Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection

Monster Hunter Stories started as a spin-off for Nintendo 3DS, and continued in HD form with Monster Hunter Stories 2, originally a Switch console exclusive. But that title was later launched for PS4 and Xbox One, and now Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection releases at the same time on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2 (not on the original Switch), consolidating it as a regular subseries to alternate with the mainline games. And one would say that Stories 3 is now even more important for Capcom, given the poor fan reception of Monster Hunter Wilds last year.

While far from catastrophic, the current perception of the Monster Hunter franchise is not where it should be, and a successful Monster Hunter Stories 3 will calm the waters before the already confirmed Monster Hunter Wilds expansion is announced later this year. In this Monster Hunter Stories 3 review we can confirm that this sequel lives up to the expectations, although fans of the main Monster Hunter games must still remember that these are very different games, with no real-time fights, no multiplayer, and a greater focus on story and exploration with a very different tone and visual identity.

If you have played previous games in the series, you won't be too surprised by this entry. Most of what's new comes from the new visual design and story, which makes good use of the current hardware (no Switch 1, PS4, or Xbox One versions) to show a very detailed cel-shaded world (with looks similar to titles like Dragon Quest XI) with many creatures roaming around and fairly large areas, even if it's not open-world. All main zones are usually made of a big area where you can fly around on your Rathalos, attack monsters and explore for resources and side quests, and other smaller, linear (nearly corridors) areas divided by load times. I don't think that's a problem, as it has been proved that open-worlds are not always what best suits a JRPG game (something that the main games in the Monster Hunter series also understand).

In Monster Hunter Stories, instead of hunting monsters just because you can, the goal is to tame monsters that you can use in battle (and ride outside of the turn-based combat). Just like Pokémon, you can take with you up to six monsters at any time, choosing between them at any point in a battle. Each monster has different strengths and weaknesses (fire, ice, poison...), and naturally picking the most efficient monster is the best strategy to win. Seeing them (there are dozens and dozens from all "generations" of Monster Hunter) perform spectacular attacks is a joy to watch, and the game frequently plays mini-movies of special and tandem attacks that add visual flair to the combat (although you will, sooner or later, end up pressing Start to speed up the animations).

The combat system has nothing to do with the main games. At first, it can feel overwhelming with its many types of attacks, several charged movement skills, and a rock-paper-scissor system for every attack that forces you to be vigilant and guess which type of movement the monster will use. It doesn't take long to click, however, and it's a joy to experiment with the different types of monsters, see all of their attacks, and of course, try different weapons and armour for your own hunter (or rider). Crafting is a bit simplified from the mainline games, but that is to be expected: with your weapons (you can take three weapons at the same time in battle), armour and decorations, as well as the monsties personalisation, there is a lot of depth and experimentation to find your ideal build for you and your monster.

The way you obtain those monsters, however, is not as fun as in Pokémon, where you catch Pokémon in the wild. Here, the monsters you fight are gone, and instead you steal eggs from the monsters' nests, which are always located in super small areas separated from the main world with load screens. You find a cave icon, you enter with a load time in between, farm some resources, take the egg, and then leave. This is a change compared to previous games, in which these caves were mini-dungeons, which make for a more streamlined experience but ends up being rather weird (couldn't the nests already be located in the main world?).

The eggs are sent to your base, where you can later see them hatch and then add them to your party if you want, or release them. In my opinion, it's not the most entertaining "monster hunting" process (it's always cool in Pokémon to team up with the creatures you've fought) but comes with a lot of depth, as you don't really know which monster is going to hatch from the egg, and each comes with series of genes that you can alter later to boost up your monster, and it's more justifiable from a narrative point of view.

The point of this spin-off is that, instead of hunters, we play as riders, in a world where everyone is used to taming and riding even the larger and most fearsome monsters... which go by "monsties", actually. The story - completely unrelated to other games in the franchise - goes for an animalistic and environmentalist message, to the point that it features an option to release the monsters you have previously raised, to increase the population of the species in nature and restore the environment. This has benefits, of course: improving the ecosystem means you can get better monsters that are useful in facing the more difficult optional monsters and the many side quests and sub-stories.

Sadly, the main plot of the game is not very interesting. It's the archetypical JRPG premise of two kingdoms at war, two opposing siblings, a mysterious magical menace pulling every string, and a lot of clichés. For fans of the genre, it will probably work just fine, but if you are looking for something more mature, or fell in love with Monster Hunter because of their minimalistic approach to story and intriguing worldbuilding, or the - now practically extinct after Wilds - survival elements, you won't find any of that here, and you may find the very long dialogue boring and the characters irritating.

If you don't connect to the characters and the story, the repetitive and linear structure of the game (set up in a move to the next exclamation mark, see the cutscene, move to the next mark, be wrecked by a boss, farm a little, wreck the boss, move to the next mark setup...), and the lack of gameplay surprises, the changes along the way will become more noticeably. Some of the systems to level up your monsties, the aforementioned genes system, are also quite obtuse, and there aren't really many incentives to engage with it because the writing in the side quests and sub-stories (each character has one with several chapters) is also very bland.

Monster Hunter Stories 3 has a very strong combat system, a visually appealing world, and the huge amount of monsters you can find and command in battle make up for some of its more uninspired elements and a rather dull story. Hardcore Monster Hunter fans, displeased by the "casualification" of the series in Wilds, may find a good excuse to return to the Monster Hunter universe here, but that will depend on how much they enjoy the turn-based JRPG genre, with all of its quirks and clichés.