# Denshattack! review deep dive: why critics love the train game, and why PC Gamer split

**July 30, 2026 · Perthro**

Denshattack! sounds made up until you see it moving: Tony Hawk trick chains, Jet Set Radio colour, anti-corporate anime energy, and a train doing kickflips across a future Japan. Critics mostly say it's charming rather than a warning sign.

OpenCritic has it at an 87 Top Critic Average, with 96% recommending it across 116 reviews. PC Gamer is the outlier at 63/100, calling it inconsistent and underused. Critics agree Undercoders made something with real feel, momentum and identity. They disagree on whether the game around that feel knows when to stop talking.

It's developed by Undercoders and published by Fireshine Games and Boltray Games. OpenCritic lists June 15, 2026 on Switch 2 and PC, with PS5 and Xbox Series X/S following July 15, so the bigger console reviews (including IGN and Eurogamer, which played on PS5 Pro) arrived a month after launch. That late wave is part of why it still feels like it's spreading by word of mouth.

## Denshattack! review scores

- Eurogamer: 5/5
- IGN: 9/10
- DualShockers: 9/10
- Game Informer: 8.5/10
- Hardcore Gamer: 4.5/5
- Nintendo Life: 8/10
- PC Gamer: 63/100

TheGamer called it "one of the fiercest, fastest, and most lovable games" its reviewer had played in a while. When the console reviews landed, the average was 88 from 57 reviews; it's barely moved as the count doubled. It's a mostly excited consensus with one clear objection: great as a kinetic arcade toy, but not everyone thinks its story and themes deserve the same confidence.

Will Borger at IGN: "Hitting the track and chaining tricks together in Denshattack is a joy." He calls the campaign "excellent" for introducing new ideas without running out of steam, and frames it as Tony Hawk and Jet Set Radio fused, except the skateboard is a train and the opponent is a dystopian megacorp.

Dom Peppiatt at Eurogamer calls it "irreverent, unpredictable, funny, and unputdownable," and "anti-capitalist, pop-punk optimism distilled." It's silly, he argues, but not careless: serious about how good nonsense has to feel.

Kerry Brunskill's 63 at PC Gamer doesn't call it broken or dull. It's "an inconsistent spectacle that fails to make good use of its chosen themes." IGN and Eurogamer focus on chaining tricks; PC Gamer asks whether the game earns the story it keeps wrapping around them.

![Denshattack! screenshot: trick runs along the rails of a future Japan](https://perthro.io/assets/blog/f2228a1775c282fd.jpg)

## Why critics keep talking about feel

Every positive review comes back to how good it feels to move. A premise can earn a trailer click but can't carry a ten-hour campaign if the inputs are mushy or scoring is thin. Denshattack! treats train tricks with absurd sincerity. IGN describes controls that are easy at first, with complex tricks pushing towards fighting-game inputs. Eurogamer found a real learning curve in the first hours, even with deep OlliOlli and Tony Hawk muscle memory. The reward is the moment it clicks and your fingers read the track before your brain catches up.

The Jet Set Radio comparison only goes so far. Structurally, Eurogamer says it's closer to OlliOlli World: a mostly forward-moving campaign, a steep tutorial curve, repeated attempts, and "one more go." The train joke gets people in; the mechanical depth keeps them.

Hardcore Gamer calls it Tony Hawk-school design, literally on rails. Nintendo Life praises the loop and calls it an effective homage to Sega's Dreamcast era without being too derivative, but warns the surrounding material can bloat things. That's where the positive reviews and PC Gamer almost meet: the core works, and the disagreement is how much should sit around it.

## The story: flavour or friction

IGN describes the setup: Emi delivers ramen by train in a climate-damaged future Japan. A corporation called Miraido controls the high-speed VACTRAIN between domed cities. Emi gets pulled into Denshattack!, an underground scene where train drivers compete through tricks and races. It's sports anime, climate sci-fi, anti-monopoly cartoon and score-attack arcade game piled on one track.

For some critics that pile-up is the appeal. IGN finds Emi likeable, comparing her to Goku: positive, naturally talented, always pushing. Eurogamer praises humour that's light without making characters easy targets; even a character described as "a bit of a furry" just gets to exist, not become a punchline. Lots of games chase wackiness by laughing at their own world. The warmer reviews say Denshattack! believes in its weirdness.

PC Gamer suggests the opposite risk. If a game picks anti-capitalist themes, dystopian cities, rival crews and a maximalist campaign, spectacle alone may not be enough. You can love the motion and sound while feeling the big ideas are wallpaper. That tells you who might bounce off. If you're here for routes, rankings, combo mastery and impossible set pieces, it's strong. If you need the fiction to carry equal weight, read the 63 first.

![Denshattack! screenshot: bright, punk-style art around the rails](https://perthro.io/assets/blog/c75043d2a3bcd424.jpg)

## What the reviews agree on

It has a strong identity, the movement works, the levels keep escalating, and it's funny without being embarrassed by itself. It takes a very silly idea and treats it with enough craft that the silliness becomes the charm.

The criticism is consistent too: a steep early curve, and perhaps more story and surrounding fluff than the arcade hook needs. Some players will want a purer score-attack game; others will love the rival gangs, absurd vendors, megacorp villains and a ramen driver trying to be the best. Nintendo Life sums it up: the premise sounds ridiculous but "works very well," and might have shone brighter leaning further into its arcade roots. The thing critics love most is the thing some wanted more cleanly isolated.

## Should you play Denshattack!?

July has been crowded with remakes, DLC and indies, and a game can be one of the month's best-reviewed and still feel like something people almost noticed. For players who miss stylish arcade games with too much personality, critics say it's a real sleeper hit. The lower reviews don't complain the train can't skate; they ask whether everything around the skating gets in the way. If you try it, write one line after the first hour, something like "the train game is actually doing the thing," and see if it still holds by the end.