Cool Game Alert: Skate Story Gets a Release Date and a Demo

By Catherine Masters  |  October 10, 2025 | 3:00pm
Video Games News skate story
Cool Game Alert: Skate Story Gets a Release Date and a Demo

After several delays, Skate Story is finally coming out on December 8. 2025 on PlayStation 5, Switch 2 and PC via GOG and Steam, with a demo available on Steam now.

Developed by Chanel Next Prize 2024 winner Sam Eng (Zarvot), Skate Story is a skateboarding game from hell where one mistake will shatter you into a million pieces. With development updates starting with builds running on a Switch Lite in 2019 and the game being publisher Devolver Digital’s first Switch 2 title in 2025, it’s been a long road to release.

Developed in New York, Skate Story has a soundtrack by local band Blood Cultures and Eng’s previous collaborator composer John Fio (Shillelagh, KungFu Kickball), with the music video for the synth-heavy track “EMPTYLAND” already up online. The game’s world is filled with characters drawing on life in the city, from a talking subway to giant philosophising heads to a candlelit dinner with a False Sun.

You play as a demon turned to glass by a devil’s contract in exchange for the chance to skate for your freedom. Chain tricks to wear the boss moons down so you can consume them, learning new abilities as you go. If that doesn’t sell you on it, there’s a demo of the first chapter on PC available ahead of Steam Next Fest. In the full game you’ll be able to customise your deck and perform over 70 tricks across the nine layers of the Underworld on your quest for freedom.

Despite the dramatic fail states, Skate Story wastes no time putting you back on your board when you do inevitably veer into a wall. As you would expect, the tricks allow a lot of expression in how you get from A to B in each level so even when you’re sent back to the start of a room several times, you won’t feel forced into rote repetition to get through it.

In an official Playstation Blog post Eng shared some details on the bosses, each scored by a unique track:

When the song comes on, stay in its sight line, keeping your momentum going by skating fast and popping tricks at the right time. The Skater’s tricks deal damage to the Moon. Switch up the tricks to keep it Fresh—doing the same old tricks or going too slow will go stale and deal less damage. You’ll need to have dealt enough before the song ends.

Skater culture has always been consumerist, something the game is keen to parody with its gift shops, but if the corporate monetization of Skate or the nostalgic remasters of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater aren’t working for you, consider this dark and surreal new skater when it’s released at the end of the year. You can check out the trailer below.

 
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