Why Fogpiercer’s train deck system works so well

Fogpiercer arrives in a genre packed with card-slinging heroes, mysterious relics and increasingly ridiculous enemy combinations, but it has one seriously clever trick up its sleeve: your train is your deck. Every locomotive, carriage and weapon you attach changes the cards available during battle, turning ordinary train construction into the heart of the entire roguelite experience.

Developed by Mad Cookies Studio and published by Hooded Horse, Fogpiercer sends players across a dangerous sci-fi wasteland where hostile vehicles, bandits and other threats surround the railway. Battles take place on compact tactical grids, with enemies clearly showing what they plan to do next. That gives you the chance to push them into hazards, force them to attack each other or knock them onto the tracks just before your train comes thundering through.

Build the train, build the deck 

The carriage system is where everything really clicks. Add an artillery car and you gain powerful long-range attack cards. Install defensive equipment and you can protect neighbouring sections of the train. Other carriages introduce hacking tools, harpoons, cranes, Tesla weapons and plenty of wonderfully chaotic ways to rearrange the battlefield. Removing a carriage also removes its cards, so upgrading your train never feels separate from building your deck.

There are hints of Slay the Spire in the way Fogpiercer encourages players to chase card synergies and experiment with different builds. However, its focus on enemy positioning and predictable attacks also gives encounters a puzzle-like quality. Sometimes the smartest move is not dealing the most damage, but nudging one enemy into the perfect position so the entire battlefield collapses in your favour.

Fogpiercer did launch with a few rough edges. Players pointed to slow early progression, sudden difficulty spikes and some repetitive opening runs. Thankfully, the developers have already been responding with patches aimed at improving unlock speeds, balancing difficult encounters and adding quality-of-life options. A larger content update is also being prepared, which could give the game even more staying power.

That quick response matters because Fogpiercer already has a fantastic central idea. With more cards, carriages, enemies and regions, this train could keep rolling for a very long time.

Ready to climb aboard? Use our price comparison tool to find the best prices for Fogpiercer and start building the deadliest deck on rails.