Monster Train 2 Review (PC)

Even if you don’t like card-based games, I suspect Monster Train 2 might be the bait that reels you in. Quite on par with Slay the Spire, perhaps even better, the sequel has more than hit the bullseye, whether it’s improving and elevating the original or adding new and fresh content for fans to devour. Indeed, every second spent in Monster Train 2 feels perfectly right, like it was meant to be, owing to all number of reasons. 

The gameplay itself is stupidly fast and entertaining; you’re almost always on the edge of your seat at the next turn. And the story and graphics all come together to put the cherry on top of the bold and beautiful deck-building experience Shiny Shoe has created. But first, let’s break down the parts that make the Monster Train 2 wheels go round. Just what specifically makes it special and an absolute must-play among card-based fans and gamers alike? 

Highway through Hell

As you might remember from the first game, there was a train that sped down from heaven’s glorious gates through the in-between and into the burning fires of hell. This was the train your minions hopped on to stop heaven from eradicating hell and its people. Assuming you were successful, Monster Train 2 puts up a new challenge for you: to forge alliances between hell and heaven and eradicate a common enemy: the Titans, before they destroy the world.

Your playthrough remains mostly the same. You’ll board a new train that passes through hell, heaven, and the abyss, defeating your foes, one Titan at a time. Battles take place in the same three-tiered vertical hellhole, with the player drawing cards to deploy their monsters and buffing them with special cards. New cards unlock the more games you play, and well, from here on, it’s all dependent on how you mix and match and synergize your cards to win. 

More Than Meets the Eye

But wait. There’s a tad more that goes into your choices. Like the clans, each with unique strengths and weaknesses. Within the clans are units that you need to optimize their abilities and strategize your play for the win. Drawing your cars and upgrading them can’t also be haphazard. Newly added room cards, for instance, apply buffs to your train to introduce new strategies to beat foes. Equipment cards, on the other hand, upgrade your units, giving them different buffs in battle.

Take a Breather

So, you see. Monster Train 2, in fact, has a lot of moving parts that, without careful consideration, can lead to the painful loss of a battle. Do not worry, though, as the gameplay is roguelike. That means that while you’re almost guaranteed to lose, you also get several chances to correct your mistakes. But first, you’ll head to the Covenant Outpost, where you can catch your breath by trudging the story forward. 

It’s also where you unlock your rewards, new cards, and bonuses. The Pyre Hearts reward, for instance, helps customize your next run to fit your play style, as well as advances the story. You can unlock customizations for your train. Here’s where you peruse your logbook to learn enemy information and strategize against them. It’s also where you can check out different game modes, like the dimensional and daily challenges that offer new enemies and rewards. 

What’s New?

There are lots of quality-of-life changes I’m grateful for in Monster Train 2, features that weren’t present in the original. It’s a clear indication that Shiny Shoe has been paying attention to fans and will most likely continue to elevate the series to new heights. The Room and Equipment cards, for instance, are a game-changer in battle. 

These drastically upgrade your cards and train to the extent that you take a step back to carefully consider and optimize your next strategy. They get you to engage your neurons in clever ways, and blissfully swim in the victory that results from a carefully thought-out plan. But there are nitty-gritty changes that can go a long way to smooth out your experience, too. 

A feature like an “undo” button can seem small. However, in games like Monster Train 2, it’s easy to make a misstep in battle that costs you the entire run. Alternatively, you may discover a potential synergy that you can make the most of with other cards in your deck. Either way, the chance to undo a turn goes a long way to ensuring you’re enjoying the most seamless ride.

Overall, the constant theme in assessing what’s new in Monster Train 2 is that there is more of everything. More enemies, more clans, more challenges, more modes. These translate to more cards, more rules to wrap your head around, more effects, more abilities, more modifiers, and so on. And it all never seems too hot to handle; quite the opposite, ensuring there’s never a dull moment to spare.

Meat to the Bone

The fundamentals aside, it’s the actual gameplay of Monster Train 2 that makes it so addictive. After drawing a few cards from your deck, you cast the rest aside. Careful which cards you pick, as they correspond to spells and monsters, each with unique abilities, plus a mana resource. Your opponent comes in with their card selection, and the cards battle it out. 

You want to take down as many of the opponents’ enemies as possible before they reach the Pyre engine on which your train runs. If they reach it and destroy it, you lose, and start a new run. All along, you’ll be drawing cards until you reach the end of your deck, then shuffle back the cards that were cast aside, until the game ends. Now, all of this is standard card-based gameplay. But what makes Monster Train 2 special?

First, it’s the three-tier system, where you need to strategize where to place your monsters. Then, the enemies begin attacking your guys from the first tier through to the top. They mustn’t reach the top, or else they’ll stack hacking away at your Pyre engine. At levels three, six, and eight, the bosses with more health come in. So, essentially, every tier has a strategy to consider, but the boss level, too. 

It depends. Perhaps you might want to place your tank monsters at the bottom. Perhaps healers at the top. You do have multiple chances; you must take full advantage of them before enemies reach the Pyre engine. But the multiple chances are countered by the overwhelming options of clans, units, cards, abilities, spells, upgrades, and buffs you have at your disposal. 

Over and Over Again

It makes every run feel fresh and unique. With so many powerful abilities and spells you tinker around with, it almost feels like you’re always progressing, even when you lose a run. There is so much depth, so many options to consider. Even at lower difficulty, you still have boundless creativity to topple your opponent. The devastating synergies you can come up with, the challenges you can test your knowledge on. It’s all so wonderfully bizarre and epic, Shiny Shoe ought to give itself a pat on the back. 

Some window dressings worth mentioning, and which might have caught your eye already, are the monster designs. Just how goofy these creatures look, and each is distinct in flavor and taste. Yes, flavor and taste because it’s almost as if they can jump off the screen to meet you with their vibrance, sparkle, and absurdity. Notably, the UI looks more polished, with larger, legible text on the cards and an overall exciting presentation. A lot may be happening on screen, but it all feels wonderfully chaotic; you can’t help but tag along in wonder. 

Verdict

All of the original Monster Train’s content has been transmitted to the sequel. So, the fact that the original garnered overwhelmingly positive reviews should already be an indication enough that the sequel is spectacular. That’s largely thanks to Shiny Shoe abiding by the rules of making a great sequel, which are to improve on the original and add new content. 

On both fronts, you can pinpoint major features that result in a near-perfect experience. The cards now have Room and Equipment types that drastically upgrade your abilities and train. They add an extra layer of depth and strategy to an already content-packed deck-building defense game. Look more closely, and you notice the UI looks cleaner and more polished. While seemingly minor additions like the “Undo” button go a long way to help re-strategize plays. 

But it’s the sheer wealth of content Monster Train 2 offers that ultimately make it so damn addicting. You never run short of new ways to play and surprises to unleash on opponents. Based on the synergies you come up with and mix and matches you experiment with, runs almost always evolve differently. 

As a result, you always feel like you’ve got a trick up your sleeve, even when you lose a game. And that there’s always room to grow. And isn’t that what keeps the best of us going in gaming?