sports” can be misrepresented or misunderstood to dizzying degrees.

We mean, Point Break… ‘nuff said.

So when the actual owners of this expression are able to create from their own interpretation of things, it’s worth taking a look. Particularly in games. And, particularly, in skateboarding. As is the case with Skate Story -- a veritable tale and experience in three parts, wrapped in an all too familiar (if you skate) sheen. It’s off the wall and dark and intentionally in-house, in terms of its expression of self, and it never fails to deliver something fun and unique. Like walking through a living alleyway in any one graf-centric city, where art and tags and fleeting existences thrive and metamorphose from one day, or name, to the next into, well… anything, Skate Story feels like an animated love letter to expression.

Sam Eng’s ‘solo’ spin on this is a celebration of that, and then some. But it’s also a game with goals and rules and ceilings. At times it sings and flows and is as beautiful in motion as the art dictating it, while at others it’s blunted and confined, sharp and unforgiving, like the polygonal angles and vertices that allow it to go on, wire-frame-like. These moments can also feel like ‘Pig Ears’ to the overall flow of things (IYKYK), essentially halting any sense of fluidity to proceedings, which it feels like the game is striving for. These are disparate moments too, hence the “experience in three parts” shout above. But before we get ahead of ourselves, we need to do something about that moon shining ever so bright… we need some sleep over here; after a feed, natch.

Skate Story

Genre: Skating-Adventure
Developer: Sam Eng
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Release Date: December 8, 2025
Classification: M 15+
Author: Stephen Farrelly
Date: December 30, 2025

Thrasher Shatter

A young demon can’t sleep because the moon is too bright, so like any proactive youngster, he makes a deal with the devil to be made out of glass, is given a skateboard and tasked with eating the ever bright and glowing celestial body keeping him up at night(?). The catch? You have to skate, and skate hard. But, in equal measure to your hunger and desire for sleep comes the “what’s in the box?!” moment -- successfully chomp on the moon and you’re free of the Underworld. As in, no longer even here, just off on your own to, you know, create your own line.

An obviously impossible task. 

"It’s a ludicrous story, but affords Eng a chance to put whatever the fuck he wants in his game from a visual and play perspective..."

The devil’s in the details of course, and like any good contract with the prince(s) of darkness, it’s never as easy as all of that, with philosophers and Karens and all manner of impediment thwarting your self expression and dictated requirement to nom on a delicious slice of glass-laden cheese. It’s a ludicrous story, but affords Eng a chance to put whatever the fuck he wants in his game from a visual and play perspective, and that works. It could also be seen as a commentary on games of this nature ever actually needing a story at all, because they largely (and realistically) don’t.

Still, Skate Story’s narrative works because it allows us to not just celebrate the act of skating, but the art that surrounds it. The whole game is a love letter to both skate culture and New York as a skating and artistic playground. Unapologetically so, and that works for it. Each line muttered throughout could be emblazoned on a skate-related sticker or t-shirt. Its humour and absurdity feel like in-jokes, because they are. The game, while available to millions, is a veritable clubhouse and your genuine place in the real-world will define whether you get VIP and mosh pit access, or are ushered to the nose bleeds to squint and hope you understand what the fuck’s going on.

A Philosophy of One

From an overall perspective, Skate Story is almost a rhythm game. The moment Blood Cultures’ “Glass” kicks in, you absolutely want your skills to match the oozing levels of cool threatening to burst from the panel or screen in front of you. It’s a neat gameplay tool not too distinct from any up and comer watching any skate vid and wanting to match a line -- and accompanying track -- to their expression. This is either intentional or a basic byproduct of the motion and representation of skating in general, but it works, either way.

"On paper skateboarding is simple, except it’s not and the game celebrates this through nuance..."

What stands out also is that the experience feels personal. This feeds into the abstract tale at play but, more importantly, how you approach the game at all. You don’t have access to all tricks out of the gate, for example, but when you learn them they’re cheekily embedded into your reactive button-presses. The old three-and-own rule is sadly missing and would have been cool (read our “Would you like to know more?” box out for… MORE!) but what you get here is still a genuine sense of timing. Unlike, say, a THPS, Skate Story opts for a more analogue setup -- the longer you hold, the higher you ollie, the better you time, the better the trick. It’s simple because on paper skateboarding is simple, except it’s not and the game celebrates this through nuance. 

The issue with the above is that even when you know all the game’s available skills, it’s only genuinely set up to be used in the single line moments. The ‘park’ areas are barren and the camera, while trying to always be stylish, never plays nice. You can nab a cool screenie from proceedings, but chances are the trick itself was never landed and the captured style never hit pavement; remaining, forever, in the minds of those looking at a static image and not the full motion of events. This, while jumbly to think about, is what sets the game at odds with itself.

Would you like to know more?
In most 'action sports' the concept of landing (and sticking) a trick three times without bailing means you own that trick now. It's an obvious psychological take, but sets itself up as a great way for punters to achieve their goal. There's no actual name for it, so we just opted for the "three-and-own" line, but don't expect that to take off... unless we use it three times in consecutive reviews. Hrm...

Kick Push

Skate Story sings when you’re pushed in a straight line. We could have lived entirely with this part of the game as its so(u)l(/)e purpose; push, gain momentum, ollie to the nth degree, pull tricks at a whim’s notice (int), land… repeat. The overall nature of things isn’t lost with the whole package as is, though, as well as from a perspective of cultural representation. But we look, maybe oddly, at the likes of Ollie Ollie World for… more. That game embraced its strengths and capitalised on them from a puzzle-based perspective, and succeeded with infinitely challenging gameplay. Skate Story needed similar direction, and while it could be argued that’s not the point of the game, we need to then address its inclusion of goals and a direction at all. Skate Story’s trials and ‘open’ sections feel tacked-on rather than fully realised and, despite the sheen, come across as almost distracting from getting to the pertinent task at hand -- eating the moon. 

"The oxymoron here being, this is a love-letter to a culture-locked pastime, but it wants everyone to be able to do it..."

The game’s animations and controls are great, but limited in terms of your use of them and as a result we get a game trying to be more than it is actually offering. The oxymoron here being, this is a love-letter to a culture-locked pastime, but it wants everyone to be able to do it.

It’s, therefore, a difficult game to review because… what is it?

If it’s a love-letter to skating with interaction and art, then it’s a winner. But the hardfails and skill ceiling make it a game, but its gaming elements feel forced and not in line with what it wants to be. Is it, then, purely a celebration of self accompanied by music and movement, as many a rhythm game is? We’d argue more pointedly in the realm of the latter, peppered with the rest throughout. There’s no question Skate Story knows skateboarding and street culture, but in terms of turning those things into a wholly functioning and rewarding game, it has its Pig Ears.

What’s Boss?

  • Great presentation
  • Excellent animations, specifically around skating
  • A wonderful soundtrack that fits everything
  • Off the wall elements pulled directly from skate culture (and NYC)





Not Boss Enough?

  • Lacks depth
  • Its flow interrupts itself with ‘open’ moments
  • Doesn’t wholly embrace the fact it’s a rhythm game overall





A demon can't sleep and so sparks up a deal with the devil in an effort to escape the Underworld. His task: eat the moon and skateboard. Simple, right?

Learn about our reviews

About the Author

Written By Stephen Farrelly
Stephen Farrelly is a veteran journalist and editor with more than two decades experience in the worlds of gaming, entertainment, lifestyle and sport. He is a proud pug dad, loves art in all forms (particularly street and tattoo culture), and is the director of Swear Jar Editorial and Media Pty Ltd, this site's owner and publisher. When not dispensing words, he's also dispensing boutique beers as a taproom fixture at Bracket Brewing in Marrickville, NSW...
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