Sometimes a new game is announced, and you wonder to yourself: “why hasn’t this been done before?” And frankly, Denshattack is not one of these games. I have never once played Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series and thought “why hasn’t this been done but with the skateboard replaced with a train”, but it’s exactly this school of thought that has clearly snuck into developer Undercoders’ mind for this one, and after getting to see a presentation for the game, I can’t wait to try it for myself.
With the elevator pitch out of the way, it’s fair to say there’s more to Denshattack than being “just Tony Hawk’s but with trains”. Here we have gorgeous and vibrant visuals, and an art style that brings to mind titles like Jet Set Radio, only more modern. It genuinely looks fantastic, exciting, and like something any fan of games will smile at, and want to get hands-on with.
The team hasn’t shied away from the fact it’s obsessed with Japanese trains, either. Denshattack! tasks you with controlling a train, and taking it through a variety of courses that are designed for three different types of action. It’s fast-paced, lovely to look at, and assuming it controls as well as it looks, fans of skateboarding games could be in for a major treat here.
There are, of course, standard courses that will let you go through them and trick your way to victory. But there are also race levels, and these look like they almost bring in runner-style gameplay where you need to switch between tracks to avoid oncoming obstacles. The team says that there is a full trick system and there are levels you can just ride around and have fun with tricks.
While I didn’t get to play it at this presentation, Denshattack! looks like it’ll control in that familiar way, so that it’ll be difficult to master, but easy to pick up. There was even talk of boss fights, and while there was a snippet of that shown to present media, it’s still a mystery to see how these will actually play out in full.
But there is a story at play here. Set in a world after a “climate catastrophe”, this stylised version of Japan (some real world locations were shown as inspirations) has people living in the wastelands. The titular Denshattack is a rebel movement trying to reclaim things and rebuild the railroad tracks. It all seems pretty dystopian, albeit with a lovely colour palette.
The team has also confirmed there will be more than fifty levels. You can wall-wide, make massive jumps, and more, and yes, all of this is done in your train. Topping all this potential goodness off, there’s a soundtrack from the game’s director, David Jaumandreau (Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound), as well as Tee Lopes as main composer, who has previously worked on Sonic Frontiers, and much more.
“Creating the world of Denshattack! has been a joy for the team,” said Jaumandreu. “Inspired by the art, culture and music of Japan, and, of course, our love of trains and skateboarding, Denshattack! is a project we’ve wanted to make for a long time, and we can’t wait for the world to experience what we’ve been building.”
Indeed, I got to ask the team how long this has been in the works, and the simple answer is: quite a while. There’s no word on a Switch 2 version as of yet, with the focus being on the PC, Xbox, and PlayStation 5 for now, but all in all Denshattack! looks like a hugely exciting title for fans of the Tony Hawk’s games, or those who miss the Sega Dreamcast era Jet Set Radio experiences as well. Oh, but all with trains. I’m absolutely in.
Denshattack! is coming to PC, Xbox Series S|X, and PlayStation 5 in 2026.