HELLACIOUS

In SKATE STORY, damnation makes for some magnificent shredding

- By Lincoln Carpenter

Skate Story is a better kind of Inferno. If Dante Alighieri had known that skateboarding could be a weapon of metaphysical rebellion against Hell and reality itself, his Divine Comedy would also have followed a “demon made of glass and pain” who’s entered into a contract with the Devil to eat the moon in exchange for their soul.

It’s one of the best-sounding and most stylish games I’ve played in recent memory. It’s an esoteric art installation and interactive concept album navigated via powerslide and axle grind: a mesmerising ode to the miserable occupants of an uncannily familiar underworld. It’s grungy; it’s grimy; it’s almost certainly intolerable if the word 'postmodern' sets you on edge. But my god does it make landing a clean heelflip feel good.

The Skater is a literal mass of polygons in skate shoes, but their glass pane skin is beautiful to watch in motion as it refracts and reflects light while I grind Hell's kerbs. Skating has immaculate animation and visual feedback: simulated camera shake makes for a delicious impact whenever you land a trick.