Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection Review

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Monster Hunter Stories is a sub genre of the Monster Hunter franchise. Instead of the action RPG focus of the main series, the Stories series focuses on your traditional turn-based RPG gameplay. Monster Hunter Stories 3 marks the first time that the series has premiered outside of a Nintendo console. The upgrade in console power (including Switch 2) is definitely noticeable with this third installment. While very similar to the past two entries in the series, Monster Hunter Stories 3 is a visual powerhouse when it comes to its overall look.

Fans of the first two games will easily notice the overall change in visuals. Capcom has traded off the chibi and kiddy look of the first two games for more serious looking character models. Navirou is gone, but he is still kind of there in spirit. Your main character’s palico (Rudy) is kind of a reminder of Navirou overall, but this time he is less intrusive and more of a side character. Even with the serious look, the game still has plenty of comedy and lightheartedness that Stories is known for. The blend of a more serious approach to the story along with the usual Monster Hunter Stories trademarks makes this game truly something special for new and returning fans.

The plot follows two warring kingdoms – Azuria and Vermail – in the midst of a disaster known as the “Crystal Encroachment”. The story centers around the birth of two Rathalos monsties (one of the series’ trademark monsters). Players take control of the heir of Azuria (male/female custom character) and the heir’s party member friends. Along with Eleanor (princess of Vermail), the two heirs must battle the new disaster and keep peace between their homelands. This game has some really good characters. The voice acting is spot on and there are many memorable parts of the story. The story is much more in-depth, serious and exciting than past games.

The overall combat system is around the same as in other Stories games. The heart of the combat is the same “paper, rock and scissors” gameplay that you’ll find in other Stories games. You have Power, Technical and Speed attacks where Power beats Technical, Technical beats Speed and Speed beats Power. Just like in Stories 2, you are limited to two characters in your party at once – both the character and their Monstie for a total of a four in the party. The main character can switch between whatever monsties you’d like. The main character’s default monstie is the Rathalos. You have to switch between monsties during some fights and out in the field for various attacks and skills. Monsties can be switched during the middle of a fight.

The fights in this game have SO MUCH eye candy. It’s hard to get bored with this game’s battle system since it is so very visually pleasing. Your main character and your monstie are the only parts of the battle that are under your control. The party member and their monstie are controlled by the CPU. You can tag team up on enemies by attacking the same enemy at once – you can actually see which enemy your party is targeting to know when to do this. You can still ride on your monstie once a certain gauge is full and release a special attack that is basically like a Final Fantasy summon spell (or Street Fighter super move).

The overall battles in the game seem harder when compared to past Monster Hunter Stories titles. The game offers tutorials on top of tutorials and throws many hints your way, but battles can still get tough. Some enemies have a crystal growth on their body that will make them more powerful until you wound that body part. Focusing on certain body parts can damage that part and weaken (or possibly stun) an enemy and make that enemy vulnerable or simply weaken their attacks. The game can have a lot of strategy in certain battles (especially boss battles).

As usual, you can capture and train several monsties at once. You find monster dens (they randomly appear on the map) and dig through nests in order to find an egg before the monster comes back. After capturing, you can hatch eggs and put the monstie in your party. The game offers new monstie options such as a habitat system where you can release monsties into the wild of certain areas in order to have different variations of monsties in that area. You get a grade of that particular monstie from that area after releasing them. This allows for mutations that might have different skills than normal. You can also take attributes from one monstie and give them to another.

Along with the main story, you also get the chance to engage in the usual side quests and there are also side stories. Side stories are focused on one specific character in your party. You team up with that one character and go through a story (separate from the main plot) with them. There are many open world locations to explore. You can explore them on foot or while riding on your monstie. Riding on a flying monstie is a true spectacle. You can fly while on the monstie and get caught in an updraft that will take you far into the air. Different monsties have different uses for the world map. There are times where you have to switch to a monstie that can climb walls in order to reach a high platform.

This game has quite the soundtrack. It has the usual Stories theme from the past games and some super epic tracks for boss fights. The voice acting is so very good making all the character feel lively and likable. It’s amazing how well the main character fits into the story with the other characters. The main character is a custom character but still very much a player in the story. They aren’t shunned by other character like the usual “you” characters in most games. The main character has his/her own voice for conversations.

One thing that bugs me the most about Monster Hunter Stories 3 is that your main character must always be in your party, so that only leaves a slot for one more character out of your entire group. All of the characters in this game are fantastic and it sucks to be limited to only ONE along with your usual main character. It’s too bad you can’t switch out your main character. In prior Stories games, this wasn’t that noticeable since the game had fewer party members outside of the main character.

Monster Hunter Stories 3 allow the series to grow up and it’s truly a refreshing experience. It’s still very much on par with the past two games – it doesn’t do all that much outside of them, but you can definitely tell that the series is now on more powerful systems. I feel that this game will please both longtime fans of the Stories series and newcomers. If you didn’t like the past games, you may want to give this one a try and it might change your opinion on the franchise. It doesn’t change the gameplay that much at all, but visually, it all looks so much better this time around!

The Good:
+ Fantastic visuals and overall new look for Monster Hunter Stories
+ So much eye candy during battles!
+ Great voice acting, characters and overall story

The Bad:
- It’s too bad the main character must ALWAYS be in your party