Author: Evan Norris

by
Evan Norris
, posted 20 hours ago / 695 ViewsAll these years later, developer Shiny Shoe still doesn’t know what a train looks like. You see, in Monster Train 2, just as in the premier Monster Train, the train cars don’t stretch out in a horizontal row, but rather stack on each other vertically, like a demented double-decker bus. It’s part of the game’s charm, of course, and clearly a running joke within Shiny Shoe, an indie studio operating out of San Francisco. I was lucky to spend some time with the studio’s CEO, Mark Cooke, at PAX East in Boston last week. He walked me through the ins and outs of the anticipated deck-building rogue-like, including what’s new in terms of narrative, mechanics, and quality-of-life features.
Monster Train 2 once again asks players to control the monsters of Hell. Only this time, the enemy isn’t Heaven, but rather a group of Titans who seek to corrupt the heavenly sphere. As a result, demonic and angelic armies have joined forces to push back the common enemy, and restore the delicate balance between themselves.

With a sequel like Monster Train 2, it’s challenging to accommodate new players and also reward long-time fans for their investment and expertise. But Cooke was optimistic the studio had found that fertile middle ground. “It’s a tough challenge because, on the game design side, we want to appeal to the existing players, some of which have played thousands of hours of Monster Train, but also not be so overwhelmingly complex that it puts off new players,” he said. “And that’s where it’s a hard thing to thread because we can’t just retread what we already did in Monster Train because that would be boring for the existing fans.”
Cooke continued, “So we have to do new things, but at the same time those things can’t be overly complicated. It’s always easy to do new stuff in the game design realm, but it can sometimes feel like piling on more and more complexity. So we’re trying to thread the needle of, yes, everything is new, but also it’s relatively easy to understand.”

One of the reasons Monster Train 2 is so easy to understand, even for neophytes, is its gentle onboarding process, which includes several helpful tutorials. For my PAX East demo, Cooke was, in his words, my “human tutorial”. He walked me through the process of picking primary and allied clans, from five brand new monster clans (one of the unique features of the sequel is that you can mix and match elemental clans together). I elected to go with fire- and undead-type clans, each of which provided certain strategic advantages in battle. One of my undead units, for instance, had a graft mechanic, which, upon death, gave me a piece of equipment I could attach onto other units, making them stronger.
Next, I chose my Pyre Heart. According to Cooke, this is another new addition to the game. You can now unlock and swap Hearts, which allow players to customize each run to their preferred play style. Bogwurm’s Growth, for example, is ideal for players that want to deploy as many fighters as possible, since each victory increases the floor space on your train. 
With my clans and Pyre Hearts locked in, I moved to my train, where I deployed my units on three vertical floors, based on how much Ember (think mana) I had in stock. Interestingly, each unit in the train takes up capacity on each floor. If there is less spare capacity than a particular card costs, then I couldn’t play it. “It’s a way for us to balance units against each other in terms of how powerful they are,” explained Cooke.

One of the things I enjoyed most about the combat phase was how visually informative it was. Each showdown included a damage preview, which let me know how much damage friendly and enemy units will take, or if they’ll expire altogether. And, naturally, the preview updates as you deploy and rearrange your units. Not only that, but the game offers, for the very first time, an undo turn button. “It gives you room to undo mistakes if you accidentally do something,” said Cooke, “but it also allows you to experiment with a different order of casting your cards.” These two features combined take a lot of the guesswork out of the genre.
Speaking of the genre, it appears to be in good hands with Shiny Shoe. The studio has retained the general flow of the original game, which resonated with players back in 2020, and added new clans, Pyre Hearts, and amenities to keep those same players on their toes. At the same time, Cooke and company have designed the game with accessibility in mind, in order not to alienate first-time players. Will it work out for both demographics in equal measure? We don’t have to wait long to find out. Monster Train 2 launches on PC, PS5, Xbox Series, and Switch on May 21. More Articles

by
Evan Norris
, posted 18 hours ago / 1,916 ViewsAudi Sorlie isn’t a household name, but in the corner of the video game market dedicated to the mascot platformer Bubsy he’s kind of a big deal. Indeed, it would be hard to find a more dedicated, knowledgeable Bubsy expert working in the industry today. Last week at PAX East in Boston, I was fortunate to spend some time with Sorlie, chatting about his history with the IP, exploring his career in video games, and digging into the upcoming compilation Bubsy in: The Purrfect Collection, in which he played a pivotal part.
A reserved kid growing up in Oslo, Sorlie instantly gravitated toward Bubsy, the talkative, self-confident bobcat, when he first encountered him in the early 90s. “I was a shy, very quiet Norwegian kid, and this was a very outgoing, extroverted, exciting Saturday morning cartoon character,” he explained. “So for me, he was someone that I looked a bit up to…I felt like I wanted to be more like him.”

Sorlie joined the video game industry in 2001, taking with him his affinity for Bubsy. Many years later, in 2019, during an especially difficult period in his life, he seriously considered quitting video games for good. That’s when Digital Foundry’s John Linneman approached him and suggested a collaboration to lift his spirits. That collaboration became DF’s Bubsy documentary, which introduced the bobcat braggart to a brand new audience (Sorlie went on to become an official member of Digital Foundry). “I went to GDC, I remember, a week after that video came out,” said Sorlie. “And people would come up to me and be like, ‘You know, that game meant a lot to me. And that documentary really made me think about things, and I really appreciated it.'”
“Because of that positivity and through that acknowledgement from the fans,” Sorlie continued, “I decided to stay in the video game industry. So, in a strange way, Bubsy saved my life.”
Now, six years later, Sorlie is returning the favor with Bubsy in: The Purrfect Collection, a compilation that includes several Bubsy titles (and variants) from the SNES, Genesis, Game Boy, Jaguar, and PlayStation eras. Developed by Limited Run Games, in partnership with Atari, which now owns the IP, the collection promises to reflect Sorlie’s sincerity when it comes to the platforming franchise. “We do not want to meme this up,” said Sorlie. “We don’t want to mock this. This is a character that means something to video game history. What it means to different people, we can’t say. But we would like to find out.”

Not only does The Purrfect Collection pledge to be sincere; it also insists on telling a comprehensive, transparent history of the series, including all its ups and downs. “The way I look at it,” Sorlie noted, “these [collections] are basically interactive museum pieces. They’re not just software, but they’re also very much a way to preserve gaming history and give full context.” That means video interviews, design documents, and other items yet to be revealed. The idea is to place the character of Bubsy in the proper historical context, in terms of game development, marketing, and the reactions from fans.
The most important thing about a collection is the games, however. During my time at PAX East, Sorlie walked me through two titles: the original Bubsy on SNES (his personal favorite) and the now infamous Bubsy 3D, the franchise’s first foray into three dimensions. Each game in the anthology will feature the quality-of-life features common to Limited Run’s Carbon Engine, including rewind, save states, screen & filter options, and even an optional “boost mode” that overclocks the system slightly to remove slowdown.
The premier Bubsy game was certainly a highlight. I got the sense that some of the later franchise entries would be more interesting for long-time fans or from a detached, historical perspective, but that the original game would be the most likely to win over some converts. The graphics are bright and bombastic, the animations are detailed, and the level designs are refreshingly open-ended for a fourth-gen platformer. It seems to operate in a middle ground, in terms of momentum and verticality, between Super Mario World and Sonic the Hedgehog.

As for Bubsy 3D, which has become something of a punchline over the last few years, it’s a very interesting experiment, albeit one that can be clumsy, confusing, and punishing. Sorlie, a self-described defender of the game, insisted it’s not all negative: “I do think this is another game that, if you play it in this collection and get it in the proper world, you at least come away with the impression that this is not as bad as people made it out to be.” 
Even Sorlie, though, would probably agree that Bubsy 3D was something of a low point for the series. The Purrfect Collection, conversely, might just be its high point, thanks to several titles and game variants, a host of bonus archival materials, and lots of quality-of-life adjustments. After changing hands multiple times over the preceding decades, the IP now rests with Atari, which has placed its trust in Limited Run’s Carbon Engine and its faith in Audi Sorlie’s genuine, unironic love for the property. “It’s been one of the greatest pleasures I’ve had in my 20-year history to work with [Atari], because they understand the sincerity,” he said. “They came back with that same sincerity while working on this. And it’s been one of the best collaborations I’ve ever had.”
He concluded, “Bubsy is still bringing people together, inside and outside of the industry.” More Articles