Monster Train

[Lord of the Large Pants]

Monster Train is a rogue-lite deckbuilder, broadly in the same genre as something like Slay the Spire or Inscryption, but very much its own animal. I played the first game + expansion quite a bit, but it didn't seem to have a lot of online hype and I never expected to hear about it again.

Then 3 months ago, the fuck outta NOWHERE, a playable demo for Monster Train 2 dropped on Steam, followed by the full game last Wednesday. And as it turns out... it's really good. Everything feels much tighter and better designed. 5 brand new clans, 2 Champions each, all quite distinct from the old ones. New mechanics like floor modifiers and semi-permanent equipment. Better balance, less dead cards. In some ways it's harder than the old game, but it feels less unfair. More ways to win, more ways to lose.

If you haven't played it, here how it goes. Pick 2 clans. Your hero comes from your main clan, and you have full access to everything else from both. Your train has 3 floors. You can place units on each floor (though in practice, you usually end up playing 1 or 2). Enemies enter the train and attack your dudes. If they reach the top floor, they attack your HP directly, and if you run out you lose. You can assist with spells, equipment status effects, room upgrades, unit upgrades, etc. Between fights, you can find and upgrade units and extra gear like artifacts. Meta progression unlocks more cards, more clans, and a few other special modifiers.

Sound interesting at all? The demo is free on Steam. Progression and clan choice are limited, but you can play out a full game.

I consider myself good at the game, but far from amazing. I played C20 in the old game, and occasionally won. I'm about 10-12 hours into the new one and will do my best to answer any questions, but like I said, I am not an expert.

One other thing. If you played the first game (and even if you haven't), stop reading this topic NOW, and go grind up to the level 6 (I think) Pyre Heart event. You get a VERY interesting unlock that is also a massive spoiler. It's not some tiny bit of irrelevant lore, either. It's actually something pretty massive that I promise you don't want spoiled. You'll know it when it happens.

Anyway, since nobody else I know plays, I thought I'd hit up you spergs. Discuss, question mark?

 

[Marche]

I liked the first one and put a lot of hours into it, been playing the sequel last couple days, it's very much more of the same but that is fine because its more of the same.

 

[The Feline Solution 2]

Roguelike Deckbuilders is pretty much all i play for some years now and i got immensely burned out on Monster Train in a very short amount of time. The gameplay is original for a Deckbuilder, the design isn't half bad either.
Still, for it being lauded as the best Deckbuilder next to StS almost everywhere i spent considerably less time with it than with other, much less polished Deckbuilders (same for Inscryption now that i think about it). Played the demo of MT2 and quit after two fights, it's the same game, it's still kinda fun but i noticed quickly i just can't get back to it. I'd still somewhat recommend playing MT1 for anyone with an interest in Deckbuilders but i imaginbe anyone interested in the genre has already done so.

Edit: Sorry for kinda highjacking with this but i am much more interested in As We Descend as in MT2 when it comes to Deckbuilders (where AWD is a bit more than just a Deckbuilder really), i think it drops in a couple of days. Had a blast with the demo.

 

[lichen]

I watched a bit of Monster Train when it came out thanks to Jorbs and other streamers I relied on for StS content. My impression then was the same as my impression watching Monster Train 2. The art isn't really my style to begin with, but having 5+ characters on screen at once, with the interface taking up 40% of the screen space, units having a bunch of icons underneath, everything moving very fast, multiple levels to the train... it's very busy. Gameplay wise it does seem interesting, but it's visually very unappealing to me and it's hard to pull me away from StS with that being the case.

 

[The man The only man]

I played/pirated it and it is an expansion of the first one where the amount factions get doubled. The one thing I noticed with this game like with other deck builders is that you realize which deck combo's/archetypes are trash or useful and then you proceed by always focussing on certain cards and champion upgrades. But it is a faithful rendition of the first game, if you like the first one then the second one is recommended.

The only big negative is that the second Pyreborne hero is straight up fat art

Spoiler: The horrors

 

[Billy the Adult]

I'd be interested in seeing a roguelite deckbuilder general, as I'm not sure if there's that much discussion for the individual games.

So far, my only issue is in the enemies. In the first game, there was 2 options for both of the bosses before Seraph with each boss having 3 variants, compared to the same bosses each time now. I've definitely enjoyed the game, but I hope they add maybe a room and an equipment for the old clans. Also sucks that mix isn't explained very well, since I had no idea why you would ever mix beyond 1 instead of having twice the incant triggers. Reason is once you start with a vial, additional mixes are from a much smaller pool that match the vial (so if you get a blue vial, additional mixes can only be unstable/damage/frostbite).

In my experience pyregel seems quite good, mooncycle seems slow, and I haven't had success for a spell build.

 

[Lord of the Large Pants]

Reason is once you start with a vial, additional mixes are from a much smaller pool that match the vial (so if you get a blue vial, additional mixes can only be unstable/damage/frostbite).

It's even better than that, because upgraded potions can get effects that basic potions can't. For example, upgrading a regen potion can potentially get you reanimate. Also, potions have a hidden semi-permafrost effect that lets you carry them between turns to upgrade them, which is usually worth doing at least once if you got the right type. Potions are relatively cranked and Lazarus is definitely my favorite of the new factions.

 

[Sugriva]

I played the first one and while I didn't hate it I was very burned out from Slay the Spire. Currently I am very burned out from Balatro. Hopefully I get my appetite for deckbuilders back when Slay the Spire 2 comes out.

 

[Lord of the Large Pants]

Probably nobody cares, but I was just playing on C10 and fought the Titans for the first time. Unbelievably, I won. I had absolutely no idea what I was getting into, I just happened to have an insane run.

Spoiler

I don't know how to explain the absolute insanity that the fight is. I don't see even the top players in the world being able to streak it on high difficulty.

You're fighting three bosses at once. You have one boss that fills the whole train, much like the Divinity. He's probably the least concerning. He just has tons of health. He may have another ability that I missed, I don't recall. The second ascends the floors and loops back to the bottom each time, gaining multistrike on each circuit. The last one is the most infuriating. She sits in your Pyre Room attack the heart directly. So even if you play perfectly, if you didn't come in with enough HP, you just lose. You can hit her with spells, but you can't get Conduit in the Pyre Room, sucker. All this combined with waves that makes Seraph the Savage look like a weak little bitch. But here's the real pisser. These bosses are all immortal until you bring ALL THREE to a single HP. And you'd better have some way of making a hole to deal damage to the big guy, without accidentally putting a huge wave behind his immortal ass so that he murders your Pyre. Even with four MASSIVE attacks on the floor and three smaller ones, I was barely making a dent. The waves just ate everything. I ended up playing Ascend once the other two bosses were down and powered through him in a couple rounds.

Bolete absolutely carried my ass, having permascaled to almost 1000/1000. Yes, that is the correct number of zeros. Two Custer Colonels and a Dualism Amarous Enoki helped with that, and also spawned massive amounts of Troops along with an Infectory. I chucked Void Armaments on Bolete and the Troops. That level of sheer firepower brute forced through pretty much everything.


The Divinity was hard, but the Titans are SADISTIC.

 

[mrs thickness]

I previously bounced off Monster Train 1 in part because it looks like one of those weird youtube ad fetish phone games that wants your social security number, and also being way burned out on StS, but I gave it a a real chance again partially due to this thread, and can confirm that it fucks bigly, so thanks, OP. I'm definitely still in the honeymoon phase on it C3 and just noticed purge and consume aren't them same thing, duuurrrrr, doooyyyyyy but I think it beats over or measures up to StS in the ways that really matter. I don't win often though, and Monster Train 2 sounds even scarier, so I'm a bit trepidatious on it since MS1 already has so much shit to do.

Between things like this, StS 2, and Nubby (it counts shut up) the genre seems pretty stacked this year, and it probably warrants it's own general thread at this point just so it can get everyone in the same thread and cross-pollinating their tastes and run stories. Speaking of which, though it's not too much like MT, my "nobody asked bitch" rec is Shogun Showdown. It's on sale right now and there's a demo.

 

[Billy the Adult]

The game is interesting in that it feels almost like you have to break it to win, since some bosses can be pretty crazy. Also I do know some have had success with them, but the MT1 clans do feel weak to me as well as missing some things. Wouldn't be surprised if it get rectified in a patch though. Will be curious how long it takes until someone gets the unlock for beating the Titans with all 180 clan combos, most I've seen from streamers is about 30.

I previously bounced off Monster Train 1 in part because it looks like one of those weird youtube ad fetish phone games that wants your social security number, and also being way burned out on StS, but I gave it a a real chance again partially due to this thread, and can confirm that it fucks bigly, so thanks, OP. I'm definitely still in the honeymoon phase on it C3 and just noticed purge and consume aren't them same thing, duuurrrrr, doooyyyyyy but I think it beats over or measures up to StS in the ways that really matter. I don't win often though, and Monster Train 2 sounds even scarier, so I'm a bit trepidatious on it since MS1 already has so much shit to do.

Between things like this, StS 2, and Nubby (it counts shut up) the genre seems pretty stacked this year, and it probably warrants it's own general thread at this point just so it can get everyone in the same thread and cross-pollinating their tastes and run stories. Speaking of which, though it's not too much like MT, my "nobody asked bitch" rec is Shogun Showdown. It's on sale right now and there's a demo.

Agreed, Shogun Showdown is pretty fun. Do wish there was a bestiary or something since knowing enemy patterns is important though.