Monster Train 2 review – Hop aboard the fiery chaos of Monster Train 2, where strategic deckbuilding collides with vertical combat across the rails of Heaven and Hell. With five new clans, innovative modes, and relentless battles, this sequel pushes the boundaries of roguelike strategy, promising intense showdowns and tactical mastery at every turn

Monster Train 2 Review Pros

• Beautiful cartoon graphics.
• 2.1GB download size.
• Card battler roguelike gameplay.
• Basic tutorial tips pop up amd a help menu.
• The Game speed can be changed to normal/fast/ultra/super ultra with a simple button press.
• Combat preview on/off.
• Accessibility options – Colorblind support, camera shake, and static battle background.
• The game takes place on a tiered train; you place cards on any floor and have to kill everyone before they reach the top and destroy your Pyre (core). After a round of fighting, enemies will go up a level on the train.
• Each level of the train has a capacity limit.
• The train depot in the hub area lets you customise your train by unlocking new room designs for the top, middle, and bottom carriages
• New runs will have you picking your primary clan, allied clan, pyre heart, and covenant rank.
• Pyre hearts are, as said, your heart for the train and dictate your game, now you can earn and equip new ones that have different stats and passives attached to them.
• There are two game difficulties, but the easier one disables covenant levelling.
• Add mutators to runs, but they can change what you can and cannot earn in a run.
• Unlock mastery card frames, hard to get, but they look fantastic.
• Simple shortcut buttons.
• A dangerously good fit for the handheld, dangerous in how addictive it is.
• Levels/enemies/rewards are all randomized.
• As enemies are defeated, a boss will appear and have special buffs or scenarios.
• Win a game and get a choice of card rewards.
• Merchant of the magic shop, where you can reroll cards and buy or upgrade cards.
• Ember is what you use to play cards, and the amount can change depending on skills, stats, and modifiers. The amount refreshes each round, and each card has an Ember cost.
• Beautiful art cards, and each one had a pop-up telling you the artist of said piece.
• Pyre-as said, is your core; you can’t place troops in the room, but the Pyre does have health and attacks. Your Pyre’s health is actually the health for the whole run, you can heal it as you play, and if it dies, you die and it’s run over.
• Random encounters on the map screen.
• Five covenants to unlock and play as – Banished, Pyreborne, Luna Coven, Underlegion, and Lazarus League. Each has unique buffs, abilities, and hero cards.
• Map-train track with encounters and events, and battles.
• Fast loading times.
• Hover over any icon for a pop-up description.
• Clans-2 initially, but 5 total, this determines the type of cards you will get. You choose an allied clan to fight alongside.
• Earn EXP for your chosen clan, level up, and unlock new cards.
• Trials add an additional challenge to the next battle. It’s optional, but winning with it on grants better rewards.
• Champion- your main card/character, and you can upgrade its stats and abilities.
• Multiple choice upgrades, interactions, rewards, and traveling.
• Well laid out clan progress screen that shows cards and abilities you earned.
• Addictive.
• So much fun to play amd easy to learn.
• Complete run history screen.
• Daily challenge complete with a leaderboard.
• The game offers unlimited replay value.
• Train rooms are a new thing where you can actually add a room-wide buff or effect.
• The Library houses all unlocked and discovered entries in artifacts, forge upgrades, bestiary of enemies, and cards.
• On-screen button prompts.
• Daily challenges will have mutators and designated clans and powers to play as.
• Each floor has a capacity meter of blips. Cards have a number of blips that act like their size. As you upgrade cards, their size grows, and in turn, the blips increase. For example, it’s possible to fill a level with just one card.
• So much depth to stats and learning all the stats from personal records, to endless records, and a full stats leaderboard.
• After each battle, you get to choose from a selection of cards for rewards.
• Coins can be earned and are used in the shops.
• The library book can show how to unlock further clans, artifacts, etc, all are laid out in an easy-to-read and understandable format.
• Challenge creator complete with share codes and score tables, you have featured challenges, and recently played lists.
• A random flying enemy can appear for a short time in a carriage, and killing it gives a big coin reward.
• You can quit out or turn off your game and continue your game later.
• During runs, you can edit your deck, improve and upgrade cards, get new abilities, etc, but it is just for the run.
• Multiple choice encounters with an almost choose-your-own-adventure feel to them.
• In-game cutscenes and artwork story sequences.
• I love the flow of the game and how much it just drags you in and refuses to let go.
• When all your cards get killed on a carriage the enemy shits the room down and you can’t use it anymore.
• The enemy placement and flow are based and can have moments of respite.
• Dragon’s Hoard is a side where you earn Dragon eggs as you play, and after each section on the map, you can choose to save or loot the current hoard.
• The big boss fights outside of the smaller big bosses found in each encounter.
• Many enemy types are all unique and really mix it up.

Monster Train 2 Review Cons

• Very basic tutorial, and it could do with better pop-up text for cards and abilities in particular.
• No touchscreen support, which seems like a missed opportunity.
• The map you progress through is just the same as the last game.
• A lot to take in initially.
• The slight learning curve is with how the game plays out.
• Difficulty spikes happen a lot.
• No online game modes.
• Doesn’t offer any actual achievements system all although you could argue the unlocks are a bit like this.
• RNG can be the real enemy.
• The loading times are not as fast as you would like.
• Early on, the default hands mean you are playing the same sequence of attacks over and over.

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Monster Train 2

Official Website:

Developer: Shiny Shoe

Publisher: Big Fan Games

Store Link:

Steam Store

Nintendo