Helskate offers up a very daring premise indeed: What if you were to combine a roguelite like Hades with the score-based trick systems found in skating games? Frankly, it delivers so well in its blend of precision combo-ing and perk-boosted hack-and-slash combat that it really makes you wonder why this hasn’t been attempted before.
In my brief demo of Helskate (which you can try for yourself over on Steam), I went from a blundering warrior strapped to a skateboard to a precise and cocky trick demon in a matter of minutes. Partly, this can be attributed to just how close the skating mechanics match those found in the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games. Grinding down pipes or along edges has a wonderful stickiness, meaning you don’t always need to land directly onto rails, manuals (riding on two wheels) are used to string together tricks, and there’s a familiar pace to the way combos and traversal meet. If you’ve dabbled in the Pro Skater series, you’ll feel right at home here - something that will really help ease players into what is, on paper, quite a hectic blend of different play styles.
