Sit down if
You love planning several turns ahead and breaking a game with a combo you found yourself.
Walk away if
You want something relaxed you can play half-asleep.
♠The table
Each run you pick a main clan and an allied clan, each with its own cards and champion. Enemies board the train at the bottom and climb up, fighting on every floor until they reach your pyre. If the pyre falls, the run ends. Between fights you choose routes, upgrade cards, merge units and buy artifacts.
♥How a hand plays
Every turn you draw cards and spend ember to place units on a floor or cast spells. The trick is deciding where to fight: stacking everything on one floor, using floors as filters, or setting up units that grow stronger every time something dies. The sequel adds equipment and room cards that change how a floor behaves, which deepens the planning considerably.
♣Where luck comes in
Your draws and the rewards you are offered are random, but the game gives you a lot of control: you see what each wave will do, you choose your path between fights, and you can remove or duplicate cards. A bad draw rarely loses a run on its own. Most losses come from a deck that was built for the wrong boss.
The luck meter is our estimate of how much a typical run depends on chance. It is not part of the score. How we estimate it.
♦Look & sound
A bright, readable comic style with lots of animation. Effects can pile up late in a run, but the interface keeps numbers clear. The soundtrack is energetic rock with a heavy beat.
♠Value & PC
Light on hardware and Steam Deck Verified, where it plays perfectly. Dozens of clan combinations, rising difficulty levels and daily challenges with leaderboards give it hundreds of hours of life.
Winning hand
- Huge combo potential across clan pairings
- Floor placement adds a layer most deckbuilders lack
- Information-rich: you can plan around every wave
- Daily challenges keep it fresh
Bad beats
- Late-game screens get busy
- Steep learning curve for new clans
The score sheet
- Strategy depth 25%
- 95
- Luck design 20%
- 86
- Replay 20%
- 96
- Style 15%
- 86
- Value 20%
- 90
95 × 25% + 86 × 20% + 96 × 20% + 86 × 15% + 90 × 20% = 91.05 → 91
The house verdict
Verdict
Monster Train 2 takes a brilliant formula and gives it more tools without losing clarity. It is the most strategic game at our table and the one we keep coming back to.
By the Game Vista Guide editorial desk · Updated 5 Oct 2026 · How we score · Report an error
