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Monster Train Review
Roguelike Radar editorial ·
Cards and units defend three vertical floors using two combined factions.
Is Monster Train worth playing?
Monster Train turns deckbuilding into a three-floor defense problem where placement matters as much as card efficiency. Combining two clans creates immediate strategic direction, while repeated unit upgrades and spell support can grow one floor into a spectacular engine that would look absurd in a more restrained card game.
From the official description
Monster Train is a strategic roguelike deck building game with a twist. Set on a train to hell, you’ll use tactical decision making to…
Read more on Steam
What makes it distinct
Enemies climb through three train floors toward the Pyre, giving units several opportunities to fight while spells can intervene across the defense.
What holds up
- Paired clans and champion paths create strong starting identities without prescribing a single finished deck.
- Unit upgrades allow players to invest deeply in a carry and experience dramatic, readable power growth.
What to know first
- Large statistics, triggers, and stacked statuses make late combat harder to parse at a glance.
- Some clan combinations reach reliable scaling much more easily than others.
Who should play Monster Train?
Players who enjoy building engines, protecting multiple lanes, and pushing card interactions toward extravagant power.
Players who prefer low-number combat, minimal board state, or decks built without persistent units.
How Monster Train plays
- Combat
- Turn-based
- Run shape
- Encounters and branching choices
- Build lives in
- Deck + Relics + Party choices
- Long-term power
- Light
- Run variance
- Very high
- View
- Abstract / tactical
Cards and tactics
40–90 min per attempt
Combat rewards · Shops · Events
Meta progression
How far attempts can diverge
Deckbuilding strategy