Hidden Gems 2025: The Finest New Video games You May By no means Have Heard Of

Available on PC, PS5, Switch 2

To paraphrase Fatboy Slim, the perfect time for skateboarding video games is proper right here, proper now. Between the Tony Hawk Pro 3 + 4 remasters, Skate kickflipping again to life, and some older video games like Session: Skate Sim, I’ve felt spoiled for alternative with every thing on supply. But amongst them, Skate Story emerged as a gem of originality, fashion, and authenticity.

While the efficiency on console has been mixed–at the time of writing, I’m at present grabbing a brand new patch for it on my PS5–there’s an underdog appeal to Skate Story that makes it an immediate basic. After all, you are a demon made out of glass and ache who’s making an attempt to destroy the moons of hell with a well-timed pop shove-it, however Skate Story is greater than only a handsome recreation with wildly imaginative artwork path.

Skating has a tangible really feel within the recreation: a sensation of urethane wheels slowly being worn down as you ollie over demons and lean ahead to achieve some additional velocity, your contractually obligated fragility be damned. That feeling of fixed hazard, a close-up digital camera angle with a fisheye lens that makes the sport appear like it was filmed with a Sony DCR-VX1000, and an irreverent humorousness solely add to Skate Story’s appeal. — Darryn Bonthuys