Denshattack review roundup: the anime skateboarding train game is 2026's wildest indie

Denshattack, the post-apocalyptic anime train stunt game from developer Undercoders and publisher Fireshine Games, launched July 15, 2026 on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Switch 2. It also hits Xbox Game Pass on day one. The concept — Tony Hawk's Pro Skater but you're a train — sounds like a punchline, but the critical consensus is that it mostly lands.

The game runs 10 to 15 hours depending on how deep you go, and nearly every reviewer flagged how relentlessly it keeps inventing new scenarios. Giant robots, laser-spewing kaiju, a kabuki play, Rock Band and Ikaruga homages — Denshattack keeps throwing curveballs all the way to the credits. New train stunt abilities unlock throughout, and the level design is built around teaching each one as it arrives. Polygon calls it one of 2026's most exciting indies and says it understands how to build a great 3D Sonic game better than any actual 3D Sonic game. Rock Paper Shotgun goes further, calling it one of 2026's best games outright. Game Informer praises its novelty and its generous checkpoint system, noting that perfection is rewarded but never demanded. Push Square highlights the 10–15 hour campaign and the variety of level types — races, score attacks, multi-objective stages — while Nintendo Life, reviewing the Switch 2 version, calls it a joyous Dreamcast homage weighed down by some superfluous padding.

Not everyone is fully on board. PC Gamer is the clearest dissenting voice, arguing that the game's constant scripted spectacle crowds out player creativity. The train itself, they note, behaves nothing like a train — no inertia, no weight, no meaningful connection to the vehicle the title promises. Optional rainbow tracks are invisible until a gauge fills, making them impossible to plan for. The review describes a game that would rather you watch its setpieces than actually play through them. Kotaku, writing after a couple of hours, is more positive but honest about the precision required — mess up at speed and the loss of control hits hard, even with fast restarts.

Undercoders studio director David Jaumandreu explained in an Xbox feature that the whole concept started with a small Japanese toy train he was absent-mindedly pushing around one day. The key design insight, he says, was that the magic of Tony Hawk or SSX doesn't come from the board itself — Jet Set Radio proved that with rollerblades — it comes from movement and expression. Removing free steering and putting the player on rails turned out to be a strength rather than a limitation, pushing the game toward Sonic-style momentum-driven energy. The result is a game that splits critics on how much freedom it actually gives players, but earns broad agreement on one thing: there is nothing else quite like it right now.