Skate Story

A masterpiece from start to finish. Incredible visuals, gameplay to match, and even better music.

I beat this in a single 4 hour sitting a month ago, I have not stopped thinking about it since.

I'd been interested in Blood Cultures, Skateboarding, and esoteric concepts like this ever since high school, but even though there was no way I wouldn't love this game, I don't think that conveys how special it is to me. I wanna break down why this game means so much to me in points: - As far as gameplay, I never played games like Skate or Tony Hawk's pro skater growing up, so I can't speak to the relative quality of the skateboarding, but it feels ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ great. It feels so crazy natural to string together the craziest lines and I'm really happy with the variety of tricks, it's just straight up fun, and it was a beautiful choice to have the narrative fit such a challenging activity in a way that feels like it rewards trying and failing with the near instant death and instant respawn. - Blood Cultures is now officially one of my favorite bands ever, I don't know if I could've ever named a band with a sound that'd fit this game as perfectly as theirs does, but there sure as hell isn't any better. The dreamlike quality of their vocals combined with instrumentals that are far from shy at getting ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ real in high tension scenes make this game what it is. Skate Story can't exist as it does to me now without them. - The story is the kind of weird esoteric art that inspires my own creative expression (that goes for the art style too). The skater's struggle speaks to me on such a personal level as a skateboarder that I could never convey as well as this game does on it's own. There's a level of frustration I think anyone goes through with their skateboarding that can feel so unseen, especially in a context like skateboarding where it often feels like no one else is really as invested as you if you don't have many or any skater friends like the skater. It's something that inspires me to get out there and make skate homies and get better at skating - TLDR; This is one of my favorite games ever now, I'm skating regularly again, and I will be dressing as the skater somehow this Halloween, 100/10