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Skate Story Review: A Fine Skating Game With a Big Message About Art

Skate Story’s glass-demon journey is stranger and more artistically ambitious than its button-based skating. The review finds a memorable world, but less compelling trick feel and freeform practice.
Length3 min Posted Quest giverVGSources Team
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Skate Story is most compelling when it treats skateboarding as a way to move through a strange, expressive world—not when it asks you to master its tricks. In the review published December 9, 2025, the reviewer found the skating competent but less tactile than Skate’s Flick-It controls, while the glass-demon premise and dreamlike Underworld gave the game its lasting force. The result is an uneven skating game with a memorable artistic ambition.

What is Skate Story?

Skate Story casts you as a demon made of glass and pain, sent to skate through the Underworld, reach the Moon, and swallow it in exchange for freedom. That premise appears in both the review and Steam’s official listing, which describes nine layers of the Underworld, skate trials, gear progression, and more than 70 tricks. Those are store-page feature claims, not a measure of how much playtime or variety every player will experience.

The world is New York-inflected and deliberately uncanny. A frog sells warm milk, a trash can talks, a rabbit grumbles about subway fare enforcement, and a sentient laundry bag turns up among the characters. The reviewer found this surrealism charming overall, though some images feel more random or opaque than meaningful.

How does the skating feel?

The reviewer’s central reservation is that the tricks work, but do not have the physicality of Skate’s Flick-It system. Inputs map logically to foot positions, yet the execution still feels like pressing buttons rather than physically shaping a trick. That distinction matters most if your main reason to play is to learn a control system and enjoy the tactile satisfaction of repeating and refining moves.

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The structure also limits how freely that practice develops. The review describes a loop of hub plazas, linear passages, and rooms where players must land tricks in marked areas. Challenges give the skating direction, but the reviewer felt that the slow arrival of new moves and the funnel toward these challenge rooms made freeform practice less compelling.

Does Skate Story’s art and story make up for it?

For this reviewer, the answer is mostly yes. Glass-and-diamond visuals, a dreamlike city, and the odd characters give the journey a distinct identity. The game invites a reading of skateboarding as artistic expression rather than simply a cool sport; that possibility is the source of its ambition and much of its appeal.

Rank #2
Mnkymnd Games: Skate Park - Trick Playing Card Game, Create Obstacles, Roll to Land Your Tricks, Party & Family Play, Ages 8+, 1-3 Players, 10-20 Min
  • TRICK PLAYING & DICE ROLLING: Prove you're the best skater by executing tricks over obstacles in this fast-paced trick game. Win each obstacle tile by playing and landing the highest scoring skate trick from your hand.
  • SKATE FOR POINTS: Play tricks and execute them with successful rolls to try and win each Obstacle. Each Trick has a different winning score, cost and chance of success. Choose wisely, or hit the concrete!
  • QUALITY COMPONENTS: Internal box graphics, screen printed wooden skater, skateboard, and wheel tokens, custom printed die, 310gsm cards, and double-sided tiles. QUICK TO PLAY & LEARN: Games last around 10-20 minutes.
  • SMALL IN SIZE: A small, lightweight flip-top box containing a bite-sized game inside. Its compact size lets you take it on the go, allowing you to play anytime, anywhere. Small but mighty game. EXECUTE TRICKS IN STYLE!
  • GREAT FILLER OR FAMILY FUN: Perfect for family game nights or casual gatherings, this game offers exciting gameplay for players ages 8 and up. Easy to learn and enjoy, it’s fun for both seasoned gamers and beginners alike!

Its symbolism does not resolve into one clear message. Some images make their point plainly, others invite interpretation, and some remain unclear. The reviewer’s response is therefore not that every surreal detail carries a legible meaning, but that the world is memorable enough to make the question of meaning part of the experience.

Is Skate Story worth playing?

If you want a highly tactile skating simulator or a wide-open space for practicing tricks, the review’s reservations are significant. Its controls are button-based, and its level flow repeatedly steers you toward defined challenges. Players more interested in a singular setting, striking art direction, and a story that uses skateboarding to reach beyond the sport may find more to appreciate.

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The review also reports one progression-blocking bug that required reloading a level. That is a single incident in the reviewer’s prerelease PS5 play, not evidence that the game has a widespread or currently unresolved bug.

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Platforms, release, and controller support

The review names Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, and Windows PC, and says the reviewer played on PS5 using a prerelease code from Devolver Digital. Steam lists Sam Eng as developer, Devolver Digital as publisher, and December 8, 2025 as the release date; its page also lists macOS system requirements. Platform availability can vary by store and region, so check the relevant storefront before buying.

Steam lists full controller support, including DualSense, and recommends playing with a controller. A compatible controller is optional, not a requirement. Steam’s listing is a digital purchase page; a physical edition is not established by the available information.

At the time Steam was accessed on October 8, 2026, it showed 97% positive among 2,097 English-language reviews and 97% among 78 recent reviews. These are changing storefront snapshots, not a formal score for the review discussed here.

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Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

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