Fans of Anime and Science-Fiction prepare to have your socks well and truly blown-off with this 13-minute animated short looking to take you on a high-speed journey through alien lands and futuristic cityscapes. Following a fearless adventurer as he embarks on a dangerous mission to where ‘X marks the spot’, Vitaliy Shushko’s X-Story is a film of impeccable design and exhilarating action.

At times feeling like the most aesthetically pleasing side-scrolling platform game you’ve ever witnessed, X-Story is a film certainly more interested in spectacle than story. With its narrative not much more than a series of adrenaline-fuelled action sequences, whilst Shushko’s film isn’t going to be winning any scriptwriting awards anytime soon, here at Short of the Week we felt the world-building, design and ambition of the piece was just too impressive to ignore.

Wearing its influences proudly on its perfectly-tailored sleeves, X-Story was 2-years in the making and feels like a real labour-of-love from its creator and his small team. Since completing his project (which has gone on to amass almost 400k views on Vimeo), Shushko has gone somewhat quiet online, so like all of us at here at Short of the Week, if you’re a fan of his work, you’ll just have to wait to see what he does next.

And if you’re out there Vitaliy – we’d love to hear what you’re working on.