Monster Hunter Stories 3 initially feels bigger and more confident than you’d expect from a mere spin-off title. Everything points to Capcom aiming high this time, both in content and production. If that impression is confirmed in the full version, this will be a pleasant surprise.
Sequels usually bring certain improvements, but it often happens that series lose their ambition over time or wear out creatively after just one sequel. Let alone when they get to the third or fourth part. The best thing is when the progress is consistent and when you get cases like Witcher, Mass Effect, Far Cry, Dragon Quest or GTA, where the difference between the first and third parts is literally heaven and earth. And that’s why I’m glad to say that Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection falls into that category because, even after trying it for the first time, I have the impression that this spin-off aims at mainline level – and in some respects it even surpasses it, especially when you put it in parallel with Monster Hunter Wilds.
In short, Monster Hunter Stories 3 is bigger, more ambitious and better than its predecessors in almost every way. Far from the fact that the stories in the previous games were bad, but with the simplistic presentation and the theme of saving the world, they were almost certainly tailored for a younger audience. And while Stories 3 still at first has that familiar JRPG feeling where the power of friendship™ saves the day, the context here is noticeably more mature and the presentation much more convincing. Literally on the level of full-blooded anime!
You are no longer playing the role of a naive beginner, but an experienced prince (or princess) of the kingdom of Azuria. Even the tutorial is laid out so that your character explains to another how the world works, rather than you as the player going through everything from scratch. And the game wastes no time in showing you that either. The first scene where he gives you control is total flex how far Stories has progressed – you get on a dragon and practically fly to the huge castle in the center of the first playable zone, as if it’s the most normal thing in the world. All together it works as a clear message that this is a more mature, confident Stories. And if you followed the series from before, now you too enter that world as a real, powerful veteran.
As for the wider story, I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised. The neighboring kingdom of Vermeil is under pressure from a mysterious phenomenon and a lack of resources, which practically pushes the whole situation towards war, so the beginning is full of diplomacy, negotiations, hostages, ancient pacts and similar things, almost like watching a Game of Thrones episode in anime format. War, drama, family secrets, double agents, hidden motives, moral grayness… all that not only jumps out from the predecessors, but also from what the visual style of the game itself would suggest.
All in all, already after ten hours I have the feeling that the story here is the real backbone of the whole experience, and not just a backdrop through which you will hunt and collect monsters. And when you add to that a beautiful, colorful presentation, an excellent design of the world and the monsters themselves, a bunch of clips in real anime direction and almost complete voice acting, it’s clear that Stories 3 is aiming high. It seems that in the full version we won’t just get another cute spin-off adventure, but a seriously produced RPG that tries to live up to the standards of the main Monster Hunter games.
Gameplay remains recognizable for Stories games, only with a bunch of improvements and significantly deeper mechanics. I’ll draw a parallel with Pokémon in the context of exploration: you roam open areas while your faithful Monstie follows you, whom you can ride at any time. Only, unlike that Pokémon AZ moment where Charizard is barely a head bigger than the trainer, the Monster Hunter beasts here are really imposing and physically heavy. When you ride them, you feel like you’re moving around the world on something that can destroy half the ecosystem, not on a cute mascot.
Monsters also have specific off-road abilities: hovering, climbing vertical surfaces, breaking through/destroying parts of the environment and similar tricks that are not just fun, but really change the movement around the map. This makes just traveling through the regions a joy, whether you’re doing missions, gathering resources, or simply hunting monsters around the terrain.
When you run into an opponent in the world, everything turns into a recognizable “rock-paper-scissors” turn-based battle, but in this sequel, the opponent’s moves are harder to read. Monsters change their attack type more often, and there’s less of a feeling that you’ve already read the entire fight after two minutes. In addition, special, more dangerous monsters with mechanics that will test even veteran Stories have been introduced. You have more weapons at your disposal, the Monsters get their own stamina to carry out attacks, there are new combo moves and a bunch of other little things that all together make the fight livelier and more tense.
Fortunately, the game doesn’t throw you into the fire without explanation. The tutorials are extensive and everything is served to you at the drop of a hat, but you still feel that Stories 3 counts more on the fact that you have already passed the predecessors. This may turn out to be a small problem if the full version continues at the same pace with innovations, because already in the first ten hours there is really a lot. Even for me, as a veteran of the series, it was hard to get through all those texts on a couple of occasions, and now imagine a beginner for whom this will be the first Stories.
Outside of combat, what would Monster Hunter be without crafting gear from parts of defeated monsters? And what would Stories be without playing nest poachers and raising your own team of Monsti? All of that is present here as well, and in the time I’ve spent with the game, these are the only two systems that seem practically unchanged from their predecessors – both functionally and mechanically.
However, one new cool mechanic was added that I really liked. Excess monsters, the ones you don’t need or just don’t like in terms of stats, can be released back into the world and thus raise the rating of that species in that area. And then in the future, this affects the appearance of more powerful or alternative variants of Monsti, and also the quality of the eggs you find later. A great addition because breeding is no longer just a pure lottery, but through the mechanics you actively increase the chances of getting what you want.
Overall, Monster Hunter Stories 3 feels like a sequel that finally stops hiding behind the label spin-offa and openly aims to be a full-blooded Monster Hunter RPG in the form of a turn-based combat game. As someone who has been with the series since the beginning, I have to admit that what I saw and played really impressed me: not just as an iteratively better sequel, but as a game that at this point looks solid and rounded enough to have its own identity. And I have a feeling that this impression is not necessarily reserved only for fans, but could sit well with someone entering Stories for the first time.
Of course, there are still a lot of unknowns as my time with the game was limited. But if Capcom manages to maintain this pace and quality for the rest of the campaign, Monster Hunter Stories 3 could really turn out to be that rare third installment that takes the series to a new, higher level.