Monster Train 2 - Review

Hell could not be destroyed, and now the tables have been turned. The Hell train is barrelling into Heaven, on track to take out the Titans that have seized control. Can the alliance between former angels and demons work out, or will this Monster Train be doomed to derail? 

Monster Train is back, with a whole new story, new gameplay elements, five brand new clans to get to experience, but the ever-familiar roguelike pseudo card battler system we’ve come to expect. Monster Train 2 looks to take everything that succeeded with the first game, turn it up to eleven and throw a few new things into really flesh out this interesting and unique take on the card battling system. So, what’s new, what’s old? Should this train have been decommissioned or is it still good to go? 

I will preface this with the fact that I am very bad at Monster Train. I wasn’t very good at the first game, and Monster Train 2 seems to be a bit more difficult to get going than the first title was too. For players who’ve put in the long miles with Monster Train, they’ll likely find that getting into Monster Train 2 won’t be terribly difficult, but those first few runs are likely to be far more punishing and difficult than they may have expected. The brand-new clans come with an array of new cards and interactions that are familiar, but also completely different. The Pyreborne and Banished clans as the starting clans are good choices, but compared to the other clans do feel a little underpowered on their own. 

Pyreborne in particular I found underwhelming. Though they seemed to pair up well with Luna Coven as a support clan, they felt a little undertuned, at least in the runs that I did. There is a bit more involved with these starting clans in getting them working and fully using their power and the learning curve is steep. Pyreborne play around with their Pyregel mechanic mostly, dealing more damage with pyre abilities and spells based on the amount of Pyregel stacks. Simple enough on its own, the playstyle itself seemed a little lacking. Focused on dragon hoards, you’ll have to balance gold gain and hoard gains, to truly balance out the power of this strange little clan. 

The Banished in contrast feels a little better overall, and I found to be a decent support clan across the board, as well as the primary one. The Banished focus on moving your units around the battlefield and scaling up their damage and gaining armour in encounters with Valor. Their unique cards pair up particularly well with the Luna Coven who scale up more and more as battles drag on with the spells they cast. The Banished champion also appears to be at the forefront of the story that is being told through Monster Train as they have a series of cutscenes that they appear in as you continue to play through your different runs, successful or otherwise. 

The Luna Coven was the clan I spent the most time with (also may be a result of never doing enough of the requirements to unlock the remaining two clans, but I digress) and found them to be immensely stronger than the Pyreborne and Banished clans. The spellcasting clan, their champion scales up spell damage every time a spell is cast, which resulted in a 450-damage spell, and because of moon phase manipulations and mageblade, a 1.2K damage attack in one of my boss encounters. The Luna Coven was much easier to manage and understand from the word go, and the ideal strategy seemed pretty apparent from the word go. Manipulating moon phases to get the optimal abilities on all your units, reducing spell costs so that you can cast as many per turn as possible, whilst using your secondary clans’ cards to help supercharge your more powerful damaging and healing spells. Most of my successful runs came as a result of the Luna Coven. 

The current balance of the clans does seem a little skewed. Banished and Pyreborne take a while to get going, while the Luna Coven is unbelievably powerful right out of the gate. In fact, I never had a boss get past the first floor with them, whilst I struggled to even beat the mid stage bosses with the others. This is something to keep in mind too. The first game by the end had an even feel across all the clans, and good (as well as lucky) runs felt achievable with all clan combinations. Monster Train 2 currently feels that it might need a little adjustment to really get all clans viable. 

The thing I appreciated with my time in Monster Train 2 was the little story tidbits. The first game felt a little light on narrative and at times felt like playing for the sake of it. Monster Train 2 keeps the fundamentals the same but has expanded upon its in-game universe and lore to provide a generally decent storyline to keep you interested and pushing forward. The clans themselves will have unique little cutscenes that you can occasionally access and witness from the starting screen, and after different numbers of runs, or unlocks, you’ll get treated to little cutscenes that help push the story along. For the most part it’s nothing grandiose, simply a tale of angels and demons coming together after the failed invasion of hell, to try and roll their train into Heaven to dethrone the Titans that had seized control. Couple these with little story beats you’ll encounter through the Celestial Alcoves, and a more in-depth tale begins to show itself. No spoilers here, but perhaps the corruption of the angels was more than an unfortunate outcome of the failed invasion. 

Room and Equipment cards have found their way onto the train now too. Room cards will add unique modifiers and effects to rooms on the train, with each level being able to have a different room effect. These range from increasing spell damage per cast, awarding valour upon slaying, summoning specific units and filling your hand with additional fodder as well. Equipment cards add direct benefits to your units, allowing you to approach each battle slightly differently depending on which cards you pull and when you pull them. More cards means more strategy, and careful planning of your purging of cards when you desperately need to reduce the number you have. 

Endless Mode is one of the most highly requested modes and it has finally arrived. Endless Mode allows you to travel and continue to test yourself against increasingly difficult battles and bosses, to see how far you can go. In a very smart move, you can either start the game in Endless Mode, seeing how far you want to go. Or if you think you’ve got an absolute monster of a strategy going, after you beat the final boss, you can choose to take your current deck straight into Endless Mode to keep going for as long as you possibly can. This allows you to continue to progress covenant ranks and get more story outcomes, whilst giving you the ability to push yourself as far as you can without needing to make the decision from the outset. For those competitive persons, you can even compare your stats with your friends if so inclined. 

Monster Train 2 is a fantastic improvement over the first game. Taking what succeeded and adding to it, Monster Train 2 does everything the first game does and more. The new clans are interesting, the brand-new mechanics, room and equipment cards and different modifiers and buffs makes what could have felt very samey, feel like a completely different experience. If you were unsure about the first game but always wanted to try it out, Monster Train 2 will be an absolute must grab, as it is without a doubt a vast improved experience.

The Score

8.0

Review code provided by Big Fan Games

The Pros

New Clans are refreshing and fun

Room cards & Equipment cards completely change the gameplay

Endless Mode is implemented perfectly

The Cons

First few runs can be very demotivating

Balancing on the clans feels a little off

Unlocking pyrehearts and other clans can take a bit longer than they should