If David Jaumandreu is sure of one thing, it\u2019s this: Nothing in the world beats riding high-speed rail for the first time.<\/p>\n
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That\u2019s the guiding ethos coursing through Denshattack!<\/em>, the next game from the Barcelona-based studio Undercoders: drive trains really freakin\u2019 fast. Denshattack!<\/em>, for which Jaumandreu serves as game director, has been likened to everything from Tony Hawk\u2019s Pro Skater<\/em> to Jet Set Radio,<\/em> but has enough of its own identity that it elides comparison. I can only think to describe it as the most ridiculously off-the-rails train sim ever developed.<\/p>\n Denshattack!<\/em> is set in a dystopian future where the ongoing climate crisis has progressed to apocalyptic levels. Japan\u2019s metropolitan areas have been transformed into domed cities, and are connected by a network of high-speed trains. (Side note: U.S. automobiles are the number-one source of transportation pollution in the world. Follow-up note: U.S. trains create 83% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than cars.) In the world of the game, so-called \u201cDenshattackers\u201d brave the outside world to operate trains along this network, ferrying critical supplies between cities.<\/p>\n Jaumandreu said he stumbled upon the concept for Denshattack!<\/em> about four years ago \u2014 and by accident.<\/p>\n \u201cI was playing with a toy train, a Japanese toy train, and was doing something else and just playing with it and [acting] as if it was a finger skate and saying, \u2018What wouldn’t be cool if you could make tricks with a train?\u2019\u201d Jaumandreu said. He couldn\u2019t shake the idea, and eventually started wondering, \u201c\u2018Whoa, how would it be controlled if you did that?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n In-game, the Denshattackers have a competitive mindset. Along the high-speed rail network, these daredevil train operators compete to see who can ride the fastest and who can look the coolest while doing it. That serves as the justification for the activity you spend most of your time in Denshattack!<\/em> actually doing: kickflipping a train<\/em>, just like Jaumandreu treated his toy train as if it were a Tech Deck. Underscored by anime visuals and an even more anime-inspired soundtrack (featuring Shinobi: Art of Vengeance<\/em> composer Tee Lopes), most levels play out as you grind, spin, flip, wall-ride, and combo your way between Japanese megacities, all in pursuit of setting fast times and furiously high scores.<\/p>\n \u201cSharing it with the team at first, it was like, \u2018Oh, this is a stupid idea,\u2019\u201d Jaumandreu explained. \u201cBut then we started defining how it could work, then prototyping and said, \u2018Whoa, this is real fun.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n So far, players agree. Following a wildly successful demo during Steam Next Fest earlier this year (97% positive reviews!), Denshattack!<\/em> has landed on several \u201cmost anticipated\u201d lists of new video games, including Polygon\u2019s own. And it\u2019s pulling into the station at the perfect time to be positioned as the game of the summer: June 17, right as the annual Summer Game Fest news cycle cools down, making way for a relatively quiet period for new video games.<\/p>\n While Denshattack!<\/em> clearly exists in a hyper-exaggerated fiction, its train-sim elements are rooted in something real: almost every train you drive is inspired by real-life trains. And while no licenced trains appear \u2014 the way a Flip or Toy Machine deck might in Tony Hawk\u2019s Pro Skater<\/em> \u2014 Undercoders clearly has a solid enough grasp on and reverence for Japanese rolling stock to create legally distinct versions for its game. To an untrained eye (hello), the \u201cBeppu Star\u201d looks like a late 20th-century Kawasaki subway car. The \u201cSunrise Pitcher\u201d bears resemblance to Hitachi\u2019s N700S series (albeit with a razor blade on its cab). And each train model has varying stats in terms of how fast it goes, how efficiently it grinds, and how effectively it can perform tricks.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are fond of trains. We are fond of Japanese trains in particular,\u201d Jaumandreu said. \u201cSo I guess that’s one of the reasons that Denshattack!<\/em> exists \u2014 is that we are skateboard guys, we are also train guys, Japanese train guys in particular.\u201d<\/p>\n Not only that, but Denshattack!<\/em>\u2019s train-sim bona fides shine through in how accurately it captures the enlightening sensation of riding a high-speed train for the first time. High-speed rail \u2014 true high-speed rail \u2014 does not exist in North America the way it does in many other parts of the world. Those of us who don\u2019t live with it as part of daily life simply don\u2019t know what we\u2019re missing.<\/p>\n For context, in the U.S., the fastest commercial train is the \u201cnext-gen\u201d Acela, which went into service earlier this year and can reach a top speed of 160 mph at certain points on its route. Europe\u2019s fastest operating train, the Frecciarosa 1000 in Italy, can reach speeds of 248 mph. You can get from Florence to Milan in an hour and 40 minutes \u2014 about two hours less than it takes to take a next-gen Acela to cover roughly the same distance in the States, from New York City to Boston. Spain, where Undercoders is based, has consistently invested in high-speed rail since the early \u201890s, and now has the second-largest network in the world. By every metric, Western European countries are miles \u2014 ahem, kilometers<\/em> \u2014 ahead of American countries on high-speed rail.<\/p>\n But even those networks pale in comparison to the fastest trains in Japan, known as Shinkansen. (The Shinkansen is sometimes referred to as the \u201cbullet train.\u201d) Trains operate with top speeds of 199 mph, and boast a dizzyingly efficient average delay of roughly a minute-and-a-half. Compared to almost every other high-speed rail network, trains in Japan just\u2026 work. Despite opening to the public back in 1964, if you\u2019re coming from a country that for myriad reasons hasn\u2019t constructed a functional high-speed rail network, riding a Shinkansen can feel like stepping into the future.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not only the trains. The whole experience? It\u2019s mesmerizing,\u201d Jaumandreu said. \u201cWhen you go there, from the moment you enter the station, there’s this order, there’s this aesthetic to the stations, there’s the melodies \u2014 the departure melodies \u2014 there’s the shops with the bentos that you get [for] the train. There’s this whole experience. And then, of course, the trains themselves are so different, are so unique, they have this graphic design that you can easily remember: \u2018This is from this area, this is from the other area.\u2019 They are always on time. If they have any problems, they solve it quicker. So, it’s a whole experience.\u201d<\/p>\n Jaumandreu talks about Japanese high-speed trains with the unmistakable gusto of a train enthusiast who knows mere words cannot capture the exuberance of riding high-speed rail. I\u2019ve never ridden a Shinkansen, but a few years back, I rode a Frecciarosa train from Florence to Rome. Coming from America, Land of the Holy Automobile, I couldn\u2019t believe it. And to the chagrin of my travel companions, no, I would not shut up about it: \u201cDid you see how fast<\/em> we were going?!\u201d \u201cGuys, can you believe we covered the distance from New York to Baltimore<\/em> in half the time<\/em>?!\u201d \u201cWait, where are you all going? Am I stuck with this tab?\u201d<\/p>\n For rail enthusiasts (we\u2019re affectionately referred to as \u201cfoamers\u201d), that first ride on a high-speed train borders on a religious experience. It\u2019s like your third eye opens, reconsidering every hour wasted in highway traffic or a backed-up TSA line. All you want to do is get on the train and go really fast. That is Denshattack!<\/em> in a bottle. And from what I\u2019ve played, it doesn\u2019t let up.<\/p>\n \u201cRiding a train is fun \u2014 it\u2019s a fun experience, and riding a high-speed train is a real<\/em> fun experience,\u201d Jaumandreu said. \u201cIt takes you places. You don’t have to care. It’s very comfortable. It’s fast. I don’t know. It’s just like\u2026 riding the train is fun!\u201d<\/p>\n Denshattack!<\/em> will be released June 17 for Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X.<\/p>\n ![\"Denshattackers](\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/denshattack-screenshot-9.png?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2\")
\n <\/picture>Image: Undercoders\/Fireshine Games<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"Denshattack](\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/denshattack-city.png?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2\")
\n <\/picture>Image: Undercoders\/Fireshine Games<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"Denshattack](\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/denshattack-screenshot-6.png?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2\")
\n <\/picture>Image: Undercoders\/Fireshine Games<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"Denshattack\"](\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/denshattack.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=220&h=124&dpr=2\"\/)
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