Monster Train 2

Monster Train 1 was a very good game - but one that never reached close to Slay the Spire in regards to roguelike deckbuilders. Monster Train 2 however is improved in every conceivable way - and whilst Slay the Spire 2 may still take the biscuit for GOAT franchise in this genre, I have nothing but praise for the developers, this is a genuinely fantastic game chocked full of replicability.

Absolutely addictive. The amount of variety and viable builds is astounding and makes each run feel unique.

Monster Train 2 is by far the best roguelike I have ever played. Everything that makes MT1 so good got brought forward with more than twice the amount of content, extra modes, plenty of challenges, new card types, and more. I have barely scratched the surface of playing every faction combination because my god there are SO many and all of them are fun. The new factions of Underlegion and Banish are incredibly fun to play and have such unique mechanics that only exist because of how Monster Train works. It is punishing and difficult while also being really fun and easy to break the game, however all the "break the game" strategies have counterplay in the game that need you to devise counter play to them. Needing answers to a whole lot of problems makes the game super fun. Questions like, "What is my Seraph answer?" "How do I protect my backliners" and "How do I turn scaling into winning" is so fun. It is a scaling roguelike where the answer isn't to just scale harder, the answer is to figure out how your scaling actually hits the enemy units effectively. The Titans are the most interesting True Final Boss out of any roguelike I have played, and more fun the Last Divinity. On my roguelike tierlist, this game got its own tier above S, it is THAT good.

It's a great game, if a little rough at first. I don't think the starter clans and champions start the game off on the right foot. Their alternates and the later unlocks are a lot more fun and lead to more consistent wins. That being said, it might have been like that in the first game but it's been a while since my original playthrough of that game. Not all of the cards feel great, some of the random events seem mediocre at best... but the game is genuinely fun and the new mechanics interesting enough to warrant the modestly priced purchase. I'm 50+ hours in, still not done with the base game and it only cost $20. Very fair price for a fairly deep game.

I never played the original Monster Train, but kept hearing good things about it. Then I started hearing that the sequel was basically just the same thing, but better. I finally caved and bought it during the summer sale, and boy, the people praising this game weren't lying. The amount of content is just absolutely insane, and somehow I have yet to run into anything that feels redundent or out of place. All the different clans I've had the pleasure to play so far feel polished and distinct from one another, offering a large variety of playstyles, all making brilliant use of the games core mechanics and subverting them in their own unique way. And THEN, that huge amount of content is further multiplied by the fact that you choose TWO clans for each run, making the amount of possible synergies EXPLODE. This game is just good. Really good. If you are hesitating, don't. Just buy it. Do it. Wait for it to go on sale if you absolutely have to, but honestly in hindsight I wish I would have bought the game sooner.

叠叠乐太有手法了！特别好玩。

这才叫卡牌游戏

Ooops, 62 hours in and I haven't left a positive review, how rude of me. This is shaping up to be one of my most-played card games of all time, and that has to do with two important things that are in conflict with each other: balance and variety. Theoretically, you want a card game with lots of different strategies, abilities, power ups, all of that, otherwise it gets stale. The thing is, the more variety there is, the harder it is to find a sense of balance and fair challenge. This game is not easy, not at all (in fact, the true final boss fight felt like it required a broken build to even be possible) but at the base level of difficulty, it feels as it should, "tough but fair". The really impressive thing, though, is that in the context of that "tough but fair" balance, we find not only a bunch of new ways to play, but eventually, you can have all of the decks/styles from the last game (Monster Train 1 is incredible, I recommend you play that first, it's worth it) too, AND mix and match them with the new decks! So it's 5 new ways to play and all the permutations therein, plus, the old 6 ways and the new permutations. I'm not a math guy but I think that's an absurd amount of player choice if you break it down. I will say, I prefer the OG clans. This game has some really great clans, but especially when it comes to some of the new heroes, they just don't feel that worthwhile to choose. I really felt like I was unlocking truly great styles after the first couple, though, so it's worth it to work through the early game... and eventually I did learn some of the missed opportunities available with the clans I don't like but... I mean... mushroom guys versus almost any other option? Mushroom is clearly best. That kind of thing. Regardless, the game blows the first one out of the water in terms of options, especially with the new equipment system, and it's got an amazing set of challenges... at first I avoided them because I was like "I don't want the game to be HARDER"... but aside from some stinkers, I'm actually super impressed by how these challenges seem to be explicitly designed to make the early game harder in specific ways but then lead to totally cracked builds. You can actually have more of a power fantasy with many of the "challenges" than you can in the base game if you figure out the puzzle of how to not lose due to the new constraints and that's just 10/10 game design, chef's kiss, WOW. I struggle to think of major complaints. This is certainly worth the price of anyone who likes games like this. I'd like it to be maybe 10% easier but it is what it is, and clearly, I'm in the minority given how many levels of extra difficulty you can add. It just has that slay the spire problem where you can absolutely crush an entire run, like literally zero damage/perfect, and then the final boss just eats you for breakfast and sends you packing with a loss, which I really dislike... but most of these games share this issue and at least in this one you can clearly predict what is coming and try to prepare for it once you understand some of the specific final problems to deal with. Overall. I mean, 62 hours, right? Like I usually am done with games like this in less than 30. That's all you need to know. I will say, though, if you haven't played the first one, go buy that first. It's a truly incredible game, too, and you'll learn the old decks in their native environment and then enjoy taking them for a spin eventually here. I see people in reviews saying it's just straight-up better than the old game so why bother but I disagree... the old game is great!

Incredible game, 10/10

种族间的强度天差地别，普通对局没debuff随便胡，但是挑战直接把底裤都给扒了。流浪菌株这些强势族能顶着debuff平推，月巫等这些吃法术卡种族的挑战要么盯着法术卡下毒要么直接塞灾厄卡手，鬼抽两次直接暴毙。这些族的挑战已经和运营没关系了，纯看发牌员给不给听牌。