As the name Helskate oh so subtly implies, this is skateboarding with a demonic twist. Yet it’s also a roguelite, making this a truly a novel fusion of styles, sports, and mechanics. The question is: does it work?
The honest answer: I’m not entirely sure. I think so. Maybe. Can I come back to you on that?
I used to play a fair bit of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater back in the day and according to my EGS account I’ve got 15 hours logged in the remaster. However, for all my attempts, I’ve never been particularly good at it. That’s because these games require a high degree of mechanical skill but even more patience and determination.
Looking back, I was always able to get the basics down, but I never had the patience to push on and truly master the game. At least not to the extent that I could string together the massive combos that I would frequently watch my friends execute through a haze of smoke in the early noughties.
Much like THPS and the Skate series, Helskate demands a high level of technical skill from its players, but in this instance there’s a whole level of additional complexity thanks to the various skills and abilities that you unlock as you play. It’s a game that demands precision, and failure to provide that can result in a disjointed experience.
Helskate’s demonic hell scape
Helskate invites you to navigate urban areas with your skateboarding avatar, a troublemaking demon with one wing called Anton. At first glance, the space looks like something out of THPS. Look again, however, and you’ll see bold colours scrawled here and there, strange portals dotted about the place, and one-eye demons stuck to walls.
I really appreciated how forgiving the locomotion around the arena is. Unlike Tony Hawk and his mates, you never stack into a wall or grind your face into the floor in Helskate. Anton is a good lad who stays on his feet/wheels. The dangers here aren’t concrete surfaces and gravity, but rather the demons you must battle as you play.
To that end, you have offensive abilities that you must inflict on your enemies in order to kill them. Helskate wants you to grind through the terrain and then plant a glancing blow on an enemy as you fly past them. I’m not gonna lie, those moments are cool AF when they happen.
During my time with the game I encountered a variety of enemy types, including a giant centipede-looking thing, floating one-eyed demons, and other strange demonic critters. I dread to think what awaits me in later levels, but I do know that Anton is out to battle the Gods of Skateboarding, and these boss battles look intense.
Upgrades and gear
Once you’ve played through the tutorial and learned the basics, it’s time to get stuck in. The first thing you’re given is some new Gear. My initial pick was a board upgrade that meant every time I pressed Dash, Anton’s board developed giant ethereal spinning blades. Nice!
Then it was a case of trying to put what I had learned to good use. Enemies will descend on you and require a liberal dose of sword-swinging violence, but there’s much more going on than just that. For example, there is a lot of Tony Hawk homage in there too, as you’ll be collecting “HELSKATE” letters and old-school VHS tapes. The tapes here are more than simple collectibles, however, as they give you a choice between different upcoming attack bonuses.
On top of this, there are materials dotted all over the place, which can be collected to use when crafting later on between runs. There’s also a tattooist – yet another method of visualising your progress through the game.
However, despite my best attempts to absorb the game’s many intertwining systems, I really struggled to knit everything together in real-time. And by that I mean that the combat and the trickery didn’t always flow together as effortlessly as I would have liked.
Helskate’s release date
I’m happy willing to concede that much of that is on me, and the next guy/gal will likely pick things up much more quickly than I was able to. In fact, I want to stress that there are a lot of positives and I’m keen to play more when the game launches into Early Access on February 15.
Developer Phantom Coast has clearly poured a lot of love into their game. The visual design pops thanks to its bold colour palette and smooth animations. There is loads to learn and even more to collect. The boss battles look incredible. Finally, the progression system appears to have genuine depth.
Helskate is overflowing with interesting mechanics and new elements to master. I like a lot of what it’s trying to do, and I want it to succeed. With the game likely to spend around a year in Early Access, the devs certainly have time to implement their vision and make it more accessible, and I for one look forward to taking it out for another spin.
