It’s hard for a game to feel unique and fresh in a highly saturated market. This isn’t always a bad thing - sometimes you want to play something you know that you’ll like. However, there is no feeling quite like exploring what seems like something that is simultaneously brand new and like a game you can’t believe doesn’t exist yet. That all together is Battle Train.

Battle Train is a deckbuilder roguelike and, if your gaming habits are anything like mine, this is a well-trodden (but excellent) genre. However, Battle Train is a fresh take that is stylish, funny, and fun to play.

Battle Train is an in-universe reality competition show where, accordingly, you battle trains. That is, you send out trains to destroy your enemy’s bases before they destroy yours. To do that, in each battle you draw a hand of cards that range from segments of railroad tracks to bombs that can destroy tracks to boosts and debuffs, which you can all play in a turn-based system. You have to build a track from your train to your opponent’s base while collecting resources (that allow you to use more cards in a turn) and also stop your opponent from reaching your base. It feels like a very unique system that focuses more on movement and positioning than anything.

The tactics in this game feel great. There is a constant pull and push struggle between you and your opponent, where certain attacks can destroy some of your hard earned track but then vice versa. One element I really like is that both your trains and your enemy’s trains can and do run on the same track, so you might set up a perfect track for yourself but have it be co-opted by your opponent. Throughout a run you can also get cards that can change your strategy by building a deck that’s more bomb focused, for example, or trying to have a deck with more versatile track setups. It’s a really unique twist on a deckbuilding roguelike and one where I really have to think about strategy in a different way than in other games in the same genre.

One of the other things that sets Battle Train apart is in its presentation. The story of the game is set around the fictional Battle Train competition show and a documentary about its production, and it’s genuinely very funny. The characters are dynamic and funny, especially Aalvado, the long running champion of the show who is very into Battle Train and assumes everyone is exactly on the same level as him, despite dipping ratings. I laughed out loud multiple times, and the animation is excellent. The production value is high and kept me playing, even if I got frustrated at some of my rounds of the game.

There are a handful of issues that make Battle Train not quite an instant recommendation for me. The first is that the game feels a bit padded with mini games that don’t feel at all necessary and just feel like new mechanics just to say they’re new mechanics. I also don’t like how progressing to fight Aalvado is gated behind making sure you hit story content and a certain score - I like getting the story content, but it’s a let down to find out your run ends right away because you didn’t get to an arbitrary score or to all the story beats.

I don’t think that Battle Train is going to hit the same level as some of the greats in the genre, but it’s worth playing just the same for fans of deckbuilding roguelikes to see something new and unique being done in that space. It’s funny, unique, and really, who doesn’t like trains and explosions?