Shiny Shoe’s second roguelike deck-building game inverts the central premise and builds on top of its predecessor’s systems and mechanics.

There’s something beautiful about a title as pure as Monster Train 2. No convoluted wordy nonsense. It’s a train with monsters… or a train that happens to be a monster? Who cares, it sounds rad and old-school, so it’s probably fun. If someone tells you they’re playing Monster Train 2, you’ll likely rush to Google it because it sounds like the video-gamest video game ever, something that’s openly silly and honors a bygone era. Vampire Survivors-ass energy.

Anyway, as a casual Monster Train enjoyer, I was happy to learn a sequel was on its way and set to launch as a full release. Many indies nowadays love going into early access even if there isn’t a concrete plan, which often leads to disaster. Devs gotta eat, yes, but people have grown wary of overly ambitious studios struggling to deliver on their promises. For Shiny Shoe, that isn’t much of a problem. After the original Monster Train and Inkbound, it’s fairly well-versed in making roguelike crowd-pleasers with a flavor of their own.

 Monster Train 2 isn’t trying to fool anyone: This is a safe sequel by the playbook; the sort of direct, no nonsense iteration that used to be common back in the day. Good for newcomers and burned-out veterans alike. Do you like silly card games and roguelikes? Are you a functioning adult who does lots of adult things and thus has little time for bloated experiences that get good past the 20-hour mark? You might like this one then.

Mind you, Monster Train 2 has a ton of content at launch. The average Monster Train player has put hundreds of hours into the original, so the main driving force behind the sequel is offering “more and better,” and polishing its rougher edges. As for the basic premise that shapes the world and the colorful characters that inhabit it, it’s a fun twist: If the first game was about retaking Hell from the forces of Heaven, Monster Train 2 is about retaking Heaven from horrors from beyond with a “makeshift alliance” of angels, demons, and everything in-between (including greedy dragons). In practice, the universe is an all-you-can-eat of traditional fantasy elements that never takes itself too seriously.

You’ll most likely rush through the short bits of dialogue between the champions and heroes you recruit along the way, as your forces grow stronger and you make slow but steady pushes into the heart of Heaven and the fearsome Titans’ territory. This isn’t an optional story mode or campaign. Monster Train 2 has dumped a traditional menu altogether, instead launching into your Darkest Dungeon-like town/base of operations. If you “beat” the story, you can then access an Endless Mode, but all types of runs start here, and the pre-game tinkering is integrated into this locale. You could call it a fancy menu, yes, but in practice, I appreciate having to click fewer times to sort everything out and start a run. It just feels more cohesive and elegant.

The gameplay loop hasn’t changed much. It’s just… busier and wordier, which is kind of what you want out of a traditional sequel, especially when we’re talking about card games. Much like a solid new Magic: The Gathering set, Monster Train 2 comes with several new card effects and mechanics that stack on top of each other. More synergies, more ways to make numbers go up, more ways to fuck up a build. The best roguelikes are the ones that allow you to completely break them apart or just decide to ruin your run with absolutely shit drops and buy options. 

Shiny Shoe seems to understand this really well, and even though this is no Binding of Isaac when it comes to unhinged design, each run (successful or not) translates into getting new artifacts, units, and magicks you can abuse the hell out of. New items include equipment cards and floor enhancements for the train (new passive effects, yay), but neither disrupt the previously established flow.

Example: This guy puts stacks of “melee weakness” on enemies with each hit? Let’s make him hit like a truck and stack multipliers on top. Oh, I can clone cards if I have the gold? Sorry, but that unit is now four identical units. Trim the useless fat out of your deck right after and get ready to ruin the annoying boss’ day next time you see him. If you think something might be broken, it probably is, and getting better at Monster Train 2 equals getting better at identifying opportunities to game the system. Considering the fuckhuge amounts of HP bosses have after the first two or three zones, it’s pretty much the only way to victory, so go wild. Having trouble? Try out a different combination of clans.

 More importantly, the central loop continues to work really well because it’s relatively simple. Protect the Pyre on the train’s top floor by placing units on each floor below it. Like in Snowpiercer, there are no brakes on this ride, and tight spaces make for unique combat scenarios. The Pyre can defend itself, but its HP total is… not a lot. Whether you’re focusing on upgrading spells or coming up with stronger, more abundant units to block and repel the enemy forces’ boardings, getting a clear view of the action and making sense of what’s going to happen next turn is easy. Not a lot of reading is involved, which is something we can thank the Hearthstone-ish visuals and text on the cards for. That said, I still can’t quite figure out what “Valor” and other new additions do exactly, and my reading skills haven’t helped much, so maybe some descriptions could use a slight rewrite.

Eventually, after several defeats and many comedic exchanges (which can be genuinely funny) between the protagonists of a paper-thin story, you’ll complete the big mission. Defeats which take you further into Heaven are actually wins; just make those bars go up and complete challenges. However, as everyone into roguelikes knows, the end is just the beginning. New Pyre Hearts reshape the gameplay; Mutators are great to reshape entire runs; new bosses pop up; and on top of rotating daily challenges, you can just keep pushing forward with a broken build in the post-finale Endless Mode. There’s also a shocking amount of surprises we’ve been asked not to reveal, but I can sincerely say I laughed out loud at many of them, so that’s a bonus point.

Monster Train 2 is breezy, but meaty enough to be compelling and justify unlocking everything it has to offer. A delightful deck-building game that’s just easy to pick up and have a blast with, without worrying about optimizing decks; you’ll figure that out as you go through each run. There are days when you just want to tune out playing something engaging but uncomplicated while listening to a good Spotify playlist. If you’re a single-player card game sicko who’s exhausted Slay the Spire and Balatro, this might be the next best thing and a must-play on the Steam Deck.

Score: 9/10

This review is based on a PC code provided by the publisher.