Latest news with #MonsterTrain
CNET
3 days ago
- Business
- CNET
One of 2024's Best Games Is Coming to Xbox Game Pass Tomorrow
Metaphor: ReFantazio was one of CNET's games of the year in 2024, and Xbox Game Pass subscribers will be able to experience it for themselves tomorrow. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, a CNET Editors' Choice award pick, offers hundreds of games you can play on your Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One and PC or mobile device for $20 a month. A subscription gives you access to a large library of games, with new titles like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 added monthly, plus other benefits, such as online multiplayer and deals on non-Game Pass titles. Read more: Play Classic Games From the '80s and '90s on Xbox Game Pass Now Here are the games Microsoft is adding to Game Pass soon. You can also check out what games the company added to the service earlier in May, including Doom: The Dark Ages. Monster Train 2 PC Game Pass and Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can play now. In the original Monster Train, you were fighting angelic forces to take back your home in hell. In this go-round, former angels and demons have made an unholy alliance to stop powerful creatures known as Titans from destroying the world. The deck-building gameplay that made the original Monster Train is back in this sequel, with new abilities, challenges and more for you to tackle. Creatures of Ava New to Game Pass Standard. Game Pass Ultimate subscribers could play this game full of cute creatures in August, and Game Pass Standard subscribers can try it out soon, too. This action-adventure creature-saver game is all about understanding and taming different creatures from various climates. Though your mission is to stop a life-consuming infection that threatens the world, I can't blame you if you just want to cuddle and pet all the cute critters in the game. Stalker 2 New to Game Pass Standard. Microsoft The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone was established in the wake of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. It's one of the most radioactively contaminated areas on Earth, and you get to explore it in this highly anticipated sequel. However, you're not alone. Mutated animals, humans and other dangerous creatures roam the zone. So choose your path wisely, and you might survive. You might even shape the future of humanity. Game Pass Standard subscribers can play this survival horror game a few months after Game Pass Ultimate subscribers could. Tales of Kenzera: Zau PC Game Pass and Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can play now. This side-scrolling Metroidvania-style game was inspired by Bantu myths. In this game, your father has died, and you make a bargain with the God of Death to bring him back. You'll wield cosmic powers, travel through mystical realms and confront three mighty beings who seem pretty familiar to you. Tom Clancy's The Division 2 Game Pass Standard, PC Game Pass and Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can play now. Ubsioft This RPG shooter begins a few months after the events of the original game when chaos has engulfed Washington, DC. Enemy factions have overrun the city's streets, and settlements of citizens are threatened by new enemies. It's up to you to help liberate the city. This game lands on Game Pass just in time for Year 7 Season 1, which brings new gear, weapons and more to the game. To a T PC Game Pass and Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can play now. Being 13 years old is hard, and being 13 years old while standing in a T pose all the time can be even more difficult. This narrative-adventure game comes from Keita Takahashi, the creator of Katamari Damacy, and you'll experience a colorful story, explore your seaside town, and hang out with a precious and helpful dog. Takahashi talks about the game with CNET's Sean Booker here. Metaphor: ReFantazio Coming to Game Pass Standard, PC Game Pass and Game Pass Ultimate on May 29. Traverse vast lands, explore dungeons and take part in a royal tournament to decide who the next ruler of the kingdom will be in one of the best games of 2024. This turn-based fantasy RPG comes from the creators of Persona 3, 4 and 5, so expect some similar stylistic choices. But CNET's Imad Khan said what really stands out about this game is "its addictive RPG gameplay loop." Spray Paint Simulator Coming to PC Game Pass and Game Pass Ultimate on May 29. Bring some color to the world in this simulator, which lands on Game Pass right when it comes out. You'll restore worn-out surfaces, apply fresh coats of paint and make the world a little brighter in this relaxing, precision game. Crypt Custodian Coming to Game Pass Standard, PC Game Pass and Game Pass Ultimate on June 3. Cleaning up the afterlife can be hard, but someone's got to do it. And that someone is you! In this top-down Metroidvania-style game, you play as a mischievous cat named Pluto. You die and agree to be janitor of the afterlife forever, but it's not all doom and gloom. You can hang out with other spirits, battle creatures and explore the ghostly landscape. Symphonia Coming to Game Pass Standard, PC Game Pass and Game Pass Ultimate on June 3. Music acts as a source of life and energy in this nonviolent platformer. But when the founders of an orchestra vanish and life goes quiet, it's up to mysterious musician Philemon to find answers. Use your violin and bow to explore the musical world, reactivate the musical machinery scattered throughout the land and bring the orchestra back together. More games land on Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta) Game Pass Ultimate members can access loads of games, as well as Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta). This lets subscribers access games on consoles, PCs, smartphones and more devices without downloading the game to their device. Microsoft added these games to its cloud gaming service, so subscribers can play them anywhere. Brütal Legend Costume Quest 2 Day of the Tentacle Remastered Full Throttle Remastered Grim Fandango Remastered Max: The Curse of Brotherhood Neon Abyss Quantum Break Rare Replay ScreamRide State of Decay: Year-One SteamWorld Dig 2 Sunset Overdrive Super Lucky's Tale Zoo Tycoon: Ultimate Animal Collection Games leaving Game Pass on May 31 Microsoft is adding those games to Game Pass soon, but it's also removing five games from the service on May 31. That means you still have some time to finish your campaign and any side quests before you'll have to buy these games separately. Cassette Beasts Firework Humanity Remnant 2 Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengeance of the Slayer For more on Xbox, discover other games available on Game Pass Ultimate now, read our hands-on review of the gaming service and learn which Game Pass plan is right for you. You can also check out what to know about upcoming Xbox game price hikes.
Metro
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Monster Train 2 review – off the rails Slay The Spire
One of the few deck-building roguelites to challenge Slay The Spire gets an impressive sequel that may be the most fun you can have on a locomotive. Roguelike deck builders are having a moment. A search for them on Steam will net you an astounding 861 results, making it a category that's quite a bit more populous than you might imagine. Despite the high number of matches though, it's a genre that's been made famous primarily by just two games: Slay The Spire and Balatro. The latter is regularly cited as one of the best games of 2024 but it's the former whose content and style is closest to Monster Train, which was originally released in 2020. It was a game about defending the frozen wastes of Hell against the invading forces of Heaven. In its sequel, Heaven and Hell are forced to unite to face the Titans, a new threat that could lead to the destruction of both realms. None of that's especially relevant to the gameplay, which once again takes place onboard a quadruple-decker train. The turn-based battles are waged across the bottom three floors, with the train's penthouse reserved for the pyre, the burning heart of your train, which in a mechanic borrowed from tower defence games is effectively the train's power bar. Your job is to stop invaders reaching the pyre, because if they do and its health gets down to zero, it's game over. In the original that often meant stacking your third floor with the strongest troops you had available. The sequel prefers you to mount a defence across all three floors and to encourage that, there are now room-level upgrades available, that for example will increase valour – the stat that equates to armour – to all troops, or reduce the cost of magic, making different floors more suitable for certain troop types. This adds a fresh layer of tactics and feeds into the meta game of deck building. There are now a total of 10 different clans to choose from, with each run featuring a main and support clan, both of whose cards you'll have available as you play. Completing runs earns experience for the clans you're using and as each one levels up, you'll slowly gain access to more of their cards. Naturally, the game tends to gate the more powerful ones behind those higher experience levels. All of this reinforces the fact that Monster Train 2 is very much a roguelite, your power growing as you unlock new cards and spells, as well as adding permanent upgrades that make each subsequent run easier. It also adds a pleasing sense of progress, which persists even after a run that otherwise went badly. Plus, you'll still earn experience and potentially extra cards or magic items to assist in future escapades. As with all roguelites, there's a powerful sense of repetition, with the entirety of the game's action taking place in the relatively claustrophobic confines of your train's four storeys. It's fair to say though, that the random elements in runs tend to make each one feel quite different from the last, especially as you start to unlock more clans and the extra cards they offer. To add further variation, there are challenges, which you play on a grid, with the next one opening up once you've beaten its nearest neighbour. Challenge levels constrain you to the use of specific clans and each comes with 'mutators' that add extra conditions, like reducing the cost of spells or giving certain card types extra health or attack strength. You can also change your pyre heart. Each heart has different attack and defence stats, which come into play when the top floor of your train is invaded by Titans, and each comes with a special ability. These can be anything from reduced prices at the shops you encounter after each level, to more esoteric benefits, like the power to heal the front unit on each floor of the train once per battle. This adds to the interconnected network of effects that stack to create some truly formidable stat increases, even if it's not easy remembering what's active and how each of those different buffs interacts with the others. Obviously, the game automatically calculates all the bonuses on each attack and defensive play you make, but it can be tricky keeping all those layered effects in mind when you're placing cards or activating spells. More Trending It's also important to know which bosses you'll be dealing with and to plan accordingly. There's only so much you can do when you're always partly dependent on the luck of which cards you draw, but you can still make sure you have troops available that act to counter bosses' special abilities, hopefully containing them before they can overwhelm your defences. There's notably more focus on character and story in this sequel, the plot playing out in a series of text-only encounters triggered when you return to the game's hub between runs. Clearly inspired by Hades, it doesn't quite equal that game's wit and personality, but it's nice to see additional elements fleshing out the game beyond its core, quick fire turn-based combat. If you loved the original Monster Train, this goes further than simply delivering more of the same. There's fresh new strategic options and combinations of troops and spells to experiment with, as well as cards from the game's new clans to unlock and slot into your deck. There are many games that try to copy Slay The Spire and yet very few that come close to its quality, but Monster Train 2 is certainly on track in that regard. In Short: An effective expansion of the original's deck-building roguelite structure, that adds lots of enjoyable new features and becomes one of the few games to rival Slay The Spire. Pros: Pacy and easy to understand, with complexity layered in as you progress. Lots of fresh systems and mechanics to try out, and as immaculately well balanced as ever. Cons: Eventually gets repetitive. Using a controller isn't as intuitive as a mouse or touchscreen. Some runs can be severely compromised by random factors beyond your control. Score: 8/10 Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S, and PCPrice: £19.99Publisher: Good Shepherd EntertainmentDeveloper: Shiny ShoeRelease Date: 21st May 2025 Age Rating: 7 Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: Games Inbox: Are video games too expensive on console and PC? MORE: Assassin's Creed Shadows co-op mode coming in 2026 after DLC claims report MORE: Nintendo Switch 2 UK pre-orders are back in stock – here's where to buy it
Digital Trends
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Digital Trends
Monster Train 2 stays on track with a safe, but tough sequel
Monster Train 2 is the opposite of the Ship of Theseus. Its predecessor Monster Train is a polished card-based roguelike where you fight monsters on three levels of a train, defending your pyre at the top across a series of levels and storming Hell to fight evil angels. Monster Train 2 is the same but in reverse: angels and devils taking Heaven back together from the corrupting Titans. Both games break up their seven or so battles with stores and random events. The art styles are the same, the gameplay is the same. Small, subtly-introduced differences make the second one technically different from the first. But if you squint you see almost exactly the same game, five years later. Recommended Videos How few things can you change and still have a game that feels like it's progressed? That's the question I approached Monster Train 2 with. The first game punched above the weight of its art style and barely-there story, but the sequel's art is sharper and more colorful now. However, the environments of Heaven are much less distinct than the levels of Hell. None of that really matters because you spend most of your time in the four chambers of the train, which always looks the same. At a certain point, remembering how to play playing Monster Train 2 is like remembering your walk to the store: you do it so often, it all blends together. And it blends together with its predecessor, too. There's a problem with making the same game twice though: the people who already played the first one, who are likely most excited for the sequel, already know how to beat it. The team behind Monster Train 2 knew this, because it's arranged for people who already played the first one. The story builds on the events of the previous game with only the briefest pause to explain. There are also more complex battle effects. For example, instead of 'spikes' (fixed damage to any unit that attacks yours) you have 'pyregel' which sticks to the enemy and increases the damage you do to them. This makes the first few levels of the sequel easier than the original. There's also room cards and equipment cards that (respectively) grant bonuses on a floor and give bonuses to a unit. However, they've turned up the difficulty to compensate for your new tools. While Monster Train was challenging, 2 is more so. Even Covenant Zero, the tutorial difficulty, requires you to build your deck thoughtfully. I felt like I needed to lose quite a few times on Rank 1 to level up my clans, get better cards, and therefore break through the damage walls that arrive at level 5 or so. Some enemy teams made me groan every time I saw them, because it was obvious my current damage level wouldn't cut it. But on the other hand, it's possible for a run to start quite badly and still get a victory. Unlike genre cousin Slay the Spire, there was never a doom spiral where I could tell I would lose several levels before I actually lost. If I could get through a battle, even if my pyre only had a few HP, there was a chance I could beat the next one. I also enjoy Challenge runs, where you have restrictions and pre-applied bonuses at a set Covenant level. These can be hard, but they feel, if not more fair than regular runs, at least more intentionally tough. And as it often is with these games, if you're still unlocking artifacts and making progress, it doesn't feel too bad to lose. It took me about 15 hours to have runs where I wasn't unlocking at least one thing. At that point, between my unlocked clans and my new cards, an average run was much more varied, and felt much more fun, than one five hours in. In this respect Monster Train 2 has fine-tuned the trickle of content in what I'd consider the early game (the time in which you have your first few runs, and when you get through the story.) So the difficulty might have squashed me, but at least I was having fun while it happened. Monster Train 2 is made not just for people who liked the first one, but for people who want the magical period of 'figuring out' the game– when you understand it, but before you actually win– to last as long as possible. Its similarities to the first one beg that existential question I asked earlier: if you keep almost everything in a game the same, why make a sequel and not, say, a DLC pack? Other related games raise this question too. Slay the Spire 2 and Hades 2, both releasing soon, both rely on their similarity to their predecessors to sell. The job of a sequel is to be the same as its progenitor but also substantially different enough to justify its own existence, either through refining the previous game or through providing a lot more of it. Monster Train 2 is the latter, a slightly more polished version of the original with more content for fans to plow through. It trades memorability for momentary captivation, and it's an understandable tradeoff. Just like with the first game, though, the memories of my hours mowing down Titans are already melting away.
Digital Trends
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Digital Trends
My latest Steam Deck obsession is a tactical spin on Space Invaders
There are few games that feel truly timeless to me, but Space Invaders ranks high on that list. Anytime I play it, I still find that I can sink my teeth into it more than most modern games 10,000 times its size. It's simple, but I find that there's hidden depth in its strategy. What's the most efficient way to clear waves? How do you manage columns of aliens once they start getting closer? Every game is a battle in which every shot counts. StarVaders understands that idea and takes it to a logical evolution. The new indie game is another in a long line of genre hybrids that smashes a roguelike, deck-builder, and shoot-em-up together. I rolled my eyes when I first heard the description, but after a week of toying around with it, I'm hooked. StarVaders takes the feeling I get when playing Space Invaders and successfully puts it into a turn-based tactics format that has me constantly starting one more run. The premise here is familiar: Aliens have come to Earth! Shocking, I know. It's up to a squad of mech pilots to fight them off. It's a simple setup, but there's some surprising depth to where it all goes. At the end of each run, I hear a bit of cryptic dialogue that peels back what exactly happened more and more. I haven't seen enough of it yet to know exactly what's going on, but it adds some narrative intrigue to an already sticky roguelike hook. Recommended Videos Gameplay is the focus here and I'm finding even more depth there with each run. StarVaders plays like a cross between Into the Breach and Space Invaders. In each level, I'm placed on a grid-based board. I'm at the bottom and different alien ships drop in from the top. They come closer to the bottom with each passing turn. If they get into the bottom three rows before I can squash them, they add a tick to my doom meter. When I accumulate five doom, my run ends. To take down the ships before that happens, I need to play cards. My deck is divided between attacks and movement, and each one costs a bit of heat. Each turn, I must move and shoot to manage the board, all while remembering the unique properties of every alien. I might need to shoot one twice to break its shield first or deal with bugs that move twice as many spaces on a turn. A successful round is a juggling act where I need to make sure I'm not wasting a single action. It's very much like Into the Breach in that sense, playing on that game's Chess-like approach combat. The more I play, the more depth I find in that hook. Following in the footsteps of games like Monster Train, I have a chance to buff my deck and gain passive relics between rounds. I can upgrade cards occasionally too, letting me turn basic cards into essential tools. For instance, I can make it so a basic movement ends with me shooting a bullet upwards, or making it so a quick shot will gain a repeat status effect if it kills an enemy. It takes me a bit to get the hang of every status effect and what they all mean, but my runs become much more efficient once I do. With the right cards, I can clear out a full board of enemies with only a few well-played cards. There's a lot of smart risk that goes into that strategy too. Each turn, I only have three heat to work with. Once I hit that limit, I'm in danger of overheating. That means that I can play one more card, but it will be burned and made unusable until the next round. Similarly, there's also some risk taking when it comes to evading enemy attacks. On each turn, I can see red spaces that my foes will hit once my turn ends. I can spend movement cards to get to safety, or I can intentionally take the hit. If I do, I'll add a junk card into my deck which I'll have to spend heat to purge if I don't want to keep it in my draw. There are a lot of cases where that risk is worth it so long as I have a good handle on my deck and what it can do. I'm still early in my playthrough, but I've found a wealth of deckbuilding strategies to toy around with as I weigh those risks. Some of my builds have been based around intentionally purging cards from my hand to get extra heat. I've built others around laying bombs all over the board and shooting to detonate them. There are several characters to unlock across three classes, each of which has their own specific skills, and I unlock new cards each time I level up in a meta progression system. With more difficulties still to unlock and story to see, StarVaders is a game I know I'll return to a lot this year. It feels like I can pick up a little more strategy with each run, and that's what really makes it feel like a game built in the spirit of Space Invaders even more than its aliens. StarVaders is available now on PC.
