Skate Story launches into the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog on December 8, live report – PlayStation.Blog

A heavenly skateboard, a deal with the Devil, and a giant philosophizing head? Skate Story is far from your everyday action sports tale, which you’ll soon discover when it makes its way to PS5 on December 8 as a day one release from the PlayStation Plus Games Catalog.*

I got the chance to go deeper into the underworld with the complete version of Sam Eng’s amazing adventure, and explain what it means to be a strange-looking demon who is in pursuit of eating the Moon.

A neat trick with a story

So, you are a skateboarding demon made of glass and pain. And the pain was only accentuated by the torment of sleeplessness caused in part by the brightness of the Moon. Hungry and tired, the nameless demon aims to consume the pale planetoid, but the only way they can achieve this is via a skateboard given to them by the Demon… for a price.

After an intensive introduction to the basics and a slide into an unusual Lyceum full of giant stone heads contemplating the meaning of life, Skate Story opens to a broader adventure that dramatically goes beyond the first steps of the demonic cosmos’ shaking quest.

Wisely, this game makes it easy for you to do a lot of moves that you can use. I started with a basic power slide by holding the square button, and an ollie by holding the circle button, but by the time I reached the end of Lyceum I was full of techniques.

In fact, the first boss fight serves as a trick tutorial, as you’re taught how to combine the L button with the circle button to perform stunts like Shuvit Pop, Heelflip, and Front Pop. However, there is a catch.

Mix your skills against bosses

For the most part, you’ll be gliding across wide, open environments, or fast and narrow paths, leaping over obstacles, leaping through gates to cover ominous disembodied white eyes, and completing hilarious and bizarre tasks, which I’ll get to in a moment. But when it comes to your skating ability, you will be judged.

It’s not enough to just use the same movements over and over again. The combo meter keeps track of which tricks you perform, and it only progresses quickly as you switch flips. You can also earn extra points by releasing your jump at the right point, giving you a time bonus. A crash or bump, and the meter drops back to zero.

This is all important in boss fights, where the only way to do any meaningful damage is to glide quickly and perform various tricks to create combos, then press the square button in the air before landing for a devastating stomp. The higher up the combo chain, the greater the damage, so risking it all for a meaningful attack feels fun and thrilling.

One of the boss fights was a mix of everything I’d learned so far in the game, putting me on a cosmic chase through a constantly moving track where I needed to perform tricks while jumping over barriers and attacks, making sure I stepped on each time to deal damage before my demons turned into shards.

Strange souls and chasing the Devil’s pants

Back to the mission, Skate Story manages to mix things up to keep my demons on their toes. Many require me to use a skateboard to jump over placements like manholes, spin environmental elements like spindly soul flowers, or work over a number of specific surfaces.

The underworld is also filled with imaginative characters in need of help, with floating skulls, plush demons and giant frogs just a selection of the strange souls I encountered.

In one stage, a big talking trash bag asked if I could help him by knocking down a smelly monolith he didn’t like. Another goal was for me to chase after the Devil’s clothes that had come to life and were trying to escape from drying after washing. Skate Story’s sense of humor is always surprising and always keeps the narrative lively.

Make the board your own

Accompanied by Rabbie the ghost rabbit, you are given a formless soul space that acts as a link that bridges each chapter of the story, but also gives you the opportunity to customize your skateboard. The soul currency you pick up by performing stunts can be used to buy wheels, stickers, and more in the gift shop.

The devil is in the details

With a charming millipede train, the remains of your skater’s failed attempts littering the neighborhood, and a versatile soundtrack that switches from melancholic trumpets to funky bass-heavy electronica, Skate Story is full of nice touches.

Several times I was distracted by the DualSense wireless controller’s light bar to see how it reflected the environment on the screen. While the skateboard demon itself tells the story of my journey, showing scratches, scrapes and wear influenced by my choices (and accidents), especially around the edges of the board from over-enthusiastically scraping it.

It was an experience that made me want to see where this heavenly journey would take me next.

Curious? You’ll be longing for the moon on December 8, when Skate Story hits PS5 and the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog.

*PlayStation Plus Game Catalog is available with Extra and Premium memberships.