While 2026 hasn’t been as exciting as the previous year for gaming, there’s been some fantastic, varied releases. 007 First Light and Mina the Hollower are among my favourites, and Splatoon Raiders proved an unexpected highlight. The indie scene has also been strong with titles like Demon Tides and MIO: Memories in Orbit, though my current favourite game of 2026 so far is one that hooked me since its first announcement at Gamescom the previous year, but one that blew me away completely by launch. That game is Denshattack!, developed by Undercoders and published by Fireshine Games.
Denshattack! has you play as a train delivery driver named Emi living in a Japan besieged by climate change and a controlling, cartoonishly evil corporation. The majority of the population have been forced or ushered into domed cities while the outsiders are villainised. Emi turns out to be extremely proficient at driving trains, resulting in her becoming a Denshattacker (the sport of racing and battling in trains; the name also being a portmanteau of “densha”, the Japanese word for train, and “attack”) and challenging other gangs across Japan while going up against that tyrannical mega-corporation as she travels from the country’s south to its snowy north.
It’s a classic on-rails platformer where the main goal is just reaching the end of each stage. What sounds simple ramps up in intensity extremely quickly: trick systems promote you to maximise your style to replay segments or beat high scores; and additions to Emi’s moveset bring flair to each setpiece like multi-track drifting, traversal off-rails, grinding on rails and getting enough of a combo to the point where you can literally ascend to imaginary tracks in the sky.
That already intense start keeps one-upping itself. Whacky stage gimmicks begin upping the ante, like riding across a Ferris wheel or fighting a 100% legally distinct version of Godzilla. It’s hectic yet somehow never manages to become overwhelming. Denshattack! always keeps pushing forward at full speed, including other level types like races, ‘score attack’ stages in a closed environment, larger exploration-focused areas and even boss fights, all of which are excellent and keep you going full steam ahead.
Those boss fights are especially magnificent – each of them being absurd, explosive escalations of the Denshattack! formula. The first fight against a giant humanoid mech is lots of fun, though later encounters eclipse this one in scale such as a massive mechanical sandworm reminiscent of those from Dune. There’s even a bullet-hell shooter section, a rhythm game stage and a final gauntlet reminiscent of Sonic Unleashed‘s ‘Eggmanland’ in the best way possible. The game always keeps this level of kineticism and flow up. Even when you crash your train, there’s only a few seconds of a splash screen in your way before you’re thrust back into the action almost seamlessly.
Denshattack! is already great, but where it becomes truly excellent is in trying to master the game’s systems, and reaching that tall skill ceiling. The aforementioned trick system is deceptively simple before almost becoming fighting game-esque with how complex some of said tricks become. It’s reminiscent of the ranking system in Devil May Cry, penalising repeated moves and incentivising greater variety. Those same principles apply here to the tricks, rewarding score bonuses to those who infuse a wide slate of stunts and train-flips into their moveset.
The medal system – effectively this game’s ranking mechanic – incentivises greater skill expression and pushes players to engage with each stage more, including unique challenges for every level as well as medals for time and score. Each stage also contains collectibles which unlock more designs for your train, more trains with different gameplay perks and lore for the roster of characters, alongside contributing to which medal you get at the end. Trying to get a long-lasting crazy combo while finishing the stage quickly becomes a rewarding, immensely satisfying balance of technique and time. It’s likely influenced by the best ranking systems of the Sonic franchise, fully promoting player mastery of a given stage. Recent updates have also added the superlative platinum medals, adding that extra hook to keep you playing.
The characters and story ended up as a surprise highlight for a game about racing with trains. I really liked this wide roster of characters who help feed into the general narrative. Fireshine and the team at Undercoders explore how climate change and corporatism affected each respective character while also just creating a very entertaining plot. The designs of each person are also fantastic, especially in relation to the POC characters. Everyone feels unique and memorable, even for the minor side characters with how they encapsulate different cultures and sub-cultures. Emi herself is a wonderful protagonist who matches the energy of this setting perfectly, bringing a cheery and greatly enthusiastic acceptance to this world and everything that’s tossed on her tracks.
Each character and faction also come with their own set of train decals which you can equip to give your train even more style. There’s even some special streamer decals available through secret codes. Out of the list, I am only really familiar with RTGame and Rin Penrose, and using their decals and announcer voices throughout the game proved quite entertaining.
The artstyle and presentation of the game is what really sells it. Denshattack! feels like a homage to Jet Set Radio in how confident and vibrant their aesthetic can be, each screen a busy and bold onslaught of style and colour. It’s visually overwhelming but never feels suffocating, and it helps scratch the itch for the third Jet Set Radio or Hyperfunk (the successor to the excellent Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, which was already a spiritual successor to Jet Set Radio) while being largely different in terms of gameplay.
If that idea wasn’t already fully realised, the soundtrack takes Denshattack! from honest homage into being a full-blown love letter. It’s a mashup of several genres and enhances the general vibe of the game to great effect, infusing it with a lot of hip-hop and J-pop-inspired tracks. Several notable gaming musicians lend their talents to this amazing soundtrack, including 2 Mello, Tee Lopes, Lotus Juice and Alice Peralta who are known for Jet Set Radio, Sonic Mania, Persona 3 and Splatoon respectively. Every artist on the soundtrack helped make it one of my favourite gaming soundtracks of all time.
Denshattack! is a wonderful game: deeply absurd in its off-the-rails, train-steering premise and always managing to have fun with itself. It’s mechanically easy to understand but the skill ceiling is extremely high, and it becomes greatly satisfying to nail combos while speeding through stages, beating bosses and obtaining medals along the way. It’s one of the most charming games I’ve played and I highly recommend it; both as an ode to games like Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Hi-Fi Rush and Tony Hawk, and just as an excellent game in its own right.
Denshattack! is available now on PlayStation 5, PC, Nintendo Switch 2 and also on Xbox Series X|S as a day-one Game Pass title.
