I’ve always enjoyed and admired the ability of a DJ who can rethink music I thought I knew. The way they can smash something to pieces and put it back together in a way no one had thought of delights me. It takes real imagination. And yet, it’s something people scoff at. Is it really art? They’re just copying, they’re not creating something new are they? Or are they?
Monster Train reminds me of them, those DJs. It’s a deck-building Roguelike I loaded up and initially chided – for having cards that looked like they were lifted from HearthStone, and mechanics that felt like they were ripped from Slay the Spire. But then it delighted me by being mashed with something new.
Monster Train
Developer: Shiny ShoePublisher: Good Shepherd EntertainmentPlatform: Played on PCAvailability: Available on Steam for £19.50
There’s a kind of tower defence idea in here. You’re trying to stop baddies reaching the top floor of a train (bear with me) and getting to your vulnerable heart. It’s not actually a heart but a fire, and if the enemies get to it and extinguish it, it’s game over.
Why a fire? Monster Train’s set-up is you’re trying to relight the fires of Hell after Heaven froze them over. You’re on a train carrying a fire to the heart of Hell. Heaven, therefore, is trying to stop you.
Battles take place on your train, presented in a side-on view. There are three floors you can place fighters on and a top floor where your fire-heart is. Enemies enter at the bottom and, after each round, climb one floor higher.