With Monster Train 2, developer Shiny Shoe is looking to improve on just about every aspect from the critically-acclaimed Monster Train. While we got to learn plenty of details about the game, including its new clans and other improvements, studio founder and CEO Mark Cooke was kind enough to answer some of our questions about the upcoming strategic card game.
Aside from the new additions like new enemies and modes, how will Monster Train 2 up the ante from its predecessor?
Monster Train 2 (MT2) is all about improving on every aspect of the first game. In addition to five new clans – each with new gameplay mechanics and strategic possibilities – one of our major new features is customizable Pyre Hearts. The heart of the Pyre powers your train and is what you must keep safe to survive to the end of a run. In MT2, there are over 10 different Pyre Hearts to unlock, each with different stats and gameplay mechanics to add more strategic depth to runs.
"Monster Train 2 is all about improving on every aspect of the first game."
What are some examples of how the new card types will interact with each other?
MT2 adds two new card types: Equipment and Room cards. Equipment cards are applied directly to your units and empowers them with various abilities. Room cards enhance a specific room in the train for the duration of the current battle. Both types of cards can be used in parallel because they affect different parts of game – units and rooms – but only one Equipment card can be equipped on a unit and only one Room card can be installed in a room.
How exactly will Endless Mode work in Monster Train 2? What kind of difficulty scaling can we expect to see?
We see Endless Mode as a dessert on top of the main course (runs). The player can enter Endless Mode if they win the run, continuing into a series of infinite battles, creating an opportunity to see just how far your deck can go. Enemies start at a challenge level around matching the end of a run and scale up from there as you make forward progress. Between each battle the player must pick a positive boon and a negative one to keep things interesting. We keep track of your best Endless Mode statistics in our Logbook so you can continue to try to improve on your records!
How have other similar card games affected the design process for Monster Train 2?
The development team are big fans of non-digital CCGs like Magic: The Gathering, which obviously uses a mix of spells and units as its core combat mechanics, as well as Hearthstone‘s PvE draft modes which feature a rapid rate of deck drafting. Of course, there’s also Slay the Spire which demonstrated that there was an audience for this sort of game and has the idea of passive items that give bonuses, as well the first breakout digital drafting roguelike, Dream Quest – which had our lead designer hooked over a long Christmas break.
"Of course, there’s also Slay the Spire which demonstrated that there was an audience for this sort of game"
How will the new clans in Monster Train 2 differentiate themselves from what we saw in the original Monster Train?
Each of the new clans has new mechanics not seen in the first game, both in terms of the types of status effects they employ and their utilization of Equipment and Room cards. As an example, the Banished clan feature in our demo can grant units a way to fly to any position in the train. This works via another new feature, Unit Abilities, where individual units have activated abilities with a cooldown.
Are there any plans for post-launch content for Monster Train 2 in the form of expansions?
The honest answer is that it is going to depend on how well the game sells, but we have a lot of ideas and hope to be able to support the game post-launch with content updates.
Can you give us an example of what we can expect from the new random events in Monster Train 2?
MT2 features a wide variety of new random events that can occur at “Celestial Alcoves” during runs. Many of them have new mechanics and choices to consider in terms of positive benefits and periodic negative trade-offs. Some of our events include some surprise characters from other games that the dev team are fans of. While I can’t announce specifically what those are at this time, I think they are really cool additions to Monster Train.
Are there any plans to potentially bring some kind of multiplayer mode to Monster Train 2 down the line?
Monster Train 2 has asynchronous leaderboard based multiplayer modes, like the Daily Challenge, where you can try to score higher than other players. We have no plans for any synchronous multiplayer modes currently.
"Monster Train 2 has asynchronous leaderboard based multiplayer modes"
What kind of release window are you looking at for Monster Train 2?
Very soon! Monster Train 2 will release May 21, 2025 on PC, PlayStation 5, Switch, and Xbox Series S|X. We’re very excited for everyone to play it.
As a developer, what are your thoughts on the PS5 Pro? How does boost in GPU help in developing your game compared to the base PS5?
Overall, new tech is always interesting to me, so I think it’s great that Sony has brought new capabilities to developers and customers. Monster Train 2 isn’t a particularly graphics-intensive game in terms of compute demand (though it looks good I think!) so the PS5 Pro’s enhanced GPU capabilities don’t make a significant impact on this game. However, for games that can utilize it, I think it’s great.
What are your thoughts on PSSR? What kind of opportunities will this open for the game?
It looks like an interesting technology to help improve framerates in games that are really pushing the GPU to the limits. It won’t benefit Monster Train 2, which is not a demanding game on the GPU.
What resolution and frame rates will the game target on the Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PS5 Pro?
I may sound like a broken record here, but as a strategy game without significant demands on the GPU, we haven’t put a lot of time into thinking about this. The game runs at the native resolution of the device it is plugged into and aims to run at the refresh rate supported by the device.
Do you have any plans to launch the game on the Switch 2?
We have nothing to announce regarding Switch 2 currently.
