Sometimes video games can feel like you’ve done it all before. A risk-averse publishing landscape or over-served genres may leave things feeling a little stale. Thank goodness there’s Denshattack!, an effervescent roller coaster ride in video game form.
Addictively rewarding gameplay merges with joyous visuals and an all-timer soundtrack to create one of the year’s finest releases.
A Cautionary Rail
Denshattack! takes place in a future Japan devastated by the climate crisis, forcing all citizens to live in domes connected by high-speed trains. You play as Emi, a ramen delivery driver who learns of the train racing scene known as Denshattack. All this takes place under the shadowy watch of an insidious mega-corp controlling the population’s lives.
There’s no reason for the Denshattack! story to go as hard as it does. For a game with such a silly concept to cover global warming, the prevalence of AI and late-stage capitalism is surprising, but it handles these ideas thoughtfully and with a great sense of charm.
A colourful cast of characters and a cheery, optimistic tone make the story a breezy backdrop for the game’s chaotic action.
Play (Train) Station
The gameplay is not the simplest thing to describe. You take control of an auto-accelerating train, avoiding obstacles and trying to finish a level as fast as possible. The left trigger brakes and allows you to drift, the right trigger makes your train jump, and you can activate events by sounding your horn with a right stick click. On top of this is a trick system similar to the Skate series where you rotate the right stick to perform different moves.
More and more mechanics are added as you progress through the campaign. It can be overwhelming, but I liken it to Guitar Hero, where you’re watching the track ahead of you and responding to prompts with correctly timed button presses. The more you can drown out the visual noise and focus in on your task, the better you’ll perform.
The game plays out over a surprisingly long story, consisting of more than 50 levels. Each stage has a gold medal, accomplished by beating a set time, achieving a high score, finding an assortment of collectibles, and ticking off Tony Hawk’s style goals. You also unlock new train types with major gameplay differences between them. The replayability is absolutely off the rails.
Levels vary between regular start-to-finish obstacle courses, two-minute score attack stages, races, and more. Each region culminates in a boss battle, which are some of the most visually and mechanically inventive set pieces I’ve played in a game for quite some time.
From beginning to end, the gameplay of Denshattack! wowed me in its ambition. It never takes half measures, always going for the most excessively creative option. The campaign takes around 6-8 hours to complete, and that’s just mainlining the story.
Sometimes, I hit very occasional glitches, and while that’s not ideal, levels are super quick to restart. I was so taken aback by the ingenuity on display that I never felt pulled out of the experience by minor technical issues.
Full Steam Ahead
Denshattack! renders its colourful anime art style to exquisite effect. Characters are expressive and uniquely identifiable. The enormous number of levels still manage to feel unique and lively while maintaining a gigantic sense of scale.
But much like the gameplay, the visuals never rest on their laurels. Bosses are a dizzying display of panache that feels like you’re watching the most intense anime at double speed.
There are moments where the spectacle can overwhelm, resulting in missed visual cues. Sometimes, there’s just too much happening at once, and I found myself repeating sections while trying to work out what was being asked of me. While this is typically annoying elsewhere, I’d be reluctant to sacrifice the jaw-dropping visuals of this game for a little extra readability.
Right Side of the Tracks
The music in Denshattack! is a tour-de-force. Made up of over 50 original tracks from a range of composers, it’s an adrenaline-pumping, high-tempo megamix that syncs beautifully with the chaos on display.
Blending a wide variety of genres, the soundtrack calls to mind some of the great Sega soundtracks of the 90s and 2000s. I was frequently grinning from ear to ear and asking myself, “Am I listening to the greatest video game soundtrack of all time?” I might need some time to work out the answer to that, but I have no doubt that the music of Denshattack! is an instant classic.
End of the Line
There’s a phrase that keeps coming up during the game, “Less talk, more Denshattack!” After hearing it enough times, it began to read as a design philosophy for the maximalist dopamine-inducing approach of the game itself.
I can quibble with minor issues like an extremely occasional glitch, but in terms of how much they actually bothered me, it was a non-event. One quick restart and the instant rush of being a Denshattacker returned.
The creative ambition on display is so effusive, the gameplay is bursting with endless replayability, and the entire aesthetic is built upon such optimism and joy. The experience of playing Denshattack! is a bountiful and much-needed source of positivity. Couple with that an all-time great soundtrack, and this is incredibly easy to recommend.
I fear for all the other post-apocalyptic train-grinding rhythm-platformer-extreme-sports games releasing soon, because the best one of 2026 is already here.
Quest Daily scores Denshattack!:
9.5/10
Denshattack! is available July 16th on PC, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X|S.
A review code for Denshattack! was supplied to Quest Daily for the purpose of this article.
