i play stygian because i identify as the little guy

Monster Train is the best roguelike I have played. The fast paced combat, constant learning and growing, tons of viable strategies, and consistent gameplay loop made its way into my heart.
It took me 84 hours to complete every achievement, only using a guide for two of them (How to Deckbuilder and Covenant 25 Infernal).

The real genius comes in the form of the clan system, where you get to pick two different clans and have both cards, allowing you to find interesting and unique synergies between the cards. Infernal's self damaging spell being turned into viable kill options on enemies with Stygian Guard's spell power or turns them into sac outlets for Melting Remnant on death effects. It all works together.

The DLC is fantastic, adding in a new final boss that is very interesting to play around and is unique. A new clan with tons of unique mechanics and synergies. And a more robust difficulty system where you can choose to get more powerful rewards for increased difficulty throughout the run.

Gameplay: 10/10, the best deckbuilding I have seen with upgrading your cards with unique tokens. The Tower defense type battle system. The close calls where every point of damage matters. The times you get overpowered, but you actually have to work for the victory still.
Story: 7/10. Most of the story is background lore, and I appreciate it a lot more while playing through the sequel.
Graphics: 9/10. I love the art style is the game. Every blends well together and it sets the tone for the game.
Sound: 7/10. The music is very good, the sound effects get a bit much, but I do like the OST.
Difficulty: 6/10. Not very difficult, but it builds perfectly and each covenant rank increases in difficulty at the same rate you are getting better. The later covenant ranks add to the depth of the game mechanics rather than taking them away.

Overall: 9/10

Monster train 2 might be my favourite roguelike after I finish playing it, but right now I am still undecided.

I bought this game around 2 years ago, I was on a Darkest Dungeon kick and this kinda looked to be similar. Apparently it wasn't, and I didn't quite understand the game at the time, I let it sit who knows how long before I uninstalled. Then. 2 months ago I decided to install it again and give it a second chance. After trying one run and recently watching someone play the Battlegrounds mode in Hearthstone, this game suddenly clicked for me. How wrong was I to have not been playing all this time. My how I've missed out

In the last 2 months I've accumulated probably 150 hours between this, the mobile version, and Monster Train 2. I can 100% recommend this game, even with the existence of it's sequel. I don't usually give too many looks to games that are deck builders, but the roguelite DNA in this is just perfection. So much so that if you are trying to decide between this and #2, this is the better roguelite, and #2 is the better game overall. You can't go wrong with either game, but just because it has a sequal that expands upon it in every good possible way, doesn't mean you should miss out on this. I could easily see myself putting another couple hundred hours each in this and the mobile version before fully jumping over to #2 more frequently

"I'm so hungry"
*The 3,000 morsels I've spawned over the course of the game looking at my unit in fear*

A card based auto battler that doesn't pull any punches. Plenty of variety and changing difficulty makes this one highly re-playable.

YO, WASSUP MY LIFE AS A DARKLORD?

review

Excellent roguelite deckbuilder. Easily in the top 10. The second one is even better. Just don't skip out on this in spite of that.

one of the best rougue like deckbuilders out. no gripes from me. every run is unique and equally thrilling. 9/10