Info about Skate Story: Official game description: You are a demon in the Underworld, made out of glass and pain. The Devil has given you a skateboard with a simple deal: Skate to the Moon and swallow it — and you shall be freed. Ollie, kickflip, and grind your way through the ash and smoke of The Emptylands as you take on a seemingly impossible quest. Learn to master your weight and motion to conquer the weeping concrete. Savour the ritualistic beauty as you set your feet to pop a perfect kickflip. Skate fast to destroy vicious demons, help a forgetful frog, and save other tortured souls on your journey from fragile beginner to hardened skater. Push through hell and discover The Devil’s greatest weakness: humility, perseverance, and a disgustingly sweet backside tailslide. All you need is your skateboard. Stylish Street Skating Adventure -------------------------------- Skate through nine layers of The Underworld. Cruise through streets and surreal landscapes full of waxed ledges, unholy gaps, and tortured demons. Push your way through precarious paths and shred freeform skate spots. Discover and create your own challenges as you explore the world and master your board. Succumb To The Beauty of The Board ---------------------------------- Sell your soul for decks, wheels, and trucks to keep your skating fresh. Over 70+ skate tricks to progress and improve. Complete skate trials to level up, learn new tricks, and get new gear. Destroy vicious demons with your 360 flip… or at least impress them. Hypnotic Beats for Demonic Streets ---------------------------------- Cruise through The Underworld to a psychedelic soundtrack by enigmatic New York artist Blood Cultures, and additional tracks by John Fio. Release date: Dec 8, 2025 Categories: Skateboarding Gameplay, Single-player Story, Surreal Exploration, Character Progression, Trick-based Gameplay, Narrative Adventure, Open-World Exploration, Skill-Based Mastery - Hardware Profile: No data Feature extractions: - Community Price: No data - Playtime Metrics: No data - Time-to-fun: No data - Player Archetypes: No data Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category. Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews. What players like: - Exceptional soundtrack integration (weight 0.97): The soundtrack, particularly by Blood Cultures, is highlighted as a standout feature. Players describe it as one of the best they've ever heard, with seamless integration into gameplay that enhances immersion and emotional impact. The music is frequently mentioned as a reason to purchase the OST. - Highly polished and immersive experience (weight 0.93): Players consistently describe the game as a masterpiece, praising its cohesive design, tight controls, and immersive atmosphere. The game's ability to blend visuals, music, mechanics, and storytelling into a seamless experience is frequently highlighted as a major strength. - Strong emotional and philosophical resonance (weight 0.84): The game's themes of purpose, fragility, and freedom, combined with its surreal and abstract presentation, create a deeply resonant experience. Players describe feeling a strong personal connection to the game, with its metaphors and storytelling evoking introspection and emotional reactions. - Visually stunning and cohesive art style (weight 0.71): Players consistently praise the game's unique and immersive visuals, describing it as 'pure art' and 'visually stunning.' The cohesive blend of art direction, aesthetics, and world-building creates a hypnotic and evocative experience that stands out in the gaming landscape. - Innovative and satisfying skateboarding mechanics (weight 0.5): The game's skateboarding mechanics are praised for their technical depth, accessibility, and fluidity. Players appreciate the gradual learning curve, unique trick system, and the satisfying feeling of movement, which sets it apart from other skateboarding games. The mechanics are described as both chill and wildly creative. - Compelling and unique narrative (weight 0.48): The game's story is described as engaging, poetic, and thought-provoking, blending skateboarding with surreal and philosophical themes. Players highlight the narrative's ability to evoke strong emotions and its unique take on the skateboarding genre, which feels like a love letter to street skating. - Great value and replayability (weight 0.45): Players describe the game as worth its full price, with many considering it a must-buy. The progression system, arcade-style gameplay, and creative combo mechanics add to its replayability, making it a highly enjoyable and rewarding experience. - Chill and relaxing vibe (weight 0.43): The game's atmosphere is frequently described as chill and relaxing, offering a thoughtful and peaceful experience akin to a walk on an autumn night. This vibe resonates with players, making the game enjoyable even outside of its core mechanics. - Engaging NPCs and dialogue (weight 0.06): Players highlight the game's NPCs as feeling alive and engaging, with dialogue that delivers memorable and impactful lines. The interactions and world-building contribute to the game's immersive and unique atmosphere. - Memorable and humorous storytelling (weight 0.06): The game's writing is praised for its uniqueness and humor, with players highlighting specific characters and moments that stand out. The blend of surreal themes and lighthearted humor creates a memorable and engaging narrative experience. Common complaints: - Controls are unintuitive and buggy (weight 0.14): Players report issues with keyboard/mouse controls being overly complex, unresponsive, or poorly optimized for certain devices (e.g., Hyperkin Duke controller). Keybinding settings also suffer from bugs, such as incorrect key displays and rebinding failures. These issues significantly impact gameplay fluidity and accessibility. - Performance and optimization problems (weight 0.13): The game exhibits frame-skipping, mini-teleports, and stuttering even on high-end PCs, making it feel unoptimized. Some players also report software conflicts (e.g., Discord) and issues with mouse view resetting after cutscenes. These problems detract from the overall experience and may render the game unplayable for some. - Story and narrative shortcomings (weight 0.11): Players describe the story as obtuse, convoluted, or lacking depth in character development. The absence of NPC voice acting and reliance on low-poly statue dialogue further detract from immersion and narrative cohesion. - Short length and perceived overpricing (weight 0.1): The game is criticized for its short playtime (around 5 hours) and a price point ($20) that players feel is too high for the content provided. Some suggest it should be priced closer to $7-10. This sentiment is compounded by a lack of polish and linear storytelling. - Publisher bias and niche comparisons (weight 0.04): A subset of feedback is driven by personal biases, such as dislike for the publisher (Devolver) or comparisons to other niche parkour/skateboarding games. This feedback is less constructive and may reflect review-bombing tendencies. - Limited tricks and gameplay depth (weight 0.02): Some players express a desire for more tricks or gameplay variety, acknowledging the game's design constraints. While not a widespread issue, it highlights a potential area for expansion or refinement in future updates. Gameplay feedback: - Surreal, narrative-driven environments (weight 0.21): The game blends skateboarding with surreal, infernal landscapes and abstract environments, such as a quest to 'devour the moon.' These settings are tied to a narrative that explores themes like mental and physical challenges, often using metaphors like a glass demon. - Gradual skateboarding mechanics introduction (weight 0.19): The game is praised for its gradual introduction of skateboarding mechanics, including tutorials and a trick system that is manageable for new players. This approach helps players learn and create their own combos as they progress, making the experience accessible and engaging. - Unique movement and trick system (weight 0.18): The game features a distinct movement and trick system that differs from established franchises like Tony Hawk's and Skate. It uses a button-mashing trick system, which adds a fresh and unique gameplay dynamic. - Fast-paced, creative obstacle navigation (weight 0.07): Players must react quickly to obstacles while moving at high speeds, requiring wild movements and creativity. This mechanic adds a layer of intensity and uniqueness to the gameplay experience. - Forgiving difficulty compared to Souls-like games (weight 0.03): Unlike punishing games like Dark Souls, this game is noted for being more forgiving when players fail or die, making it more accessible to a broader audience. Performance notes: - Third-party app interference (weight 0.03): Performance issues may be linked to background applications like Discord, as closing it improved smoothness to 140 FPS. This suggests potential conflicts with other software. - Optimized for low-end hardware (weight 0.03): The game runs well on lower-end systems, indicating effective performance optimization for a broader range of hardware configurations. - Temporary tutorial hint toggle (weight 0.03): Players can temporarily disable tutorial hints in gameplay settings to resolve navigation issues in the pause menu, offering a workaround for UI-related frustrations. - Cutscene reset fixes input issue (weight 0.02): Re-entering a cutscene appears to resolve mouse view problems, suggesting a temporary fix for input-related glitches during gameplay transitions. Recommendations: - Highly recommended at full price (weight 0.33): A significant portion of players strongly recommend purchasing the game at its current price, often calling it a standout title and worth the wait. Many consider it a contender for Game of the Year and praise its value for money. - GOTY potential and critical acclaim (weight 0.32): Multiple players declare the game as their Game of the Year (GOTY) for 2025, praising its quality and impact. The feedback highlights the game's potential to be recognized as one of the best titles of the year. - Demo encouraged before purchase (weight 0.26): Several players suggest trying the demo before buying the game, indicating that while the game is highly praised, its appeal may vary depending on individual preferences. This feedback is constructive and actionable for potential buyers. - Appeals to broad audience (weight 0.13): The game is highly recommended not only to fans of specific genres like skateboarding or shooters but also to a broader audience. Players describe it as a masterpiece that defies expectations and delivers a unique experience. Other player notes: - Game length concerns vs. value (weight 0.13): Players compare the game's length and value to other titles like Hollow Knight, noting that while the game is enjoyable, its playtime may not justify its price for some. However, many still appreciate the experience despite this concern. - Strong developer admiration (weight 0.1): Players express deep gratitude and support for the developer, Sam Eng, often citing long-term anticipation and emotional investment in the game's release. This reflects a loyal and engaged fanbase. - Unique artistic and immersive style (weight 0.09): The game is praised for its distinct 'Vaporwave noir' aesthetic and surreal, trance-like immersion. Players describe it as a postmodern revelation with a hallucinogenic atmosphere, contributing to its memorable experience. - Preference over EA Skate series (weight 0.03): Players favor this game over the EA Skate series, citing a better balance of fun over realism. This suggests the game successfully captures a more enjoyable arcade-like skating experience. - Desire for custom map creation (weight 0.03): Players express interest in a feature allowing them to create their own maps, indicating a demand for expanded content and creative freedom within the game. - UI overlap quick fix suggestion (weight 0.02): A player provides a specific, actionable solution for a UI overlap issue in the pause menu by adjusting the z-order. This constructive feedback could improve user experience with minimal effort. - Skip contract-signing intro request (weight 0.02): A player inquires about skipping the introductory contract-signing sequence, suggesting it may feel repetitive or unnecessary for some players, especially those replaying the game. - Cost-effective voice acting suggestion (weight 0.02): A player humorously suggests using voice filters or telepathy as a budget-friendly alternative to full voice acting. While not a serious proposal, it reflects player creativity and engagement with the game's development. Emotions: - Excitement (weight 0.27): Reviewers consistently highlight the game's unique vision, innovative skateboarding mechanics, and immersive soundtrack as key drivers of excitement. The anticipation for its long-awaited release and its standout execution—particularly its blend of surreal visuals, storytelling, and accessible yet deep gameplay—further amplify this emotion. The game's ability to exceed high expectations and deliver a captivating experience is frequently cited. - Joy (weight 0.25): Joy stems from the game's harmonious combination of artistic elements, including its vibrant visuals, dynamic soundtrack, and engaging gameplay. Reviewers emphasize the emotional uplift from its creative presentation, tight controls, and narrative depth, which collectively create a highly enjoyable and personally resonant experience. The game's originality and alignment with individual preferences are recurring themes. - Satisfaction (weight 0.2): Satisfaction arises from the game's polished execution, cohesive design, and fulfillment of long-held expectations. Reviewers appreciate its focus on fun over realism, the richness of its minimalist aesthetic, and the developers' success in realizing their creative vision. The game's ability to deliver a progressive and immersive experience, despite its niche genre, is a notable contributor. - Frustration (weight 0.08): Frustration is primarily tied to technical and design shortcomings, such as game-breaking bugs, poor optimization, unresponsive controls, and UI issues. Some reviewers also express dissatisfaction with the story's execution and the absence of voice acting, which detracts from immersion. These issues, while varied, consistently undermine the otherwise positive experience. - Disappointment (weight 0.07): Disappointment centers on unmet expectations, including the game's short length, perceived overpricing, and lack of polish in certain areas (e.g., performance on Steam Deck, audio quality). The absence of anticipated features, such as Tony Hawk's involvement, and the contrast between the game's promising premise and its execution also contribute to this sentiment. - Awe (weight 0.03): Awe is inspired by the game's breathtaking visuals, seamless integration of soundtrack and atmosphere, and evocative world-building. Reviewers highlight the richness of its artistic direction and the emotional impact of its sound design, which collectively create a uniquely immersive and memorable experience. - Relief (weight 0.03): Relief is tied to the resolution of performance issues and the fulfillment of long-awaited expectations. Reviewers express satisfaction in finally experiencing the game after delays and finding it aligns with their needs as fans of the genre, providing a sense of closure and fulfillment. - Admiration (weight 0.02): Admiration is directed toward the game's exceptional sound design, music, and aesthetics, which reviewers praise as standout achievements. The overall quality and craftsmanship of the game, particularly given its niche appeal, are frequently highlighted as sources of deep appreciation. - Connection (weight 0.01): Reviewers describe a strong personal attachment to the game, often citing its thematic depth, artistic style, and emotional resonance. The game's ability to evoke relatable human experiences and align with individual tastes fosters a sense of intimacy and connection. - Fascination (weight 0.01): Fascination arises from the game's abstract and hallucinogenic presentation, which reviewers find visually and narratively compelling. The unconventional world-building and surreal aesthetic invite exploration and contemplation, making the experience uniquely engaging.}