Why You Should Play: Monster Train 2

In any other year, I’d have spent hours of our end-of-year debates singing the praises of Monster Train 2, but unfortunately, it’s been an astounding year for roguelikes as a whole. Both my first and second favorite games of the year, Hades 2 and Blue Prince, respectively, are probably also my first and second favorite roguelikes of all time. When I have to whittle down a list of hills to die on during our discussions, Monster Train 2 is just barely below the threshold. That said, it’s still a fantastic game, and I wish more people (especially game critics) had spent time with it this year.

As the year comes to a close, we’re highlighting some personal favorite games from our team that we feel you shouldn’t miss. If you’re still looking for the right game to carry you into 2026, and you’ve already hit up our Top 10 Best, we’re hoping one of these recommendations will hit the mark.

Like the first game, Monster Train 2 is a funky fusion of tower defense, deckbuilding, and turn-based combat. Your main cards are units, which are placed on one of three levels of the train car you’re tasked with defending. Each round, allied and enemy units take turns attacking each other, and if the enemies survive the fight, they advance to the next level. The objective is to keep them from the top of the car, where they can damage your Pyre Heart and end your run. Decks also have spells, which can help, hinder, or harm units on the field, equipment, which alters units, and room cards, which modify levels of the train car in major ways.

The thing that still stands out to me about Monster Train 2 is the sheer volume of variables. On the smallest scale, decks are shuffled, so each hand is fresh. Routes are randomized, so each stop in a run is slightly different than the last. But most significantly, each run uses one of up to ten factions, each of which can be used as a primary or secondary faction. If you don’t count the alternate champions for each faction (which alter the game significantly), there are 180 starting combinations alone. Once you unlock all the factions, you can play this game for a very long time without repeating any combos.

Of course, a game with options is not automatically good, but a good game with this many options, one I feel I could play for months and months, is something special. Not every roguelike feels that way, and plenty lose me after a successful run or two, but Monster Train 2 is so big that I’ve fallen in love, and there are still easily dozens of starting combos I haven’t even attempted, much less mastered.

On top of that, the game features one of my favorite roguelike side modes I’ve ever seen: dimensional challenges. It’s a selection of cleverly crafted scenarios to play through, where the developers have arranged fun combinations of factions and modifiers to make for unique runs you’re unlikely (or unable) to encounter through standard play. “Weapons Make the Warrior” reduces all cards’ upgrade slots to 1, but makes equipment cards twice as powerful and cost less to play. “Twofer” doubles all money earned, status effects inflicted, and makes it so each time you add a card to your deck, you get a copy of it. If you’re overwhelmed or frustrated by the game’s random nature, it’s a wonderful palette cleanser I hope more games in the genre continue to use.

Is Monster Train 2 the best roguelike of the year? No, but that doesn’t mean it should be excluded from the conversation, and it certainly doesn’t mean it’s a bad game. It’s one of my highest reviews of 2025, and despite my love of Hades 2 and Blue Prince, I keep coming back to Monster Train 2 as well. If you’re interested in picking it up, it’s on sale for the Steam winter sale until January 5 (and it runs quite well on Steam Deck).