Denshattack! is one of the most visually striking indie games of recent years, backing up its vibrant aesthetic with rhythmic trick-based gameplay. The game delivers a fast-paced, score-chasing adventure that rarely keeps you on the rails in all the best ways.
While it might seem reductive to compare any game to its peers, there is no better way to describe Denshattack! than as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater meets Jet Set Radio. A train might not immediately strike you as the most ideal vehicle for pulling off skateboard-style kickflips, rail grinds, and ollies within a cel-shaded dystopian Japan, yet the sheer genius of Denshattack!'s core, score-chasing magic is how quickly such maneuvers become second nature across all manner of crazy routes.
Visuals and Setting
One of the biggest attractions of Denshattack! is its visuals. By taking a page out of the Jet Set Radio rulebook of design, this far-future version of Japan goes against typical dystopian norms by being drenched in color. The yellow rails that you ride on always pop to help keep you on track, while the surrounding regions of Osaka, Tokyo, and others have never looked more beautiful thanks to the eye-popping color palette. The vibrancy of the visuals matches the fun and excitement of your on-screen actions, looking distinctive without being too distracting.
Gameplay Mechanics
The art of Denshattacking posits an initially steep learning curve since a lot is always asked of you. Whether it's wall-grinding on billboards, double-grinding across separate tracks, or switching up gravity to drift around on rails above, this is a fast-paced riding game where each maneuver requires its own unique button input and your reaction times are regularly tested.
Thankfully, the developers at Undercoders do a mostly good job of onramping you nicely. Each new region introduces a new form of Denshattacking one at a time, building upon a trick-driven foundation that already had you swooping around tunnels and landing using an endo to maintain your trick score combo.
Denshattack! isn't the type of game that will suit everyone's tastes due to how much you need to stay alert, be aware of oncoming obstacles, and maximize moves from the in-game Tricktionary. But for those familiar with the structure of Tony Hawk and similar games, you eventually settle into a flow state that makes acts like wallriding, vert jumping, and track switching feel almost like a rhythm game—to the point that flicking both analogue sticks in certain ways felt like a real workout.
Dares and Replayability
The inclusion of optional objectives exclusive to each track, known in-game as 'Dares', further ups the completionist, competitive nature of score-chasing arcade games. These test your ability to take a certain route or collect a set number of collectibles, always encouraging you to return to levels long after the credits roll to upgrade your rating from bronze to gold.
Despite regularly crashing, Denshattack!'s instant restart feature makes it easy to overcome tricky track portions without dissuading you from jumping back in.
Event Types and Boss Battles
It would have been enough for Denshattack! to have you race through inventive environments, yet it ups the ante with a flurry of different event types. One sees you needing to reach a certain score by maintaining a high trick combo multiplier, while another has you racing against up to 30 other rival trains to the finish, smashing them off the track any way you can. My favorite events are those where you must complete multiple objectives in any order, allowing you to select your own routes and go at your own pace, emphasizing exploration.
Easily the biggest perk of the story are the set piece-driven levels. From battling a Gundam mech in Power Rangers finale style, escaping a giant Kaiju monster while racing at night, to flinging back giant baseballs at your rival using air-based tricks, several missions feel like true cinematic events, feeding into the anime inspirations in impressive over-the-top fashion. There's a host of immense boss battles that had my jaw on the floor with how they played out.
Story and Characters
Denshattack! offers a distinct take on a far-future dystopia where kickflipping trains has become a celebrated art. It reminds you why it's important to stick it to the corporations, as most humans are confined to domes and subjected to puppet propaganda. The story of Emi, rising from a simple ramen courier to professional Denshattacker, isn't as interesting as the world, but this is mostly made up for by a wider cast of interesting characters.
Conclusion
Ultimately, Denshattack! is an extremely special arcade experience that is unabashedly itself, testing your reaction times within a zany take on apocalyptic Japan that rewards player expression. Its incredibly fast-paced, unbridled nature might not be for everyone, and the story isn't anything too special, yet for players craving a different flavor of score-chasing magic, Denshattack! is off-the-rails in all the best ways. This is easily one of 2026's most distinct looking and feeling indie darlings. Rating: 4/5
