The first Monster Train had great timing: It pulled into Steam a few months after Slay the Spire left early access, which was right when I was ready for a break from spire slaying, but was still in the mood for roguelike deckbuilding. And it was a lot of fun.
Five years later, history might repeat itself: Slay the Spire 2 was announced last year and is set to release sometime this year, and now Monster Train 2 has been announced and is also releasing sometime in 2025.
Which'll come first is still to be determined, but I can tell you which you'll be able to play first, because there's a Monster Train 2 demo available on Steam today.
The basic structure remains the same: Rather than pitting your deck against one room of monsters at a time like in Slay the Spire, you deploy minions and spells to defend a target against waves of enemies which advance up multiple floors. You can reasonably count 'tower defense' among Monster Train 2's genre ingredients.
Last time, we were defending Hell from the forces of Heaven. This time, Heaven and Hell have teamed up—how blasphemous—to deal with a common enemy, the "the impossibly powerful Titans." Starting in Hell, we'll make our way to "surprising new environments that await beyond the Gates of Heaven."
Monster Train 2 includes five new clans and "hundreds of new and familiar cards," including some new card types: "Room Cards supply powerful boosts to a single floor of the train" and "Equipment Cards stack new powers onto individual units," says developer Shiny Shoe.
I've briefly played the demo, and it got its hook in me just as easily as the first game did. The multi-floor wave defense setup remains a great way to complicate decision-making without introducing lots of arcane rules or hiding anything from the player. Like in Slay the Spire, everything that's about to happen is telegraphed, but you have to remember that any surviving enemies are going to move up to the next floor after the current turn—and do you have someone there waiting for them?
Definitely check out the demo if you like games like Slay the Spire or our 2024 GOTY, Balatro. And if you're interested in the first game, it's $25 on Steam—check out our Monster Train review from 2020 for more.
