Cards, Clans, and Combos… This is Monster Train 2.
Card games occupy this section of my brain I can only describe as “Stand-By mode” Whenever I don’t want to go looking for something to play or I’m idling waiting, card games fill that slot. My evenings are consumed with hours of Hearthstone or Marvel Snap. Slay The Spire and Ben Starr’s Joker Poker are never too far away in my schedule. It’s a safe bet that if you want your game to stand out during a showcase to me, slap some cards in there, or just slam Deck-Builder on the screen at any point and you’ll have my curiosity.
If we ever reach a point where we see a deckbuilder extraction shooter, my brain would collapse in on itself like the house from Treehouse of Horror. These are the jokes folks, the up to date references you’re paying for. The original Treehouse of Horror episode from 1990, and you thought this was just going to be all train jokes didn’t you? I thought about it, and that felt pretty one track, while I’m more of a multitrack drifting kind of guy. See, it looks like this intro has gotten away from me, but watch as I easily pull it in to the station, ain’t no problem with this trolley.
From Shiny Shoe, the makers of Monster Train! Comes Monster Train 2 to deliver even more heaven and hell card combos for you to pick apart and play down in your 3 carriages of card carnage. Just like its predecessor Monster Train 2 sees you picking 2 clans and building out your deck over the course of your run. If you’ve played the original you’ll be familiar with the core of what Monster Train 2 has to offer, but if this is your first time buying a ticket for the hell train card game. Here’s the sped up version of how a run goes. You’ll pick two clans, a primary and a secondary. You then choose a hero from your primary clan, and be given some starter card. You play down your units in to the 3 carriages of your Monster Train, with the goal of stopping enemy units from destroying your pyre. The heart. They enter from the bottom and proceed up a level after each combat, if they destroy the pyre. Game Over.
During a run you’ll be given the chance to recruit new cards from your two clans, new trinkets, little events, and upgrade the cards in your deck. Standard roguelike run style stuff. Each run will look different from the last, even the bosses can have different abilities to keep things fresh. At this point, on the surface the game sounds identical to the original. Monster Train 2 is most definitely just an extension of the first. It falls in to that trapping where, if you make something too different people will complain that it’s not the same. While if you keep it too similar you’ll end up with people claiming it could have just been DLC.
The differences in Monster Train 2 are more refinements to the systems. New additions to the old formula keeping it fresh, while adding more combinations for the player to try. You’re not just playing with you monsters, you’re playing with the train itself. You can change your pyre out for one that gives different effects. Room cards can also be added to your deck which when played on a floor of your train effect the whole floor. You can give it a +15 spell power for any spell played on that floor, or collect 10 gold for every unit slain. They allow more control over how you want to build out your playstyle and the approach you want to have to your run.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t like the synergy between the starting two clans, they feel like there is just a touch too much friction between them that you end up just focusing on one and ignoring the other. They’re fine on their own, but as you try to make these two opposing parts work together, your deck feels weaker for it. I’m sure someone will try to argue the point that it’s intended story wise given that your starting clans are opposed. One from heaven and the other hell. Which is a terrible defence. It would be like you starting a crossword, and me bullet train-ing a dictionary at your head.
It’s not impossible to win with them, it just normally ends up with the easiest route being focus solely on one and lean in to the strengths. As you get a fun runs under your belt and miles on those wheels, you’ll unlock more cards and more clans to mix and match. At this point the game opens up. The new clans in Monster Train 2 have some interesting mechanics to play with and you’ll start to see the pieces fall in to place in your head opening up more creative ideas you’ll want to try out.
That’s the strength of a good deck builder. It’s not just about how much freedom you have within the system, but when you break the system and fully derail that train, do you feel like a tactical genius? Does it feel earned? The original Monster Train nailed that feeling, and there’s underpinnings of it in the sequel. Monster Train 2 as mentioned before feels like an extension of the first. You enjoy parts of the new, while pining for parts of the old.
The largest problem with Monster Train 2 is the initial experience. It’s not as streamlined or smooth as the first, and there are bumps along that track. If you persist though, there’s more of what makes Monster Train great, along with a fleshed out story for you to learn more about the clans, the characters and the locations you were choo choo’ing your way through the previous go round.
Monster Train 2 will set you back $25, and around that price for Pounds and Euros. There’s no point in telling you the usual hours or achievements here, as this is a time waster game. It would be like telling you how many hours we put in to Factorio. The purpose of this section is always to help you gauge your time investment, and the cost, as money is tight and choices matter. But that’s not why you buy deckbuilders, you buy them to sink time in to, and Monster Train 2 is a great journey upon which to settle down in that seat and enjoy the ride.
