Obvious influences have been pulled from deck building games like Hearthstone and the rogue-like genre for Shiny Shoes' game Monster Train. Players are tasked with traveling on a train through a hell that is frozen over to reignite the underworld's flames, all while fighting off the armies of heaven. Monster Train is a fun game that wears its inspirations on its sleeve and adds some fun twists to the deck building genre.
The visual style of Monster Train is charming and will remind players a lot of Hearthstone. Monster Train provides players with over 200 cards that are individually designed and unique. Character animations are fluid and fun to watch, and each monster has their own abilities that are visually delightful and fit the action. Hell is mostly glimpsed in the background as players speed by on their lightning fast train, but players will be too focused on combat to pay much attention to their surroundings.
The main focus of Monster Train is the combat. Each battle is held on the player's multi-level train that is being invaded by angels. There are four separate floors and angels can typically only enter on the lowest. The goal is to stop the angels from reaching the top floor, where they can damage the last working Pyre of Hell. Players set up their monsters and spells on only the first three floors to fight angels as they ascend, adding an additional layer to strategy as players must choose the right cards to cause the most damage along with the best positioning on the floors.
Much like other deck-building games, players start with a minimal selection of cards in Monster Train but collect more as they defeat enemies in combat. Between each fight players can spend in-game currency to duplicate cards, upgrade them, or even purchase artifacts that give passive bonuses to the player's demons. Which upgrades players purchase will factor heavily into whether they pass or fail the next combat encounter.
The most interesting facet of Monster Train though is that it has a roguelike component to it, so players who fail at combat must start at the very beginning and lose all of their upgrades and cards. There is a secondary progression system though, so players who level up will unlock new types of decks and starting cards for subsequent runs. Therefore, the more times that players attempt to beat Monster Train, the more cards they unlock, and the more likely they will be able to beat the game.
Monster Train is a great experience for those who are fans of both deck-building games and roguelike adventures. While there may not seem to be as much content as other titles in the genre, there are random elements and unlockables that allow for a lot of replayability. Monster Train's game mechanics offer a neat spin on the deck-building genre and it will be interesting to see how the game evolves in the future.
Monster Train releases for PC on May 21, 2020. A Steam code was provided for the purposes of this review.