Monster Train Review (PS5)

The train has left the station in this one-way trip to the depths of Hell to relight its fires and return it to its former glory! Monster Train is a strategic roguelike deckbuilding game developed by Shiny Shoe, published by Good Shepherd Entertainment, and released on PlayStation 5 on July 25th of 2024. In Monster Train, you tactically take down your divisive opponents using different types of monsters and cards. By upgrading and leveling up your cards and abilities, a variety of strategies can be used to protect the last remaining hope for the Underworld. Demolish the light of the divine messengers trying to extinguish the Pyre and ride this metal coach of doom straight down to the Inferno.

The Boneshaker is a colossal train that journeys between worlds. The last remains of the Pyre drives the heart of the engine. The last shard of this Pyre is needed to relight the fires in the depths of Hell. You must defend it from the Winged, invaders from Heaven, and keep the train on track to its goal. Summon demons and monsters to fight against the forces of good while making pit stops on your way to increase your chances of making it to the end.

Monster Train is a roguelike so each run is completely different from the last. You won’t be completing your run through of the seven rings at a brisk pace right off the bat. Failing is actually imperative because with it, comes knowledge. The first step in Monster Train is learning what you have to do and the game eases you in at a comfortable pace that makes you curious and wanting to dive deeper into its mechanics. Because of this, the game never feels confusing and if anything, it makes you want to complicate your deck builds even more to push yourself to the limit and obliterate your heavenly adversaries.

The basic setup is that enemies come through the train at the bottom level and after every turn they move up a floor until they are at the radiant Pyre, in which they will start to attack to shatter it. You need to use your cards to summon monstrosities to eliminate the freight hoppers before they do any significant damage. Sounds simple enough until you bring in other factors like there’s only a certain amount of space on each floor of the train, each card having a cost to be played, any buffs or debuffs the enemies or bosses may have, and the positioning of your monsters. The design of the gameplay is incredibly multifaceted, intuitive, and becomes so naturally gripping that it makes you come back for more to obtain more cards, fight stronger enemies, and complete tougher challenges.

You start off by picking your clan which is the pool of cards you will be drawing from to use. You then start off with a group of random cards to begin your commute. On your trips through the rings of Hell, there are merchants where you can upgrade your unit or magic cards, hordes to gain artifacts or overarching buffs for that run, and places to stop for the Pyre to regain health that it has lost during a battle. You have to choose which way you want to go and some paths may be more beneficial on a particular run than others, it all depends on the cards that you have obtained and how your battles are going. Between each ring is a battle where your tenacity and prowess with the gameplay mechanics come into play.

Your hand is randomly drawn from the Draw Pile every turn. Each of your cards have a certain amount of Ember. Ember is used to activate the cards; so if you only have three Embers available, you can activate cards in a combination that add up to that three. Each creature at your disposal has a certain amount of health and strength. After a turn is started, your monsters and the intruding team will take turns attacking each other with their specific set of abilities. If the enemy hasn’t fallen on this turn, they will move up a floor in the train. This continues until they reach the fourth floor with the Pyre where they will attempt to douse the flame. If they are successful, it’s game over.

The obsessive quality of Monster Train stems from all of the independent factors at play and distinct runs you can plow through. There’s a plethora of random things that can happen, but it still takes a large amount of skill to execute everything properly so losing your train of thought isn’t ideal. On one run, I was worried about obtaining gold to level up my units skills and then got to an encounter where the enemy was able to take away my Ember needed to play my hard earned strong cards. On another run, I pulled a strong card and leveled it up as much as possible so it can be a tank in certain situations; I then stopped at a Hellvent to duplicate that super strong card and the rest of the run became a cakewalk. Trials, Enhancements, spells, and buying and equipping different stones to your cards for them to gain unheard strength, magic, or abilities add even more fluctuation to the pulsating excitement.

There is so much content packed into Monster Train and the more you play, the more tools become available to magnify your time on the railway. There are also challenges that you can play online with your friends and others. A couple features the game has that I appreciated is the Logbook and Run History. The Logbook is a fully detailed look into your collection and personal stats and the Run History is the summary data of your runs on the cold steel tracks to the inevitable fiery epilogue of life. The informative screens help you decide what to do on your next runs and what you need to obtain to get better and opportunely reach the end of the line.

This world and its inhabitants look incredible. Character and enemy designs are wonderfully detailed and the style is showcased beautifully by their actions. The card art is also wonderfully drawn and the delicate animation effortlessly brings these mystical ideas into fruition. A lot of different things can be happening at once on the screen from magic being flung around to large boss characters delivering large sweeping attacks. The game never gets confusing though and is at all times coherent with its polished graphical elegance.

Music wise, Monster Train unleashes its creativity by having some heavy hitting tracks for battles and graceful tunes for small breaks in the action. There are ballads when you are at a shop that are relaxing and make you feel safe while the music during a skirmish can have more of an upbeat bellowing chorus. The quality sounds that all of the different actions you make feel good as well. The crunchiness of activating a card and the feedback of all of the chaotic noises of your plan being carried out is rewarding.

Final Thoughts?

Monster Train is an excursion like no other. The implementation of all the cards and the tactical demand the game puts you in is like no other. Boundless compelling gameplay embedded with endless strategic possibilities and a plethora of content creates a well that never runs dry. The clear, comprehensive, and colorful artstyle is pleasant and the audible sensations help drive home the feeling of committing your acts on these divine forces of nature. This is one locomotive ride that you will not want to get off of.