OlliOlli World captures the essence of skateboarding, and then makes it weird

theverge.com:

OlliOlli World might be the strangest skateboarding game of all time. It takes place in a fictional realm called Radlandia, which is ruled by skate gods, where players train continuously to become a skate wizard by grinding their way through haunted deserts and mystical forests. It looks and sounds like a long-lost animated series on Adult Swim. But even with all of the oddball humor and bizzaro levels, OlliOlli World still manages to capture the soul of skateboarding — and it’s a hell of a lot of fun.

The OlliOlli series dates back nearly a decade, and is probably best-described as a side-scrolling take on Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. You control a tiny skater in a 2D world, skating your way through intricately-designed levels in search of a high score and, occasionally, secrets. The controls are surprisingly intuitive, primarily using the two analog sticks to pull off grinds and tricks, and the games do a great job of steadily ramping up the complexity. The previous two games took place in a fairly traditional, modern urban setting, so the biggest change for OlliOlli World is its strange new world.

The setting impacts a few things. For starters, there’s an actual story. You’re guided through the world by a handful of quirky skaters, who set you on a quest to meet all of the rad deities and become a skate wizard. I’m not entirely sure what that means, but the story mode takes you across five very different biomes and subjects you to a lot of skateboarding puns. (There’s a character who is named simply “Dad,” so you know the jokes are bad.) It’s charming and cute, though it can get a little chatty at times; thankfully you can skip through most of the dialogue if you want.

More importantly, though, the fantasy universe really