Deckbuildershave become a rising phenomenon in the indie scene, spurred by successes likeSlay the Spireand the very first Monster Train. With a sequel to the acclaimed original of the latter on the horizon, it’s time to see how Monster Train 2 iterates on the tracks that have already been laid for it.
The original Monster Train was a smash hit, quickly showing just how different deckbuilders can truly be from one another despite sharing a fairly niche framework.
There’s something uniquely tactile about cards, making them fantastic at showcasing a variety of action while keeping things easy to digest once you learn the basics.
10 Roguelike Hidden Gems You Need To Play
Roguelikes are a pretty elusive genre, being held up almost entirely by obscure indies, but some of these less-loved games are awesome.
Cards have been with humanity for centuries, from Blackjack to Magic.Let’s see how they treat the afterlife, shall we?
It’s Never Been More Satisfying To Play Conductor
Like its original, Monster Train 2 isa deckbuilding rogue-like with tower defense elements. Each run focuses on arming the titular train as it is continuously boarded by a myriad of angelic adversaries.
Rather than having a central player character, your run’s HP total is tied to the health of the train’s engine, the Pyre. After an initial turn spent drawing units and placing them among the train’s 3 floors, waves of enemies will start boarding from the bottom.
Monster Train 2 puts a focus on consistency in its combat…
Combat isturn-based, with the invaders getting the chance to swing first. From a base level, this ingrains Monster Train 2’sfocus on defense, be that through empowering your own units, debuffing the enemies, or whittling them down with magic and traps.
Despite being turn-based, the combat never feels slow. Great sound work and snappy animations make the chaos easy to follow, and it’s clear when a plan is really coming together. Managing to hold back a horde on the train’s first floor always feels empowering.
Any enemies who manage to survive your retaliatory onslaught will climb a floor, slowly approaching your Pyre. The Pyre can handle a few stragglers on its own, but it’s difficult to heal without giving up opportunities to improve your deck. Because of this, Monster Train 2 puts a focus on consistency in its combat rather than the explosive moments of otherroguelikes, though those moments do exist.
Every run is incredibly modular, an important aspect for any rogue-like, and that starts with your choice of clan. The game has 5 playable clans with each offering unique cards and mechanics.
From the Banished’s focus on gaining armor from combat and moving between floors for strategic positioning, to the Luna Coven’s affinity for healing and dealing damage via stacking spell powers, each clan plays very differently, and some work together in surprising ways.
Before each run, you’ll choose a primary clan, also selecting a champion unit of that clan to base your deck around. A secondary chosen clan also adds their cards and relics into the pool of available options throughout the run.
Each run is composed of 9 fights, broken up by different tracks for the train. Each track offers different rewards, random events, shops to modify cards, and even passive relics that can seriously alter the effects of your cards for the rest of the run.
Even while playing as the same clans,I found myself encouraged to build my deck differently each time, finding new combos and standout cards that flourished under different scenarios. It feels great to continuously unlock new tools and figure out how best to use the ones you have. My only real critique is that after you unlock all of a clan’s cards, there’s not much sense of progression left.
The game does try—clearing a run with a card in your deck grants it a shiny border, and the number of cards from each clan that you’ve cleared with is tracked. That sort of box-checking incentive doesn’t really work for me, but I can’t deny it felt good to see my number of cleared cards increase between successful runs.
Out of the gate, Monster Train 2 enjoys basking inwhat it means to be a roguelike, offering constant variance and modularity in almost every aspect. At the end, successful runs are tracked not only by your primary clan, but the secondary clan supporting it, encouraging tactical players to experiment with every possible combination.
Every Card Has A Story
Somewhat surprisingly for a roguelike, Monster Train 2 opens with an immediate followup to the narrative of the original Monster Train. After the legions of Hell managed to fight back the armies of Heaven, powerful Titans have taken over the Pearly Gates. This results in an unlikely covenant between angels and demons to oust the Titans from Heaven.
More and more roguelikes have found ways to spin interesting narratives that explain the repeating nature of the game, from time loops to immortality. Interestingly,Monster Train 2 strives to focus on a continuous narrativein spite of theloopnature of its gameplay.
6 Best Deck-Building Roguelikes, Ranked
Deck-building Roguelikes make up a fairly small gaming niche, but within this genre are some stellar titles that you just can’t miss.
Rather than focus on some big event that tosses the characters back time and time again, it focuses on individual characters represented by your cards. How do the Banished, a tribe of fallen angels eager to redeem themselves clash with the Pyreborne, an army of dragons obsessed with gold for the sake of having it?
Even the smallest cards are represented, with small vignettes playing out in the Sanctuary between runs, showing how your units interact during their downtime. It goes a long way to give every part of your deck character, even giving credence to the cooperation between the various factions that are fostered throughout the larger plot.
Heaven Has Never Looked, Or Sounded, Better
Shiny Shoe, the developers behind both Monster Trains, have improved their visual style massively since the first game. Even in the original Monster Train, the art was charming, but the use of color and fantastic variance in both allies and enemies makesMonster Train 2 a sight to behold.
Shiny Shoe’s vision of a heaven corrupted by strange eldritch entities allows the game to diverge from the typical silver and gold aesthetic expected from angelic foes. Even the legions of Hell controlled by the player are refreshingly unique. I personally adore the Under Legion, an armada of mushroom soldiers who rely on summoning stackable armies of mushroom boys known as Funguys.
Let’s talk about the music, too.Monster Train 2 has a fantastic metal-inspired soundtrack, giving every battle its own tempo impossible not to tap your foot or bang your head to.
10 Underrated Deckbuilders You Need to Play
Deckbuilders can be a hard genre to get into, but this list of underrated deckbuilders you need to play should help a little.
The game also has a fantastic added touch that I wish more teams used—Whenever a new combat song starts, the title of the track displays in the top left corner of your screen! How many times have you heard a particular piece of music in a game that hasstood out to you, forcing you to scour the game’s online soundtrack in order to find that piece with mixed results at best?
I love a good video game soundtrack, so seeing Monster Train 2 flaunt these pieces so proudly just put a smile on my face. It’s always great to see a grassroots team take pride in their work. This is also reflected by the artist of each card being named on screen whenever you add something to your deck. It’s the little things.
Closing Thoughts:
No matter your preferred playstyle, the myriad gimmicks and game plans provided by Monster Train 2 will keep things fresh as you fight your way through the legions of Heaven. While I enjoyed my time with the original, Monster Train 2 is an improvement in every imaginable way. I can’t wait to see what the Shiny Shoe team ends up adding as they continue to support the game. They’ve officially put themselves on my radar as a talented indie team to keep an eye on.
Monster Train 2
Reviewed on PC
WHERE TO PLAY
Elden Ring: Nightreign Being A Roguelike Not “Chasing A Trend” Says FromSoftware
Elden Ring: Nightreign isn’t chasing the roguelike trend, says FromSoftware, though the dev team isn’t opposed to following others' lead either.
