DLC: Monster Train 2: The Punished
Developer: Shiny Shoe
Publisher: Big Fan
Genre: Roguelike Deckbuilder · Clan DLC
Released: November 10, 2026
Price: $7.99 · requires Monster Train 2
Platform: PC (Steam) and consoles
⛓️ How we reviewed it: on PC, via Steam, with the base game and the Destiny of the Railforged DLC. Since it’s been out for a few days, we’ve also noted what players are saying.
1New Clan
2Champions
11New Artifacts
Very PositiveOn Steam
$7.99Price
🩸 Know this first: The Punished is a single-clan DLC for $7.99. It’s Monster Train 2’s second paid DLC after Destiny of the Railforged, and it adds one new clan with two Champions, Archus and Zariel, plus new cards and 11 artifacts. Unlike Railforged, it doesn’t come with a new game mode. It launched alongside a major free patch for everyone, and it’s sitting at Very Positive on Steam.
⛓️ Through Suffering Comes Power
Once an angel of Heaven, Archus lived in the shadow of his older brother, Seraph. Overlooked and abandoned by Fel, he tried to overthrow his brother and was cast into Heaven’s Maw for his treachery. There, he found the strength he’d always wanted: the power to turn pain into might.
Now Archus, Darkness Incarnate, leads The Punished into battle with a new creed. Their whole playstyle is built around damaging your own units, harnessing that suffering, and turning it against your enemies.
Hurt your own team. Watch the numbers explode.
We called Monster Train 2 a masterclass in roguelike design, and Destiny of the Railforged was a heavy-hitting expansion. The Punished is a smaller package, just one clan, but it’s an exciting one. Damaging your own units sounds like a bad idea right up until your floor is dealing hundreds of damage a hit. It’s a blast to play, and it fits brilliantly with the other clans. It’s also lighter on content than Railforged, and right now it’s a little too strong.
Our verdict: “Deckbuilding refined to a razor’s edge. With new factions, mechanics, and synergies, every run feels fresh, brutal, and brilliantly chaotic. A masterclass in addictive roguelike design.”
The Punished’s Toolkit
The Punished bring a whole set of new keywords, and nearly all of them revolve around hurting your own side on purpose.
⚔️ Punish
Triggers when a unit is damaged by your own spells or abilities, from attack boosts to entirely new effects.
🩸 Bloodshed
Rewards you whenever a friendly unit takes damage on the same floor, perfect for effects that hit several units at once.
⛓️ Chained
An enemy debuff that makes them take damage alongside your own units. Self-harm becomes direct damage.
🛡️ Tenacious
Stops friendly damage from landing the killing blow, which opens the door to riskier and riskier plays.
Turning Pain Into Power
📈 Zeal, Pain and Spare
Zeal boosts both attack and maximum health, but crucially it doesn’t heal you. That keeps it from being free tankiness, and it pairs nicely with cards that care about missing health. Pain stacks build up on certain cards and units, then turn into an ability that deals damage to an enemy you choose. Spare is the opposite of Slay: you get a bonus when the target survives. In this clan, that target is often one of your own units.
It all adds up to a satisfying risk-and-reward loop. The question every turn isn’t just how to hurt the enemy, but how much you can afford to hurt yourself first. One player built a run around a unit that can’t die from self-inflicted damage, hitting it for 130 at a time to send around 500 damage into the front enemy through Chained.
The Monolith
🗿 Sacrifice Today, Power Tomorrow
The clan’s signature mechanic is the Monolith. During battle, you can spend Ember and discard cards to offer it Tribute, building Devotion that carries through the whole run. As the Monolith levels up, it empowers certain cards, and your newly summoned units arrive with stacks of Zeal.
It’s a neat long-term goal, but it isn’t quite as essential as Railforged’s Forging. One player called it the least elegant of the new mechanics and found they could ignore it entirely in some runs, comparing it to Luna Coven’s Moon Phases: powerful if you build around it, but a real investment.
What Players Are Saying
The early reception is strong. Three players say The Punished is overpowered: one called it “a bit too strong,” and another described the numbers getting bigger than they’d ever seen in a run. Nobody seems to mind much, though, because they’re having a great time. One player who normally dislikes DLC said Monster Train 2’s add-ons feel like they were made with love and care, and another praised how much the new clan adds once you factor in combinations with the other clans.
Where It Stumbles
⚠️ Not Quite Railforged
1. It’s just one clan. Destiny of the Railforged came with a new clan and an entirely new game mode. The Punished is only the clan. One player expected to get around 10 hours out of it, compared with about 30 from Railforged, and felt a lower price would be fairer.
2. No connection to the Railforged mode. Two players wished The Punished came with new Souls for the previous DLC’s mode, or at least some new challenges, with one saying it feels a bit empty without that.
3. The Monolith feels optional. It’s the least essential part of the clan’s identity, especially next to Railforged’s Forging.
4. Balance. Three players say the clan is overpowered right now. It’s fun, but it can make some runs feel a little too easy.
🛠️ A Major Patch for Everyone
The Punished launched alongside a big patch with balance changes, bug fixes for softlocks and undo failures, and an updated soundtrack featuring all the post-launch songs. A follow-up patch has already fixed a few Punished-specific issues, including a card that could target itself.
Things to Know
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
| The Good |
The Bad |
The Ugly |
| Self-Damage PlaystyleFresh, risky and wildly fun. |
Just One ClanNo new mode this time. |
Your Own UnitsThey never saw it coming. |
| ChainedSelf-harm becomes enemy damage. |
Optional MonolithEasy to ignore in some runs. |
— |
| Clan SynergiesPlays nicely with every other clan. |
OverpoweredSome runs get too easy. |
— |
| Huge NumbersHundreds of damage per hit. |
No New SoulsNot tied into the Railforged mode. |
— |
The Verdict
The Punished is a great new clan with a genuinely fresh idea. Hurting your own units to trigger Punish, Bloodshed and Chained makes for some of the most explosive combos in Monster Train 2, and the clan fits beautifully alongside the others. Very few things in the genre feel as good as watching a carefully planned self-harm combo turn into hundreds of damage on the enemy side.
It’s a smaller package than Destiny of the Railforged, though. There’s no new mode, no new Souls for the previous DLC’s mode, and the Monolith isn’t as essential to the clan as Forging was to the Railforged. The clan is also a little overtuned right now. None of that makes it bad, but it’s a good DLC rather than an essential one.
The honest read: if you love Monster Train 2, this is an easy pickup and a fun new way to play. If you only grab one DLC, start with Destiny of the Railforged.
For more game reviews, check out our full reviews section.
Score Breakdown
Synergy With Other Clans9.0/10
Integration With Modes6.5/10
Final Score
7.8/10
Monster Train 2: The Punished — Shiny Shoe / Big Fan
Through suffering comes power, and some very big numbers.
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