Monster Train First Class

 Switch
User Score
8.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 13 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 13
  3. Negative: 1 out of 13

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. drlowdon
    Jan 4, 2023
    8
    Monster Train is a roguelike deck building game in which players play cards to summon creatures and cast spells in order to defeat a series of increasingly difficult enemies. Any money earned can be used to upgrade your cards or purchase artefacts which provide a variety of advantages.

    The card combinations never feel quite as satisfying as Slay the Spire (still the best of the genre),    Monster Train is a roguelike deck building game in which players play cards to summon creatures and cast spells in order to defeat a series of increasingly difficult enemies. Any money earned can be used to upgrade your cards or purchase artefacts which provide a variety of advantages.

    The card combinations never feel quite as satisfying as Slay the Spire (still the best of the genre), but the impressive variety of factions, cards and artefacts still provide the opportunity to try out a variety of different strategies. If you’re a fan of deckbuilders, you’ll find many hours worth of content here.    … Expand
  2. Kaprawiec
    Mar 24, 2022
    10
    If Youre a card games fan like me You cant go wrong with monster train. It offers tons of options, probably most complex deck builder created to this date. Definitely recommended, hundreds of hours of great gameplay.
  3. Dilbert20006
    Aug 22, 2021
    9
    Perfect port of a quality card game except for painfully excluding touchscreen but this is only a small gripe with an over great experience. Love slay the spire give this a try. That's not saying the gameplay is similar but it has its own great spin on genre that's runs Excellent on the switch.

    Prepare to burn hours again and again
  4. CoffeeNMelange
    Aug 27, 2021
    9
    This is a really cool game with very evident inspiration from Slay the Spire, and yet is very much its own thing.

    Some really cool things I like about it: -Instead of playing a single character, you play as a mixture of two factions (a "primary" and allied" faction) and at the time of writing, there are 6 factions. Each faction has its own unique mechanics, strategies, and so on. The    This is a really cool game with very evident inspiration from Slay the Spire, and yet is very much its own thing.

    Some really cool things I like about it:

    -Instead of playing a single character, you play as a mixture of two factions (a "primary" and allied" faction) and at the time of writing, there are 6 factions. Each faction has its own unique mechanics, strategies, and so on. The primary faction you pick determines your champion unit from one of two options per faction (for a total of 12 champions), each of which has 3 separate upgrade paths as you move through the run, and they're pretty important units that you help guide the strategy of your deck. I haven't unlocked or played with all 6 factions yet, but I really like the ones I have played (Hellborne, Awoken & Stygian Guard)

    -The various upgrades to spells, units, champions, and so on are really cool for helping you customize your deck, and I appreciate the generosity of opportunities to remove cards from the deck, as well. It all lends itself to a feeling where the game gives the player a lot of freedom within each run to really pump up their deck, which can be very satisfying to play in action.

    -A really cool risk/reward system with Pact Shards, and I really love the fusion mechanic where you can take some unique traits from a creature and put them onto another creature. Doing so accrues Pact Shards (which you can also obtain from other sources and powerful upgrades), which will ramp up the difficulty of battles during the run. When the Pact Shards get maxed to 100, if you make it to the end you have the opportunity to face off against the Last Divinity—which I admittedly haven't tried yet but am looking forward to dying to eventually.

    -The battles themselves are interesting enough. Given that sometimes you're fighting enemies on all three floors (and possibly also a boss that moves between them independent of other enemies) there are a lot of tactical considerations to both keep them from reaching your Pyre & from taking out your valuable units. Once a unit dies, it usually doesn't come back unless through a special effect or upgrade. Deciding where to put units is important, and there are limiting factors such as how much they fill the capacity meter for each floor, and your available "Ember" (Resources used to play cards).

    -I don't generally go in for tower defense games, but it really works here. It helps that the Pyre (the thing you're defending) isn't some fragile thing. It can be upgraded, it can fight back and there are even spells/abilities that will put enemies directly in the Pyre room, make them unable to attack so that your Pyre just wrecks them. Pretty cool.

    -Cool challenge systems, nice run-tracking, and all that fun extra stuff. I would have liked to see some achievements added to a game like this, but I also understand that it's rare for ported games to get achievements, so that is what it is, I guess.

    -Controls are pretty good. Sometimes can be a little fiddly when in battle and cards get in the way of seeing enemy units' card effects and things like that (just press "down"). But there are ways to access virtually all of the information you need and it's very accessible and clean, just sometimes takes a second to figure out how to get there. Touch controls don't usually matter to me, but man, it would have been great on this game and have made it play a lot smoother.

    -The art and sound are great, although at times can feel rather "busy" when the game's battles are sped up.

    I see a lot of people on the internets talk about this game vs. Slay the Spire. In my mind, the games are different enough to stand on their own, but most people who have played StS will immediately see the similarities and thus comparisons will be present. While I've only completed "Covenant/Ascension 1" in the short time I've spent so far with this game, it does feel like Slay the Spire is probably the more difficult game. But to me, that doesn't make it the "better" game. I really enjoy the various methods of upgrading and refining the deck that MT offers, and the art & sound is far and away superior in almost every respect. StS is a great game and I have really enjoyed it, but for me, MT scratches a bit more itches than StS.

    If I had any criticisms, it might be the lack of touch controls. Some options just feel a tad fiddly, like some of the stats pages and accessing information in battle. It's all there, but with touch it could have been so much smoother. The game plays great so I won't bother talking about performance.

    This was pretty long, but I had a lot of nice things to say about the game. Overall, if you like games like StS, a game like this is worth checking out. It's a lot of fun, has a lot of interesting variations in strategy. It's also a great fit for a portable platform, as the pace of the game suits itself well to picking up and playing a bit here and there.

    Cheers~    … Expand
  5. abrus
    Jan 2, 2022
    10
    Slay the Spire is one of my all time favourite games and Monster Train is even better!!! I've pumped 60 hours into this now and completed 30 runs (13 successfully). The presentation is excellent - all the card art is very attractive and the music really sets the scene. The sheer amount of strategy options in this game is what makes it so extraordinary! There are dozens of crucial decisionsSlay the Spire is one of my all time favourite games and Monster Train is even better!!! I've pumped 60 hours into this now and completed 30 runs (13 successfully). The presentation is excellent - all the card art is very attractive and the music really sets the scene. The sheer amount of strategy options in this game is what makes it so extraordinary! There are dozens of crucial decisions to be made between levels, but in combat you often need to deviate from your preferred strategy to work around unexpected curve balls that the enemy throws at you. The sheer range and diversity of things to experiment with is REALLY fun! There are 12 champions choose from. (This is your commander who is free to play and is always available in your opening hand.) All 12 require distinctive strategies and combos to optimise their strengths and all evolve with customisation options every 3 levels. Also, the cards for each faction are quite distinctive and focussed on the strategy that best suits their two Champions. At the start of every game you choose your champion (which sets your primary 'suit') but you also choose a secondary faction, and around half the selectable cards throughout the run will come from the card pool of the second faction. This means there are dozens of faction combinations to experiment with, which is fun and also keeps the game fresh from run to run. The experience of incrementally improving and fine-tuning your deck during a run is really satisfying and it feels fantastic when you convincingly beat the final boss at the end of a run. I can't say enough good things about Monster Train - it is an AWESOME strategy game!… Expand
  6. FunkyBoi
    Sep 26, 2021
    8
    Monster Train was one of those games I ended up playing far more than I had anticipated.
    I enjoy the direction they've taken with the deck-builder roguelike, allowing the player to develop the most insane, game-breaking synergies within their deck, while simultaneously dishing out a challenge to make that synergy feel necessary.
    The two-faction decks add such a wealth of replayability to    Monster Train was one of those games I ended up playing far more than I had anticipated.
    I enjoy the direction they've taken with the deck-builder roguelike, allowing the player to develop the most insane, game-breaking synergies within their deck, while simultaneously dishing out a challenge to make that synergy feel necessary.
    The two-faction decks add such a wealth of replayability to the game as well. I was pleasantly surprised by all of the interesting combinations and synergies I was able to create, regardless of which teams I picked for the run.
    The decision-making outside of combat was fun too, really clear options made it feel as though I had a lot of agency in deciding what I needed most and attaining it, which once again felt important considering the severity of the challenge this game can present.
    I'm partial to a deckbuilding roguelike, and this game did not disappoint. I'd definitely recommend it to fans of the genre.    … Expand
  7. KevinLo9
    Sep 6, 2021
    10
    I absolutely love this game and I’m not sure why it’s not getting reviewed anywhere… If you like card based games like Slay the Spire or Steamworld Quest you owe it to yourself to pick this up.
    I’ve put 40 hours into it and there are so many things still do accomplish. It will literally take me well over 150 hours to complete all this game has to offer.
    I love this game!
  8. Jenga
    Oct 9, 2021
    10
    Absolutely perfect strategy game for Switch, even better than Slay the Spire for me (and I have so many hours in that game). Get it!
  9. nobaelazum
    Jan 15, 2022
    10
    Big fan of Slay the Spire or Into the Breach? If so, this game is for you and a must buy. It runs beautifully on the Switch. Monster Train is best in class in its execution and offers a unique and strategic deck building experience that, if you're a fan of the genre, will keep you coming back for more and more. This game deserves more attention.

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
85

Generally favorable reviews - based on 6 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 6
  3. Negative: 0 out of 6
  1. Pure Nintendo
    Oct 1, 2021
    85
    Monster Train First Class combines a fun story with cool designs, challenging strategic gameplay and the excitement of unlocking and making the most of epic new features at a dream pace.
    Read full review
  2. Switch Player
    Sep 30, 2021
    100
    Monster Train First Class earns its seat as one of the best card battlers on Nintendo Switch. Its complex mix of mechanics and systems are initially overwhelming, I’ll admit, yet seeing it all come together can be absolute bliss.
    Read full review
  3. Digitally Downloaded
    Sep 14, 2021
    70
    Monster Train does indeed deserve to be noticed; it's the epitome of something that is better than it looks. Underneath that blandly homogenised aesthetic and equally bland promise of yet more roguelike lies a game that offers players some deep, invigorating, challenging and rewarding turn-based strategy. You may well find this one very difficult to put down.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »