The second carriage follow-up to the success of 2020’s Monster Train, Monster Train 2 is an upcoming roguelike deckbuilding sequel from developer Shiny Shoe that promises to expand on the foundations of the first later this year. The last few days I’ve spent multiple hours playing runs of its Steam Next Fest demo (now available) to get a sense of its recurring track, and what I’ve found has me impressed and curious about the series as a whole.
Full disclosure up top, while I have played many a roguelike, deckbuilder and tower defence game, tragically I have never gotten around to the first Monster Train. It is one of those games that has been regularly recommended to me, but it has otherwise languished in my Steam wishlist. Thought this was worth flagging upfront to clarify that I came to Monster Train 2 not as a sequel, but as something entirely new to me, and that inevitably clouds my perspective.
That said, though, after my time with the Monster Train 2 demo I doubt the original will remain in my backlog for much longer. Alongside all the caveats that come with previews (not a tonne of time with the game, only a small slice etc. etc.), after a few runs I found it easy to guess what made the first game such a monstrous (I’m sorry) breakout in its myriad of subgenres. Very quickly I found myself settling into an extremely familiar roguelike rhythm of just-another-run-ing until late into the night, intermingled with planning builds and testing out new synergies. Safe to say that within its genre of choice, so far Monster Train 2 appears to be very confident and assured in what it’s trying to accomplish.
The general premise of Monster Train 2 is broadly unchanged from the first. While now you are track-tripping through heaven, rather than hell, to take on the titans, runs continue to revolve around a four-level train with an engine you need to protect during enemy encounters. Gameplay, and upgrades between levels, remain centred on deck-building that combines monsters, spells, equipment and more that can be played and upgraded as you progress further into the game’s heavenly realms.
The demo currently lets you mix and match between two factions (with five planned for the final release later this year) with one acting as your primary and another as your secondary. After picking your factions and engine, each run progresses through eight rings (halos?) of heaven either on the introductory or base difficulty. While there are many other game modes and meta-progression systems being promised for the main release, such as daily challenges, an endless mode, random events, train customisation and more, what is here still functions as a fairly effective and straightforward intro to its core mechanics and presentation.
And what a presentation it is. Besides some weirdly fuzzy and awkward opening cutscenes clarifying the new narrative premise (which fades into the background shortly after), the game’s aesthetic already feels remarkably fully formed for a demo. There’s a vibrant, cartoon-with-edge feel to your train, with some inventive character designs that play with heavenly iconography in inventive and at times unsettling ways.
What most impressed me in this initial slice was the music. This is something that often feels overlooked in roguelike critique given how many times players are going to hear it repeated, and in this realm, Monster Train 2 comes barrelling in with heavy metal guitar riffs and a rollicking tempo. I can’t speak to how reminiscent it is of the first game, but personally, I couldn’t help but compare it to the riotous music of Darren Korb in Hades, which feels like an apt inspiration given that game’s standing in the genre and the similarities in setting.
“…Monster Train 2 comes barrelling in with heavy metal guitar riffs and a rollicking tempo.”
Mechanically, the demo will barely hold your hand through its myriad of card types and systems, but that detracted little from my experience. It’s evidently targeting fans of the original (understandable given its 1.5 million sales) and while I may not have played it, I had more than enough roguelike-deckbuilding-I-guess-a-little-tower-defence games literacy under my belt to get me by. After my first mildly chaotic run I fell into a familiar pattern of prioritising and building around key ability synergies that eventually led me to just scraping my first win on my third track around.
That said, not unlike several of its genre brethren, there were some cards that I struggled to interpret and use properly, leading me to resort to trial and error to figure them out. This is not a major issue given the repetition inherent to the game, but being put suddenly on the back foot because a new mechanic didn’t work the way the cards seemingly explained it nonetheless remains initially frustrating.
The runs tend to be on the longer end for roguelikes at around 40-50 minutes, but I still found them moving forward at a strong pace. While I can’t speak too much of the meta-progression at this stage, which I’m personally partial to in a roguelike, the variety I experienced through the duel opening factions over my several runs was still very robust and scratched a satisfying itch. Based on my first impressions of the sequel, I doubt the first Monster Train will languish in my Steam wishlist much longer.
Monster Train 2 is releasing later in 2025 on PC, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and Xbox Series X|S, and you can wishlist the game here.
About the Author
Cass Barkman
she/they
Cass is a lecturer in Media and Communications at The University of Melbourne with a personal/academic love for experimental narrative videogames, complex cinema and having a little nap.
