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Skate Story Joins PlayStation Plus Day One on PS5: Release Date, Gameplay, and What It Means for PS Plus in December 2025

November 25, 2025
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Skate Story Joins PlayStation Plus Day One on PS5: Release Date, Gameplay, and What It Means for PS Plus in December 2025

Celestial indie skateboarding adventure Skate Story is officially grinding onto PlayStation 5 on Monday, December 8, 2025, and Sony has confirmed it will land day one in the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog for Extra and Premium subscribers. [1]

Today’s coverage across outlets including Engadget, Eurogamer and IGN focuses on that PS Plus day-one deal, while PlayStation’s own hands-on impressions highlight why this surreal skateboarding sim is shaping up to be one of December’s most interesting new releases. [2]

What Sony Announced About Skate Story on PS Plus

Sony detailed the news in a fresh post on the official PlayStation Blog, confirming that: [3]

  • Skate Story launches December 8, 2025 on PS5.
  • It will be a day-one addition to the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog, available at no extra cost to Extra and Premium subscribers.
  • The game arrives alongside the broader December 2025 PS Plus lineup, with Sony positioning it as one of the month’s headline indie titles.

Reporting from sites like Gematsu and Niche Gamer reinforces that this isn’t a timed PS5 exclusive: Skate Story launches the same day on PC (via Steam) and Nintendo Switch 2, with PlayStation Plus securing the marketing-friendly “day one on Game Catalog” tag for the PS5 version. [4]

Meanwhile, syndicated coverage of Engadget’s report (via Yahoo) underlines the big takeaway for subscribers: if you’re already on PS Plus Extra or Premium, you won’t have to buy Skate Story separately to play it at launch. [5]

A “Demon Made of Glass and Pain”: What Is Skate Story?

Skate Story is an indie skateboarding adventure by solo developer Sam Eng, published by Devolver Digital. It leans hard into surreal, narrative-driven design rather than traditional street-skating realism. [6]

The core premise

According to Sony and Devolver’s official overview, you play as a demon in the Underworld “made of glass and pain” who makes a deal with the Devil:
skate all the way to the Moon, swallow it, and earn your freedom. [7]

That strange bargain frames everything:

  • You skate through nine layers of the Underworld, weaving through ruined structures, esoteric architecture and haunted landscapes. [8]
  • The world is packed with bizarre residents: giant talking heads, a forgetful frog, floating skulls, pillowy demons and even a grumpy trash bag that wants revenge on a “smelly monolith.” [9]
  • Your failures literally shatter your glass body, leaving fragments scattered around levels as a visual record of past mistakes. [10]

It’s skateboarding as mythic quest rather than simple sports sim, somewhere between an art-house platformer and a technical trick game.

How Skate Story Plays: Tricks, Combos and Boss Fights

Hands-on previews and Sony’s own breakdown paint a picture of a game that’s all-in on skate mechanics while still pushing exploration and storytelling. [11]

Learning to skate in the Underworld

Early sections work like an extended, stylish tutorial:

  • You begin with basics like power slides and ollies, gradually layering in more advanced flips and spins. [12]
  • Levels evolve from tight lanes and small plazas into large, semi-open arenas full of rails, ramps and environmental puzzles. [13]

Combos that double as combat

A central mechanic is the combo meter, which tracks both the variety and timing of your tricks: [14]

  • Repeating the same move doesn’t cut it; you’re rewarded for mixing tricks and landing cleanly.
  • The meter grows faster when you vary your flips and hit jumps at the “sweet spot.”
  • Crashes or collisions reset the combo, shattering your glass demon and wiping your built-up momentum.

Combos matter most in boss encounters. Instead of swinging weapons, you:

  1. Build long trick chains to charge a powerful finisher.
  2. Launch off a ramp and perform an aerial stomp just before landing to deal damage.
  3. The bigger the combo, the more devastating the stomp. [15]

This turns boss fights into high-pressure skate runs: dodging projectiles, threading through moving platforms and maintaining flow while hunting for the perfect moment to stomp.

Strange Missions, Stranger Characters

One of the reasons today’s coverage calls Skate Story a “surreal demonic skateboarding sim” is the structure of its missions and side objectives. [16]

Across previews and Sony’s hands-on, several patterns emerge:

  • Traversal challenges – clearing strings of manholes, grinding a set of rails, or weaving through glowing “soulflowers” scattered across the environment. [17]
  • Absurd errands – such as hunting down the Devil’s clothing after a load of laundry escapes into the underworld breeze. [18]
  • Character-driven quests – helping a giant frog, a jealous trash bag, or floating skulls who each frame their tasks as mini-skate challenges. [19]

The tone walks a line between melancholy and comedy: a world of cosmic punishment where the main solution to every problem is “try a better line and land your tricks.”

Customization, Progression and Soundtrack

Beyond pure mechanics, Skate Story layers in style and progression systems that lean into its supernatural theme.

Soul space and board customization

Between chapters you return to a hub known as the “soul space”, a liminal zone that: [20]

  • Connects story chapters and biomes.
  • Acts as a customization area where you spend soul currency collected during runs.
  • Lets you buy new decks, trucks, wheels, stickers and cosmetic tweaks for your board.

Customization is cosmetic rather than statistical; progression is still primarily about getting better at skating, not farming gear. [21]

Over 70 tricks and a psychedelic soundtrack

Devolver’s official materials emphasize breadth of expression: more than 70 different skate tricks to learn, chained together across the game’s nine underworld layers. [22]

The audio side is just as curated. The soundtrack features a psychedelic score by New York artist Blood Cultures with additional tracks by composer John Fio, shifting from hazy ambient pieces to bass-heavy electronic beats as you move between zones and story beats. [23]

On PS5, previews also call out nice technical flourishes such as: [24]

  • The DualSense light bar reacting to on-screen colors and environments.
  • The board gradually showing visible wear, scratches and nicks, reflecting your accumulated crashes and grinds over time.

Today’s Coverage: How Engadget, Eurogamer, IGN and Others Frame the Announcement

While the core information comes from PlayStation and Devolver, today, November 25, 2025, the story has spread across gaming and tech media:

  • Niche Gamer ran an early-morning report confirming that Devolver Digital and Sam Eng are bringing Skate Story to PlayStation Plus on December 8 as a day-one title, reiterating the multi-platform launch on PS5, PC and Switch 2. [25]
  • A hands-on preview on GAM3S.GG highlights the game’s focus on trick variety, underworld atmosphere and board customization, calling it a distinct addition to the PS5 library and emphasizing that it hits PS Plus Game Catalog on release day. [26]
  • Eurogamer’s piece, syndicated via regional aggregators, describes the title as a “surreal demonic skateboarding sim” and notes it will be available from day one on PS Plus when it arrives on December 8. [27]
  • IGN’s article, echoed on social platforms and Steam’s news feed, confirms that Skate Story will launch day one in the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog for PS5, underlining Sony’s growing habit of spotlighting indie day-one releases via subscription. [28]
  • Indian outlet Khel Now published a detailed breakdown today, recapping the PS Blog story description, explaining combo-based combat, and clarifying that the PS Plus deal specifically covers Extra and Premium tiers, not the Essential monthly games. [29]
  • A roundup on Red94 places Skate Story in the broader December 2025 PS Plus lineup, pairing it with the arrival of Red Dead Redemption on the Extra tier on December 2 and noting that nine titles are scheduled to leave the service on December 16. [30]

In short: today’s coverage is unanimous on the key facts and paints Skate Story as one of the more offbeat but high-profile indies in Sony’s holiday push.

What Skate Story Means for the December 2025 PlayStation Plus Lineup

For PS Plus subscribers, Skate Story’s inclusion fits into a broader strategy that’s become more visible this year:

  • Day-one indies like Skate Story are used to increase the perceived value of the Extra and Premium tiers, alongside prestige back-catalogue games. [31]
  • Pairing it with a heavyweight classic like Red Dead Redemption in early December gives Sony a one-two punch of “play the legendary western you missed” and “try this wild new indie for free on day one.” [32]

For players, the bottom line is simple:

  • If you’re on PS Plus Extra or Premium, you can play Skate Story on PS5 from December 8, 2025 without an additional purchase. [33]
  • If you’re on Essential only, you’ll still be able to buy the game outright, but it won’t be included in your monthly games unless Sony announces a separate promotion later. (No such plan has been announced so far.) [34]

Release Date, Platforms and Quick FAQ

When does Skate Story release?

Skate Story releases Monday, December 8, 2025. [35]

Which platforms is it coming to?

  • PlayStation 5 (included day one in the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog for Extra/Premium). [36]
  • PC via Steam (and other PC platforms as announced). [37]
  • Nintendo Switch 2. [38]
  • Official materials also list macOS and Windows support. [39]

Which PS Plus tiers include Skate Story?

PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium subscribers get Skate Story as part of the Game Catalog from launch day, December 8. It is not currently listed as part of the Essential monthly games lineup. [40]

Is Skate Story multiplayer?

Current information describes Skate Story as a single-player experience focused on narrative, exploration and trick-based gameplay. [41]

Who is making Skate Story?

The game is developed by Sam Eng and published by Devolver Digital, known for stylistic indies like The Plucky Squire and other critically acclaimed titles. [42]

As of today, November 25, 2025, all signs point to Skate Story being one of December’s most unusual day-one PS Plus additions: an indie that treats skateboarding not just as a sport, but as a strange, glass-shattering journey to the Moon.

Skate. (Skate 4) PS4 Gameplay
Watch this video on YouTube.

References

1. blog.playstation.com, 2. blog.playstation.com, 3. blog.playstation.com, 4. www.gematsu.com, 5. www.engadget.com, 6. en.wikipedia.org, 7. blog.playstation.com, 8. www.gematsu.com, 9. blog.playstation.com, 10. blog.playstation.com, 11. blog.playstation.com, 12. blog.playstation.com, 13. blog.playstation.com, 14. blog.playstation.com, 15. blog.playstation.com, 16. drimble.nl, 17. blog.playstation.com, 18. blog.playstation.com, 19. blog.playstation.com, 20. blog.playstation.com, 21. www.gematsu.com, 22. www.gematsu.com, 23. www.gematsu.com, 24. blog.playstation.com, 25. nichegamer.com, 26. gam3s.gg, 27. drimble.nl, 28. store.steampowered.com, 29. khelnow.com, 30. www.red94.net, 31. blog.playstation.com, 32. www.red94.net, 33. blog.playstation.com, 34. blog.playstation.com, 35. www.gematsu.com, 36. blog.playstation.com, 37. www.gematsu.com, 38. www.gematsu.com, 39. en.wikipedia.org, 40. blog.playstation.com, 41. en.wikipedia.org, 42. en.wikipedia.org

Mateusz Brzeziński

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