Monster Train 2: Hands-on Preview
Monster Train was a great little deck-building rogue-like that really gained some positive momentum when it was released a few years ago. It managed to make the tactics and card elements simple to understand yet deep to master, something that many games in this genre miss the mark on. This, coupled with a tight gameplay loop that kept players coming back for more meant that Monster Train went on to become something of an indie darling. The simple story of Hell’s minions trying to defend themselves from an assault by Heaven’s angels worked well, being matched by some truly cool unit and ability designs. With all that said, it should be no surprise that Shiny Shoe is back for another round of card-dealing fun, but this time Heven and Hell are putting their animosity aside to face an even bigger foe.
I’ve been playing a pre-release build of Monster Train 2 and I have to say, even this far before release things are running well and there are no problems on the tech side of things. No glitches, no bugs, and no issues, this is a game that is coming together nicely even over a month before release, not something I see all that often when doing previews. The designs and graphical flourishes aren’t dissimilar to what we saw in the first game, though I feel like some of the enemy units are even more inventive this time around. It is clear the art team had a hell of a time designing things because it is evident that a lot of love has gone into the look and feel of the entire game.
Gameplay-wise, things aren’t massively different. The basic premise is the same, a three-level battle arena is used as a deployment zone for your units. Each level has limited slots for units and once your units are deployed they attack the enemies. If the enemies aren’t defeated they move up a level and the next turn starts. If they should reach the top of your train, they will attack the train’s heart. Once the train heart runs out of health, it is game over. Within this basic concept are a range of strategies, upgrades, boosts and abilities that can be used to swing the advantage your way and this is where it seems most of the sequel’s changes are coming into play.
Along with unit and spell boosts that were present in the first game, players can now upgrade the entire floor of the train to provide a permanent benefit. Things like all units on that particular floor get an armour or attack bonus or enemies killed on that floor give extra gold. I found combining these floor bonuses with the right unit choices could really make a massive difference. For example, one of these bonuses adds extra Pyregel to each attack which acts like a damage multiplier. Couple this with a unit that does multihit damage and enemy health can drop rapidly, even on the large end-of-wave bosses. It is a smart addition to the formula that will make players contemplate their ideal unit formation based on what is actually going on in the battle arena.
There also seems to be a bit more of a focus on story this time around. At the end of each run, there is a central hub where players can change Pyre Hearts (the train hearts) unlock and change cosmetics, examine a library of all the game’s units and abilities as well as progress the story. Here short cutscenes are presented that flesh out the world and give context to the ongoing battles. There is nothing here that is going to set the world on fire, but the writing is solid with a nice amount of humour injected into proceedings.
It is only early days in my time with Monster Train 2, but I have to say it has the same addictive qualities as the first title. The upgrades are smart and add a nice layer of strategy to proceedings, there are a host of new units, enemies, upgrades and spells to master and the story is fun, if unessential. This isn’t a sequel that is drastically changing the formula, but one that evolving it into something even better and I am more than ok with that.
Monster Train 2 is coming to the PC, Xbox Series, PS5 and Switch on the 21st of May and you can catch the latest trailer below.
