Monster Train 2 review: "A truly first class ride through deckbuilder roguelike heaven, and I'm already going off the rails"

Monster Train 2 is gloriously more in just about every way that matters. More decks of cards. More rules to play with. More effects to stack on top of each other. Wreaking more havoc against those who oppose the monster army you assemble into a frightening force each round. Coal has been piled high on the furnace of one of the best roguelike deckbuilders in the business to create a truly devilish sequel that's tremendously fun to play around with, and features so many options there's always something new to grab my attention.

Yet, while Monster Train 2 certainly deserves that gloriously curved sequel number, this followup is really more of a Super Monster Train in the tradition of retro classics. Everything I loved about the original Monster Train is intact while feeling incredibly evolved. This is the kind of sequel that supersedes the original to the point where I'm not sure there's any point in returning – that first excursion now feels like it was merely laying down the tracks for this well-forged locomotive.

All aboard

The fundamentals are still much the same. Your task is to escort the pyre – the last embers of Hell – on your eponymous locomotive to its destination intact. Whereas the first game had you riding the tracks down to Hell, this time you're moving up the screen towards Heaven, in order to use the fire's powers to purge the encroaching Titan threat that threatens to throw both sides of the divine coin into chaos. The remaining champions from Heaven, Hell, and somewhere in between must join forces to see it done, each successful mission getting them closer to liberation.

Each segment of the map is divided by battles – some of them boss-level fights – with stop-offs to upgrade your deck and therefore your monstrous powers on the way. After each cloudy dust-up, you always get a left or right choice with a handful of distinct upgrade stations each. Will you use some pyre shards to heal your fire back to full health or nab some possibly overpowered equipment? Veer towards upgrades for your battle units, or for your spells? Duplicate a top performing card, or permanently discard two that are holding you back? Monster Train 2 is always presenting you with choices, and teasing you with other equally valid upgrade paths you could have taken.

The battles themselves are – again – fundamentally the same as in the first game. Your train is made up of four floors. The top houses your pyre, while the three below are where you can place your own monsters to fend off invaders who board from the bottom and ascend each turn (whether you've units alive on a floor or not). Things get chaotic as more foes, often beefier, board the further you get into a run, and it's up to you to bash them silly before your pyre can sustain much damage. After you play your cards each round, damage is exchanged automatically before the next begins.

Each run's deck starts off relatively similar to one another, with base train steward units and the like, but depending on your clans of choice you'll quickly end up specializing to take advantage of each one's decks. Note the plural 'clans', too – one of the best aspects of Monster Train 2 is that while you only have one clan's champion with you, you never just pick one deck to set out with, you always have to pick two. Synergy is the steamy lifeblood of Monster Train 2, you've no choice but to constantly think about strategy in that way. Even trying to downplay the impact, say, the Pyreborne's Pyregel debuffs has on your Valor-focused Banished deck is still a decision.

It's a great way of getting you to think about how cards interact – effects often play off one another whether you like it or not. Understanding how these combos work and nudging your deck to take advantage of them is how you'll pull into the station of your first wins, and is crucial for mastering covenant runs that increase complexity by making runs more difficult while also stuffing your conductor's cabin with more toys to play with.

Compared to the first Monster Train, each of the starting clans in Monster Train 2 are immediately more complex, which may make those used to some of the first game's simpler methods anxious – but it's weighted this way for a reason (past tactics do return, however). Whether it's the Luna Coven's powers that boast different effects depending on the constantly changing moon phase, or the way Pyreborne builds up a stack of dragon's hoard treasure to cash-in for big rewards, there's a lot to juggle.

Having no choice but to grapple with all these status effects early on helped me get to grips with how I was expected to get them to play off each other. Once I got used to them, I really didn't want to return to simple hack-and-slash decks with big numbers, knowing my digits could dial much higher with some devious adjustments to the formula. Even so, I'm still getting to figuring out some clans' mechanics well into double digit hours of playtime.

Making Monster Train 2's mechanics even more complex are the addition of entirely new card types and customization options. Equipment can be attached to units in addition to upgrade tokens, and Rooms can also be applied to give, well, room-enhancing effects ranging from flat stat boosts to ones that allow you to accumulate extra attack points or even money.

If that's not enough, the Pyre Heart that encases your pyre can be switched out to allow for additional effects ranging from the option to pay to duplicate cards at stores to giving some cards you stumble upon a starting upgrade token (which, for me, can hinder as much as it helps – but I bet if you get lucky this one really goes hard).

Naturally, as a roguelike, your deck starts modest each time you pull on that train whistle for another stab at, well, stabbing (and burning, and crushing, and…). The beauty is seeing the many, many combinations combine into something that you feel verges on gamebreaking – until the next boss crushes you and puts you in your place. But, usually, not without the wince-worthy feeling of being so close.

Pick a card

There are so many possibilities and diversions you'll rarely chase the exact same synergies twice, even setting out with the same clans. Stumbling upon a new game plan always feels great. Simple early combinations may see you using the Pyreborne's Pyregel with the Luna Coven's spell-boosting Conduit buffs to rack up the damage, or using the Banished's Valor alongside Mageblade and Conduit to turn your units into spellslinging tanks.

Soon enough you'll be racking up upgrade tokens to sand off the edges of top-tier spells. One run saw me forcing a damage boosting and damage shielding card to repeat back into my hand on each use for a low cost making my units near untouchable. Another had me using a smidgestone in concert with overgrowth equipment I'd grafted onto my units to have them beef up every turn with literally no limit to how big they could grow (because they would simultaneously always be tiny – Schrodinger's size).

All of these wonderful synergies do have one slight downside – enemy units also come with stacks of their own special abilities you need to be aware of. Often you can tell at a glance with damage previews what you're dealing with, but as units get more complicated it can sometimes feel like a chore to parse out exactly what you're up against, constantly having to hit the 'see more' button to expand the list of effects. Or, more often than not, chancing it.

At the very least, vital boss effects are indicated in the pre-battle splash screen, so you're never not aware of anything big. Monster Train 2's bulging suitcase of special powers is to its benefit more often than not, but it can be overwhelming in terms of the sheer amount of data.

Beyond just throwing yourself back onto the tracks for repeat runs there's plenty to chase as well, from a legion of unlocks, to playing with mutators, escalating covenant difficulties, and even dimensional challenges. I really love these challenge runs, as they're great ways of forcing you to play with particular set-ups and special rules that can make you feel overpowered as much as they can be tricky – and do a great job at introducing you to combinations you might not have thought of.

Monster Train 2 also features a greater emphasis on story than the original Monster Train which is to say, still not much. The visual novel style presentation is particularly basic, and the writing itself is not all that engaging. It's enough to remind you that the repeating set-up could in theory lend itself to a structure similar to Hades while not really being anything like it.

Oddly, story progression is tied to unlocking Pyre Hearts, done by achieving milestones like holding Frozen cards in your hand for long enough, or applying a certain total amount of debuffs. It's not a particularly thrilling way of progressing, as much fun as the Pyre Hearts themselves are to play around with – and feels like needless padding, especially when you have to slog through a couple that just don't fit your playstyle at all (debuffs feel like they progress so slowly).

With that said, swiping my pass for another trip on Monster Train 2 isn't something I need much excuse to do other than the simple pleasure of playing the game itself. With so many options in each run, I'm never quite sure what to expect – runs where I'm certain I'm off to a bad start turning into crackling storms of synergy, and sometimes the overconfidence of a solid beginning becoming a nightmare. This journey's quick enough to have me reaching my destination, dusting myself off, and jumping right back on board for another – even if that means leaving my luggage behind.

Check out our calendar of the new games of 2025 for what to play next. Want more like this? We have a best roguelikes list for you too!