Back in 2016, Capcom took a wild swing at a Monster Hunter spin-off and created a brand-new spin-off known asMonster Hunter Stories. It saw humble success and garnered a following of fans who liked the unique take on the beloved franchise, from its charming visuals to unique monster-raising mechanics. A good few years later, we would see asequelthat followed in its footsteps and garnered a significantly larger amount of success, but many fans hoped the first title would manage to make the leap to modern consoles, given that it had been stuck on 3DS and Mobile exclusively. Fortunately, this year we got the announcement that the originalMonster Hunter Storieswas making a comeback and are thrilled to dive into all it has to offer and whether it has stood the test of time eight years later.
The humble beginnings of this series starts with three young kids from Hakum Village wandering through the nearby forest. They come from a village of monster riders, those who tame and befriend monsters from eggs and become linked emotionally thanks to the power of their kinship stones. These three have not become riders, but are looking to see if they can find any eggs. After stumbling their way into a quiet nest, they stumble upon a Rathalos egg. Being the cheeky kids they are, they decide to see if they can create a rite of kinship, in which a rider hatches their future monstie from their sleeping egg. They think it’s unlikely to go anywhere due to not having an actual kinship stone, but surprisingly the egg before them hatches and quickly bonds with the main protagonist.
The happy days don’t last long, however, as not long after their friendship has started to bloom does a terrifying Nargacuga inflicted with a nasty blight begin to ransack their village. In the process of this attack, the young Rathalos tries to take on the Nargacuga, but loses an eye and is flung into a nearby ravine where it’s believed to have been lost forever. A year later, the young protagonist becomes a true rider and before long decides to set out on a journey with their monsties and a strange Felyne named Navirou to discover what has caused this blight that’s harming the very world around them.
Monster Hunter Stories trades action combat for turn-based goodness
One of the biggest draws toMonster Hunter Storiesis its turn-based combat. Gone is the tense action combat from the main series and in its place is a wonderfully simple but enjoyable combat system with a multitude of layers to enjoy. Combat consists of the rider and their chosen monstie facing off against whatever wild monster they’ve run into. Normal attacks come in three different styles; speed, tech and power. These are a triangle of types with each one having its own strength and weakness. The goal in fights is generally to guess which type of attack the opponent is going to use and counter it in head-to-head combat in order to take them down. Guessing what they’re going to use is part of the challenge, although there’s a bit of a random element to it that makes it a constant guessing game throughout.
The player’s monstie will freely attack on their own without taking commands, but winning head-to-heads increases a meter known as the kinship gauge. Filling this up allows the player to use special attacks or request their monstie use a specific attack on the opponent. When the kinship gauge is filled all the way up players can ride on their monstie and keep attacking normally or use their kinship attack, which deals massive damage in a collaborative attacking effort to take the opponent down.
Much like other RPGs, each monster has their own elemental strengths and weaknesses, in addition to the rider themselves having varying weaknesses based on their equipment, which can be crafted by defeating opposing monsters and gathering their materials. There are also four weapon types that can be used, which include Great Sword, Sword and Shield, Hammer and Hunting Horn. They all offer different options on how to take on combat, but the most interestingly unique thing is there are combos players can do by selecting certain attack types in order to deal extra damage. There’s no ideal or best weapon and armor to use and it can change based on the situation. Much like the mainline series, it’s all about finding which play style each person likes best and mastering the challenges that lie ahead. Armor and weapons may not be terribly complex, but they create a great amount of variety for the player to mess around with. The real depth in combat comes from the very monstie companions themselves.
There’s more to being a Rider than just finding strong Monsties
There are a little over sixty monsters inStoriesthat can be hatched and tamed as monsties. In order to find these loyal companions, riders must venture into dens that are scattered across most open areas. Once inside a den they can make their way forward and eventually find a nest. Sometimes these nests are guarded by monsters, but offer materials to be gathered in addition to the eggs themselves. Eggs come in a variety of rarities that can be identified thanks to the ever loyal companion Navirou. He can smell an egg to give some insight on its strength abilities, in addition to letting know just how heavy it is, which indicates a monstie with more innate strength. In every nest there will be a handful of eggs before they run out, and after bringing the egg outside the nest, they will send it to the stable where it can then be hatched. Hatching every monstie comes with a random assortment of buffs in addition to revealing their innate skills.
Every monstie has select skills and genes they can learn either from hatching or leveling up. Genes are unique in that they are not exclusively restricted to the monster that’s born with them and can instead be transferred to another monstie that has a slot available for it to go. This is where the monstie combat can come to grow and become complex, as every monstie can become utterly unique depending on the chosen genes. The only requirement to transferring a gene is that there’s an available slot in the right spot for it to go. If a slot is locked it can be opened by using the right kind of item, in addition to some genes being available through found items, but these tend to be much more simple than most monstie skills. The coolest thing about gene transferring is how it can drastically change individual monsties.
Each monster has their own elemental alignment by default, and by channeling enough elemental genes into one monstie can alter this entirely. This means a normally neutral element monster like Tigrex could become an electric or dragon elemental monstie given the correct genes. Not only does this change give them different skills, but will also outright change their appearance as well to match the corresponding element. The nicest part of all is that despite the variety of options, diving deep into channeling genes isn’t at all required to beat the main story, as normal monsties are strong enough to make it through with their regular skills, but it’s a welcome inclusion for those who want to get the absolute most out of what their companions are capable of. Those who want to take their monstie to the next level can even go to an online arena and challenge NPCs or other people online to see who has crafted the unique and powerful team of all.
The world of Stories is filled with countless surprises.
Outside of fighting and taking down nasty monsters along the way, there’s a lovingly-crafted world to explore. The various towns across the world offer a variety of people to interact with and brand-new quests to challenge as well. Quests offer up worthwhile skills and items and are generally easy to fulfill along the way to the next objective, making them well worth taking whenever they come up. Exploring areas is not simply running around on foot but also ties into acquired monsties. Each monstie has helpful field skills they can put to use such as jumping, climbing, swimming and flying. These can help reach optional areas to find rare items and secrets hidden throughout. There are some areas that are saved for beating the story, but we want to be sure to leave those as a surprise for first time players to experience.
During its initial release on both 3DS and Mobile, fans in the west missed out on extra content that ended up becoming Japan exclusive. Fortunately, this new remaster has not only seen most of that additional content added, but also some shiny new additions as well. The biggest new inclusion is voice acting. Originally,Monster Hunter Storiesused an in-universe made-up language, but now players can choose between the original, English or Japanese-voiced dialogue. There’s also brand-new armor sets and hairstyles based on existing characters inStoriesthat were exclusive to Japan, so players can dress up as their favorite or just rock the hairstyle in another color for some unique flair. There are also extra challenges that were originally Japan exclusive that tied into the anime that was airing at the time, so players looking for that extra difficulty can take it on.
Of all the content that was originally in the 3DS version there was some that was removed, but the reasoning comes down to licensing. There was collaboration gear and monsties that were tie-ins at the time that are missing here. It’s a bit of a shame they’re no longer available, but it makes sense given it’s been eight years and licensing agreements aren’t going to last forever. Aside from the new inclusions, both the visuals and music are fantastic, although there’s occasionally rather crunchy sounding audio in certain areas that’s a little unpleasant on the ears. It’s not constant or frequent, but it makes certain sound effects feel like they were recorded off of the 3DS speakers out of nowhere.
Closing Comments:
With the originalMonster Hunter Storiestitle, Capcom created an entirely new style of gameplay in a familiar world that fans could come to grow and love. It was an attempt at something they weren’t sure would take off, but ultimately paid off in creating a beloved spin-off franchise. It’s not just lovely to see this first title now available for new and old players alike to re-experience, but it goes back to the series' humble beginning before it blasted off and expanded more than people could have expected. This series is one of Capcom’s greatest and we’re thrilled to see it now made available for brand new audiences to experience on modern systems. It’s well worth picking up for fans of the sequel or those who haven’t checked it out yet. Players don’t need any familiarity with the coreMonster Hunterfranchise to enjoy this absolutely wonderful RPG adventure.
Monster Hunter Stories
Version Reviewed: Nintendo Switch
Capcom’s Monster Hunter Stories is a turn-based JRPG that utilizes a monster-collecting system. Originally released for the 3DS and mobile devices, the game is also receiving a remaster for the PC, PS4, and Nintendo Switch, which is targeting a release date of June 08, 2025.
