Battle Train

7/10 It's hard to recommend the game and not recommend the game. It's fun and it's a different take on the roguelike deckbuilder, sure it may not have the depth and complexity of the more popular titles in the genre it's different. What makes the game hard to recommend is: 1) there is overarching story, your progress is hardlocked (you can't access the final map) until the you unlocked and reached certain story points in the game through multiple runs, regardless of how well you played or until the completed the entire story arc. 2) the game has a heavy RNG element, you are at the whims of RNG on what your selection of starting characters are and what cards and items you come across in any given run. You don't really have control of doing or trying a specific build or strategy, only that you've picked the best possible choice of rewards/items along your way. Check out the global stat for % of some achievements, there's a reason why a lot just can't be bothered. 3) like most roguelike deckbuilders, you get branching paths to choose what you encounter and what order during your map run, sadly the differences in between the paths is so minuscule that's going to hardly make a difference. What could have been done better in my opinion: 1) offer at least some substitute for the final map, even if the official final map in a run doesn't get unlocked during said moments of the story. 2) offer gold or at least some form of consolation reward if the none of the rewards from completing an encounter doesn't offer anything useful 3) offer a balanced selection, cards geared toward a specific build as well as generic during encounter rewards and shops. In shops at least offer 5 commons, 3 uncommons and 2 rares cards or something and guaranteed variety of train parts and accessories. For instance 3 different train parts guaranteed and 2 accessories. It's a bummer when you reach a shop and all it sells are options for the only type of train part you've upgraded. 4) more specific choice of starting set of cards and accessories. Sometimes if feels you're choosing the less detrimental of the 3 starting characters rather than excited with analysis paralysis which one you want to run with. 5) Game should offer a fixed amount of healing post each boss fight. It's almost dubious for the designers to expect you to complete each boss fight unscathed, especially considering how unfairly tuned some are and cards that do unpreventable direct damage. The limited option to repair your train damage is so bizarre, considering a lot of fights boils down to you trading blows with your opponent in damage, you have no option to repair your train above the damage it started a battle with even though it's below max and once your outpost is destroyed it can't be repaired. Yet there's an achievement that asks you complete an entire run finishing with no damage. It's a fun game, and it might even get you hooked but you need to realize that your folly of how successful/fun each run is dependent on 1) whether you've progressed the story enough 2) RNG.

i am of two minds about battle train. i REALLY love the concept and gameplay. it is really enjoyable to connect tracks against an opponent and the puzzle solving that comes with it. unfortunately, i would call just about everything else about it half-baked. somehow, it is still really fun in spite of that. i honestly only bought into this game now instead of during a deep sale because i was seeing the low turnout and lukewarm reviews and i wanted to support the team and i knew i'd enjoy playing it. i think the heart of the issue is that roguelike deckbuilder is a genre that ever since its grandfather Slay The Spire it has always been very tightly designed with frequent creatively designed risks and trade offs built into each encounter. battle train is clearly very deliberately loose in its design. it chooses style over substance and that's a shame for such a substantive foundation, but design like allowing bosses to directly hit you regardless of defense is neither intuitive nor properly curbed by surrounding mechanics. neither are the often lopsided maps. i've learned to be fine with that. the core of battle train is not in its fairness--it's a very beatable game even despite how unfair it feels at its worst--it really is the style. you have to love the game's abundance of story cutscenes at least a little bit, and appreciate how the game's story elements evolve every time you lap it. i cannot shake the feeling that battle train is a case of lost potential but i also sincerely have found it to be worth every penny just because of how incredibly addicting the base mechanics of building your track is.

A very fun puzzle, deck building game. With a charming and fully dubbed story. Game also let you quit and resume from any point in the game, so it is easy to stop at any time. I had extremely fun playing this game and I highly recommend it.

I've never left a review for a game on Steam before, but I'm definitely feeling motivated to do it now. Battle Train is a fun strategy game with good animations and a fun story. 10/10, would highly recommend.

I really wanted to love this game... but it just isn't all that fun, then as if the dev knew that there wasn't enough content and it wasn't that good, they lock gameplay behind a story gate which just forces grinding. I would recommend to the dev that they should spend less time on 'backstage' cut scenes and more time on the gameplay and mini games. Also, instead of cards maybe a 'roll and write' style of gameplay could be fun? Where you customize and upgrade the dice you roll for your abilities/track. This got grindy REAL fast. Imagine if Enter the Gungeon/binding of Issac/Dead souls stopped you at the 3rd level and 'gamed over' your run because you haven't gotten to the 3rd floor 6 times already? It's just makes you feel bad as player. This could be worth 3-5 bucks, but even then I would probably not play just because of forcing a run loss because you need to beat the game 5+ times before getting more game.

This game was crafted in a lab to appeal specifically to me.

Battle Train est un bon jeu avec un concept efficace qui ne tombe pas dans le piège classique d’une complexité à outrance au fil du jeu. Certains pourront trouver cela dommage et que le jeu manque de profondeur mais personnellement j’ai trouvé le jeu très agréable de bout en bout. En plus du gameplay mêlant deck building et stratégie qui a son petit côté addictif, le jeu propose une histoire amusante et plaisante à suivre. Vous viendrez à bout de l’histoire en une vingtaine d’heures. Le jeu est complètement fonctionnel sous Linux avec la configuration suivante : OS : CachyOS (Kernel: 6.19.7-1-cachyos) CPU : Ryzen 7 5700X GPU : RTX 4070 (Driver : 580.119.02) RAM : 32 GB

Refreshingly innovative and beautifully oiled roguelike deckbuilder !

Super fun game !

A hidden gem with addictive gameplay and wonderful fully voiced story. Worth your time and money!!!