A middle path for Skating Games: Skate Story
As previously mentioned in State of the Skateboarding Genre, most skating games today fit neatly into 3 categories: arcade, flick it, and simulation. However, with the release of Skate Story in late 2025, the genre saw an oddity within a scene. On the surface, Skate Story is very much an arcade-style skating game, but rather than relying on well-established elements from the Tony Hawk Pro Skater series, it charts its own path by creating an engaging narrative, a new trick system, boss fights, and a unique soundtrack.
When it comes to narrative design within skating games, most stories for skating games are paper-thin, with a few exceptions here and there. Tony Hawk Pro Skate Underground is an exception with a rags-to-riches story, but what Skate Story does is create a whole new world from the ground up. In Skate Story, you play as a skater made of glass and pain who has made a deal with the devil to eat 7 moons to regain their soul. This journey sees the player skate through the nine circles of hell and engage with many outlandish characters. Your primary guide through this journey is a character called Rabbie, and spoiler alert, this character has some secrets that get revealed within the story. If you pay attention to how other characters perceive this character throughout your journey, you may pick up on one of his secrets. The secret gets fully revealed after eating all 7 moons and attending the banquet. After the banquet, the game goes into some pretty meta territory where the skater’s morale is absolutely tarnished, and you spend a good chunk of the final chapters of the game rebuilding your morale. I personally find this section of the game to be similar to the process of a skater relearning how to skate after a serious injury, particularly when a character says something along the lines of “you can walk, you can skate.” Now, I have no direct experience with this process. But I have had a few family members have some pretty nasty injuries that required months of physical therapy, so I know that process of regaining morale to do something again can be pretty hard. I can also relate through the lens of being a game designer; it’s been difficult to find work in the industry, and there have been times when I had to step away from my job search because it has felt like climbing a massive mountain. I am pretty sure this type of messaging isn’t unique to Skate Story, but the way the game delivers it is so striking and personal that it’s hard not to praise it.
Another thing that really stands out about this experience is the trick system that Sam Eng designed. On paper, it sounds extremely weird to use bumper and triggers to perform flip tricks, but it feels smooth once you get the hang of it. I especially love the timing mechanics of the trick system, where you can try to pop a trick at the perfect time to get additional points. The more complicated the trick, the harder it is to land the perfect time bonus, but failing this bonus doesn’t feel like a massive loss; if anything, it just feels like a chance to claim bragging rights. Bailing in this game is also very unique; instead of the simple bail and getting back seen in other skating games, this game sees your character break into a million pieces, and the camera violently rolls onto the ground to mirror a tumbling effect.
However, the thing that really drives the novelty of Skate Story’s gameplay design is the boss fights. The inclusion of boss fights really mixes up the formula of the genre, and it complements the trick system in a way that makes pulling off combos extremely rewarding. Traditionally, you would see a goal like scoring x amount within this time limit. Skate Story does things a bit differently; instead of this traditional goal, it focuses on energetic boss fights that test the player’s ability to perform combos. However, the combo system works a little differently from other games, and you have to lock in your score by pressing square or X to stomp your board against the ground. The combo system is similar to Tony Hawk Pro Skater Underground’s off-board extender, but instead of a set time to perform a trick to extend your combo, your overall score starts to decrease. I find this change to present the player with an interesting choice: keep pushing and risk bailing your line, or lock in your score to attack the boss fight. Sometimes, the boss fight requires the player to slam within a certain area to deal damage, which adds another layer of timing and placement to the combo system. Most of the boss fights in this game aren’t particularly difficult either, so it’s mainly just a place to perform some sick combos and see how fast you can deplete the health bar.
I think the thing that really seals the deal and makes Skate Story unforgettable to me is the game’s soundtrack. Music and skateboarding games go hand in hand; music has always been a key part of skating games. When Tony Hawk Pro Skater came out, it introduced different types of music to gamers. I have always been impressed by the licensed tracks in the genre, but yet again, Skate Story breaks from convention and only uses music from the band Blood Cultures. Not only did the game license music from the band, but the band also wrote music for the game. Their latest album is actually the first volume of the Skate Story OST. The other volume of the soundtrack is hub music composed by John Fio and is equally good. But for when things get really going, Blood Cultures come in, and the game cranks things up to 11. Some of the boss fights get pretty crazy with music and lighting. The last major fight is a standout, with the track "Hole In The Sun" playing and a ton of white light whirling around.
Overall, this game is a blast and is well worth the price of admission and your time. It brings a ton of new ideas to the genre and is not afraid to be weird. If you enjoy games like Journey, Death Stranding, and skating games in general, this is a must-play. Not only does the game provide an engaging story, but it also has new game plus, free skate, and the ability to replay boss fights, which addresses my few nitpicks with the game.
