Phantom Ghost's Helskate has a cool name. As a "skateboarding action roguelite", it has a cool premise. And, with a loose billing of Hades meets Tony Hawk Pro Skater, it has an incredibly cool elevator pitch. Further to its reveal trailer at Day of the Devs during this year's Summer Game Fest in Los Angeles, Helskate has now dropped a new gameplay footage short at the Future Game Show. And it's a belter.
With some Scott Pilgrim meets Devil May Cry undertones thrown around in there too, Helskate's latest trailer kicks off by formally introducing us to its protagonist – a one-winged demon-looking fellow named Anton Falcon whose raison d'etre is, quite simply, to skate.
That narrator then tells us Helskate is a game where you fight to skate and skate to fight, before we're shown Anton smashing a series of monsters upside the head/cycloptic eye with his board; performing tricks to power up his attacks; and breaking out of "mall jail" every time he meets his maker.
In something akin to Bloodborne's Hunter's Dream, mall jail apparently acts as a transient death hub where Anton can upgrade his gear and customize his deck, before returning to the outside world to give hell to, well, creatures from hell.
"The skate goes on forever," the trailer's closer says. Here's hoping Helskate lands on Steam's Early Access before then – it's currently due to arrive at some point in early 2024. Check out the Helskate Steam page for more information.
If you’re looking for more excellent games from today's Future Games Show, have a look at our official Steam page.
My next Metroidvania kick is an ingenious mix of Zelda-like exploration, twin-stick combat, and pitch-perfect controls – with 97% positive Steam user reviews
Stellar Blade keeps fixing things that bothered me when I reviewed it – now including "input time for basic attacks, as well as the timing of blocking and parrying"
