You’ve heard of ‘Crazy Train’ from Ozzy Osbourne, but have you heard of ‘Monster Train’? The 2020, rogue-like, deck-builder (and cult favourite of the genre) drives back into the spotlight with ‘Monster Train 2’, the next in the series by Shiny Shoe, published by Good Shepherd Entertainment.

If the game’s title didn’t give it away, Monster Train 2 has players facing off against a train full of monsters. Titans have taken Heaven, risking the balance between Heaven and Hell, forcing angels and demons to team up to fight their common enemy. As the omnipotent conductor of the train, players follow the tracks through Heaven, Hell, and the Abyss in rogue-like runs encounters taking place on the train.

Presented in a gorgeously 2D animated art style, friends and foes look equally badass; pair that with the edgy heavy metal music in the heat of battle that pumped me up as I took on the baddies.

Like the previous game, Monster Train 2 is a deck-builder with the power to control allies and use abilities through cards. The multi-level train sees enemies attempt to ascend the floors to the Pyre Heart, the train’s core. Deploying units and using offensive and buffing cards is the way forward to stop enemies before they reach the heart, and it plays like a tower defence game.

My initial run went off the rails as I got a handle on the fast-paced, somewhat tricky gameplay. The tutorial (or first run, I suppose) told me how to play, but like the gameplay, the tooltips were short and swift, and while the UI was plentiful, I still felt like I was missing some key information now and then in the heat of battle.

After some practice, I enjoyed Monster Train 2 as my more successful runs moved forward. I started to gain some traction, making it far enough to invest in upgrades to my clan and boosts to cards.

Game mechanics have seen improvements from the first game, with new card types in equipment cards, such as buff units, room cards to give floors of the train some extra defensive oomph, and 100+ cards to unlock on release. During the journey, players can stop at Merchants to gain valuable attack, power and Valor upgrades.

Picking up some Artifacts provides additional perks like increased Embers (action points) or reduced merchant costs. At the end of a run, the Covenant Outpost Hub is a progression system that ups the ante, with clan stats increasing, train customisation and The Logbook to track achievements, collections and enemy data.

With five playable clans with different strengths and playstyles, there’s a heap of replayability just in the clans and their abilities alone.

During the preview, I had access to angelic warriors, the Banished and the Pyreborn, each with their own powerful arsenal that was both satisfying and completely different. It was enough to taste what’s to come, and I’m keen to see what other clans will join the fight.

On release, there will be more clans, greater difficulties, daily and Dimensional challenges (trails with unique rewards and modifiers) and an Endless wave-based mode. There will be a full story, 10+ Pyre Heart variations and a Battle of the Titans mode. It’s looking to be a strong serving for rogue-like- and deck-builder fans new to the series and an updated experience for fans of the first game.

It’s a bit too soon to tell if I’ll ride this train to the end. The fast-paced combat resulted in an incredibly short experience for the demo but a replayable one, encouraging me to try again
I can see it as a great on-the-go game on mobile or Steam Deck and a good time to unwind on the PC after a long day.

Monster Train 2 demo is available to play on Steam right now.

Written by: Yasmin Noble