Gotta Hatch ‘Em All!
HIGH Easy-to-understand combat makes it accessible to nearly everyone.
LOW Muddy graphics in prerendered cutscenes.
WTF The best Jade Cocoon game I’ve played since Jade Cocoon
Monster Hunter Stories originally launched on the Nintendo 3DS, and it was one of the most gorgeous games on the platform. Unfortunately, it had the bad luck of landing in late 2017 when Switch hype was at its peak and interest in the 3DS was waning. Thankfully, this gem has been given a second chance at on modern platforms with a remaster.
While the traditional Monster Hunter games focus on an action loop of felling increasingly-giant beasts for parts and prestige, Stories takes a decidedly different approach. This is a turn-based RPG where players fight alongside monsters (dubbed “Monsties” — a portmanteau of monster and bestie) which are hatched from eggs found in monster dens around the world.
The driving force behind the protagonist’s quest is to become a Rider — a person that forms symbiotic relationships with monsters. However, their quest becomes more than personal ambition when a miasma known as the Black Blight threatens the world. The blight can corrupt monsters, drive them mad, and cause them to attack settlements. The player must use their skills as a rider alongside a stable of Monsties to drive the blight back before it’s too late.
Each player can customize their character to their liking with a number of weapons like greatswords, hunting horns, and so on, as well as unique and interesting armor sets, each with their own flair. In addition to this, the player can fight alongside the Monstie of their choice, which can be switched at nearly any time.
Combat consists of figuring out enemies’ weaknesses, as well as crafting creative strategies to fight the likes of classic Monster Hunter fare like Nargacugas and Kut-Kus. By working together with a Monstie, and switching them as needed, I was able to dish out massive damage, provide buffs, or heal.
What makes Stories really work is how simple the combat system is. There are only three types of standard attacks to choose from — power, speed, and technical. There are a handful of elemental attacks, but most combat situations revolved around this trio of attack types. This means players have fewer concerns to juggle in battle. However, not every monster was predictable, so I still had to stay on my toes!
Working in tandem with a monster buddy also fills up the Kinship gauge, which can be used for skills or Riding. The latter allowed me to jump onto my Monstie so we could attack together, while my character avoided damage temporarily. By reading opponents correctly, my Monsties and I could unlock powerful abilities that can deal lots of damage or have a special effect on the battlefield, such as knocking opponents down for a turn.
Altogether, I was able to use these systems to craft great strategies that allowed me to win battles in style without having to worry about too much, but combat was still deep enough for me to feel engaged and try out new approaches in each fight.
In addition to this, the monster raising mechanic is nice. When I found monster eggs in the wild, I could take them to a hatchery and add new Monsties to my team. Better yet, after reaching a certain point in the campaign, I could add new traits and buffs to Monsties via the Rite of Channeling — this allows for unneeded Monsties to be sacrificed and their skills to be transferred to another, allowing for a level of customization which I greatly appreciated.
Another wonderful addition is the inclusion of nearly all the DLC (Nintendo-specific DLC was not included) from the 3DS version by default, including formerly Japan-only content such as numerous costumes and a number of sidequests to undertake when the player has some experience under their belt. Also included was a museum mode that features concept art, access to the entire soundtrack, and developers’ insight on certain monster and location designs, which I felt was a nice addition to this remaster.
While this updated version of Monster Hunter Stories is generally excellent, there are a couple of downsides — all of it with regard to the visuals. Although the graphics were updated to look wonderful on modern platforms, there weren’t enough changes to the maps. Everything looks a bit lo-fi and too similar to the 3DS visuals. Some visual flourishes, such as some extra vegetation, would have been nice adds to bring a little more life into the world itself.
There are also some texture issues with pre-rendered cutscenes — they often look muddy, as if they were imported directly from the 3DS. This is a shame, as the in-engine scenes look nice and sharp. The contrast between the two styles of presentation make these muddy movies stick out pretty badly.
Despite these minor graphical issues, Monster Hunter Stories remains an incredibly charming game. It’s easy to understand but fairly deep, and the combat system offers plenty of freedom in tackling the series’ classic roster of creatures in engaging and novel ways. For newcomers to Monster Hunter interested in learning about the lore or looking for a point of entry that’s not as intense as the mainline series combat, this is the ticket.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
Disclosures: This game is developed and published by Capcom U.S.A., Inc. It is currently available on PS4/5, Switch and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher, and reviewed on PS5. Approximately 9 hours was devoted to the game, and it was not completed. There is a multiplayer mode where players can do online network battles, but was not played since an active PlayStation Plus membership is required.
Parents: This game has an ESRB rating of E10+ rating for Crude Humor, Fantasy Violence, and Mild Language. The ESRB summary states: “This is an adventure role-playing game in which players assume the role of a monster rider on a quest to save a village from an evil force. From a third-person perspective, players explore a fantasy world, complete quests, interact with characters, and battle humans and fantastical creatures (e.g., dragons, dinosaurs, giant insects). Players can select various weapon attacks (e.g., sword slashes, club attacks) and monster attacks (e.g., speed attacks, flame breath) from a menu to defeat enemies in turn-based combat. Battles are accompanied by explosions, colorful light effects, and impact sounds. During the course of the game, players can encounter a creature that uses a Foul Gas move to emit a brown flatulence attack; one scene depicts a character eating dumplings, alluded to be made of feces (“Are those…balls of Steamed Moss?”; “[Y]ou mean Hot Spring Dumplings are actually…”; “Ewwwww!”). The phrase “helluva” appears in the game.”
Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind options.
Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: The game offers subtitles. Subtitles cannot be resized. This game is not accessible. While almost all dialogue can be seen in the cutscene dialogue boxes, a few spoken lines do occasionally get cut from the text box. In-game cutscenes also lacked a text box, which could make some dialogue lines difficult to see.
Remappable Controls: Yes, this game’s controls are remappable.
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