This visually stunning skating game has me hooked as I navigate the Underworld with a glass body.

If you’re looking for a prime example in the ongoing ‘games as art’ discussion, look no further than Sam Eng’s striking creation, Skate Story. While it stands as a remarkable artistic achievement, its skateboarding mechanics are solid yet not entirely convincing. As for its target audience? It’s a bit of a mystery, and it’s certainly not for everyone.

In this narrative-driven skateboarding experience, you control a skateboarder who is “made of glass and pain,” on a quest to consume the moons illuminating the underworld. Yes, you read that right—your mission is to eat moons. The concept is that each moon you swallow pulls you deeper into the underworld, ultimately leading you to confront the devil and reclaim your soul.

You might wonder how skateboarding fits into this surreal narrative. While you’ll spend most of your time on a skateboard, the gameplay feels secondary to the overall aesthetic, much like Sayonara Wild Hearts. However, for the sake of clarity, let’s treat it as a traditional skateboarding game for a moment and see how it performs.

Control can feel a bit loose as you navigate tight corridors, trying to avoid crashing into obstacles. The camera is positioned low and offset, making it challenging to aim for grind rails, but by the end, you’ll likely have honed your instincts to hit your targets. Precision takes a backseat to intuition here.

Unlike Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, this game leans towards a more realistic simulation. It’s less finicky than the original Skate, allowing for sideways landings, and it’s more streamlined than Skate 4. The game excels at gradually introducing new tricks, building complexity in a way that feels satisfying as you start chaining moves together with ease.

A standout feature is the combo completion ‘stomp,’ where you simply ollie and hit a button to finish your combo and score points. This mechanic also serves as an attack, draining enemy health. With timers and command strings to follow, the game rewards you with progression through combos rather than just high scores.

However, it’s important to note that this isn’t just a skateboarding game. It’s an interactive narrative filled with bizarre characters, including a talking pillow and a purring rabbit, among others. By the end, some of these characters feel like companions, but the surreal nature of the story leaves you questioning who or what to trust. The story scenes have a deliberately rough quality, and the absence of voice acting contrasts with the otherwise polished presentation.

Your skateboarder’s prismatic design is stunning, reflecting the environment beautifully and shattering realistically upon crashing. The underworld itself is dynamic, with translucent visuals that shift as you move. Text appears jittery, reminiscent of an old VHS tape, and even the 3D graphics have a slight wobble if you look closely.

This brings up a significant issue. Despite adjusting the fisheye lens and camera settings, I experienced motion sickness while playing. In my 35+ years of gaming, only a few titles have made me feel this way, but this one had a noticeable impact. I had to switch from my usual 55-inch screen to a smaller monitor after just 15 minutes. I managed to complete the second half of the game on a 27-inch 4K display, but only in short sessions. Be warned: the movement and flashing visuals can be overwhelming. Thankfully, I finished the game, which took about five hours. While not overly long, the ending drags on, adding clever moments but lacking a strong conclusion.

Some players are viewing Skate Story as an interactive music album, but that’s not quite how it’s structured. While the soundtrack by Blood Culture is solid, it doesn’t reach the heights of standout tracks from other games. The action doesn’t sync with the music, although certain tracks cue up for key moments. It’s good, but not exceptional compared to the best in gaming.

The dialogue is filled with quirky phrases and pop culture nods, playing with TV conventions and gaming tropes. The fragmented level design offers concise, bite-sized challenges with well-placed elements. While the gameplay has strengths that could have been expanded, doing so might have detracted from the narrative focus, which is, after all, the essence of Skate Story.

The game runs smoothly on PS5, but I encountered some glitches, including the glass skater falling through the floor and collision detection issues in the final scene. Replaying levels after missing a portal by mere seconds can be frustrating, though hints are available if you need guidance.

Skate Story is a remarkable piece of art. It’s also a decent skateboarding game, albeit one overshadowed by its heavy visual effects and wild narrative. If you can handle the motion effects, you’ll find a few hours of thoughtfully crafted entertainment that leaves a lasting impression.