Monster Train (with Joe Homes)

We’re on the Highway to roguelike deckbuilding Hell this week, riding a Crazy Train filled with demons, sentient blackberry bushes, and occultic Lumières! We are also joined by special guest Joe Homes from Cephalofair Games: publisher of the award-winning tabletop deckbuilding game Gloomhaven, so there will be at least one person here who knows what they’re talking about in terms of game design. Come listen in on one of our highest rated games in a long while, as we discuss stategies to beat 4 story-tall gem gods and consume tasty, tasty, morsels. Custom RSS Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Music Transcript 2:58 - game stats 4:58 - one sentence summary 7:10 - Hell narrative setup and train mechanics explanation 8:11 - Art style discussion and visual aesthetic opinions 11:27 - DLC discussion and Last Divinity expansion features 17:18 - Core gameplay differences from Slay the Spire mechanics 21:41 - Faction unlock progression and grinding criticism 25:02 - Dual class system and deck synergy strategies 34:04 - Deck size optimization and slim deck strategies 40:07 - Boss transparency and strategic planning advantages 48:24 - Visual readability issues when screen gets crowded 53:52 - Slay the Spire comparisons and “Spire-like” genre discussion 1:00:17 - rankings and final thoughts Next episode: Darkest Dungeon II Contact us at grogpodzone@gmail.com! https://grogpod.zone Intro music: Oscar Peterson Trio - Night Train Outro music: Jordan Chin - Daedalus, The Professor