Skate Story from Devolver Digital and Sam Eng brings us an interesting skateboarding experience on Nintendo Switch 2. Learn more in our Skate Story!
Skate Story from Devolver Digital and Sam Eng brings us an interesting skateboarding experience on Nintendo Switch 2. You’ll be placed in the role of a demon made out of glass and pain. Your life in the Underworld is far from ideal, so when the Devil offers you a deal, you jump at the chance. He gives you a skateboard, which will allow you to skate your way to the moon and devour it. If you manage to complete this simple request, you’ll be freed. The first problem is that there’s more than one moon. And the second one? The aforementioned fact that you’re made of glass, and hitting anything or falling from your skateboard will completely shatter you.
This is why you’ll need to olli, grind, and kickflip your way through The Emptylands as you aim to complete what seems to be a rather impossible mission. You’ll need to make the most of the provided skateboard as you take on the other demons who are most certainly not happy with your deal, all while helping other tortured souls who would most definitely appreciate the effort on your end.
Once you gain control of your character, you’ll begin by walking by using the left analog stick as you move the right analog stick to look around you as needed. Interact by pressing the Y button. Sign the four-page contract that states you’ll return to the living by eating every moon, skating chained to soul as you make the most of your glassy condition.
After you get the new skateboard in your hand, you can press the X button to switch between walking and skating. You can push forward and gain speed by pressing and holding down the B button. Be careful, since you are, after all, now made of glass. Powerslide by pressing and holding down the Y button. This will allow you to take the sharper corners on your path so that you can avoid running into an obstacle that can instantly destroy you.
This sounds very simple and to the point, and it will be for a bit as you get the hang of things. The good news is that you’ll soon reach a very important monolith where you’ll get to memorize your first trick: the ollie. This is a fundamental trick by which a skater jumps up with their board. As expected, this will allow you to avoid obstacles as you move from portal to portal. With both feet on the board, press and hold down the A button to charge up your ollie, and then release the button to jump.
Perform a pop shuvit by holding down the L button and pressing the A button. You can press and hold down the ZR button and the A button to perform a kickflip. Mixing up tricks will be crucial if you want to deal damage so that you can carry on with your mission. Performing the same trick over and over again will risk your combo going stale, which will lower the damage you can deal. Just keep performing different tricks to keep your combo feeling fresh. The faster you’re moving, the more damage you can deal with each trick. Press the Y button to stomp while in a combo so that you can end your combo and deal more damage.
As you progress through the game, you’ll get to collect Souls, which will act as the in-game currency. You can spend it at the Lyceum, a place to roam and think. You can use Souls to unlock additional tricks – like the front pop that you can perform by pressing the R and A buttons – or use them for purchasing items at the Lyceum Gift Shop, where you’ll meet an obsidian head with gold rim glasses who works there as the cashier.
This particular location – which, allegedly, reeks of old wood and unwashed books – offers a variety of peculiar items that you can trade for your Souls. These include a fresh can of Bile Tea, the Phil’s Giftdeck, the Tunnels No. 3 deck, stickers for decorating your skateboards, or an Anti-Anti set of trucks for your deck. You can then customize your skateboard by picking and matching a deck, trucks, wheels, and stickers as you feel like it.
Skate Story brings us an interesting skateboarding experience on Nintendo Switch 2. You’ll be placed in the role of a demon made out of glass and pain. Your life in the Underworld is far from ideal, so when the Devil offers you a deal, you jump at the chance. He gives you a skateboard, which will allow you to skate your way to the moon and devour it. If you manage to complete this simple request, you’ll be freed. The first problem is that there’s more than one moon. And the second one? The aforementioned fact that you’re made of glass, and hitting anything or falling from your skateboard will completely shatter you.
There’s the possibility of picking from the accessibility options that the game has to offer. You can increase the combo timer to give you a bigger window for performing combos, as well as lower the combo decay so that you don’t lose as many points. Or, you know, lower the combo timer and increase combo decay if you feel like it. There’s also the option of increasing or decreasing trick damage, as well as raising or lowering your character’s health.
You can customize your experience by jumping into the settings menu. You can pick between a Fidelity Mode or a Performance Mode. The first one bumps up the graphics and adds per-object motion blur. The second one removes that last element and favors a higher framerate. The visuals and actions are complemented by the soundtrack from Blood Cultures andJohn Fio. Skate Story is out today on Nintendo Switch 2 with a $19.99 price tag.
Disclaimer
This Skate Story review is based on a Nintendo Switch 2 copy provided by Devolver Digital.
