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I’ve been a die-hard fan of creature-collecting games, and I still shamefully admit that I got into Monster Hunter Stories quite late during my gamer life—I regret it. Why? Well, I had no idea about the quality and depth this series offered. Yet, once I tasted it, I couldn’t let it go. Monster Hunter Stories 2 ended up becoming my favorite creature-collector title, and one that I thought would never be surpassed. But here we are with Monster Hunter Stories 3, which isn’t just a mere sequel. It is the best game of this genre I’ve experienced in recent memory, and one that sets the standard for the whole genre.
I got to preview Monster Hunter Stories 3 ahead of its launch, and had the opportunity to experience its opening chapter and a bit more, and I must say, it is a step up in every way, in terms of story and gameplay. Of course, I’ll go over the former first.
Instead of a new adventurer or Rider starting their journey, you are now the Prince or Princess of Azuria and the Captain of the Rangers of this nation. Your job is to research a strange phenomenon called the Encroachment, rescue endangered species while riding a Rathalos, and also attend a few royal duties.
Right off the bat, the story is miles better than that of Monster Hunter Stories 2. While I don’t have anything against its predecessor, the plot felt predictable most of the time, and a bit too cozy and lighthearted. However, Monster Hunter Stories 3 throws you into a narrative full of political intrigue, a looming threat, and one of the most memorable casts of characters in the series, where the standout is, ironically, the protagonist.
One thing I’m eternally grateful for is that our Captain is fully voiced, but not only that. They also have an established personality. You’re not just a protagonist who nods at every turn and lets others carry the plot—you’re the driving force behind it. The first chapter alone was enough to establish the main character’s struggles, goals, personality, and much more, which is something we hardly ever see in a Monster Hunter game, so I’m glad Stories 3 is moving away from the simplistic protagonist staple.
Yet, the other Rangers are just as memorable. At first, they don’t shine too much, but after a part in the story, you start unlocking their own side stories, and by the looks of it, it seems every single one has a narrative that expands as you progress through the game.
Of course, I haven’t seen the full scope of the plot yet, and I won’t spoil any of the details I saw during my preview. However, I can tell you that Capcom has crafted a jaw-dropping narrative full of mind-blowing cutscenes, top-notch voice acting, and the best visuals in the Stories series.
Bigger, Bolder, and Better
But now, let’s dive into the meaty part of Monster Hunter Stories 3: its visually stunning combat mechanics. If there’s one thing that grinds my gears when playing other creature-collector games, it’s how safe they play with their encounters. Even some of the biggest franchises seem to be stuck in a never-ending loop of staleness and tedious mechanics. Thankfully, Monster Hunter Stories 3 breaks the wheel by adding a highly strategic system that will make turn-based RPG enjoyers gush about it for hours, and even bring those die-hard hunters of the mainline series to the fray.
As you may know, Monster Hunter Stories 3 returns with the turn-based mechanics and the rock-paper-scissors-like system. You have three types of attack: power, technical, and speed, with power beating technical, technical beating speed, and so on. Combat revolves around learning what type of attacks your opponents will do. If they are a speed monster, then the best thing you can do is counter with a technical move.
While many systems may feel familiar to Stories 2, what made it feel vastly different for me was the added challenge, mainly due to new attack patterns and Feral Monsters, with the latter being among some of the most difficult encounters in the game.
Feral Monsters feature new mechanics that completely change how a monster behaves. For instance, a Feral Chatacabra might now use Thunder attacks, and the only way to stop its assault is by breaking its new parts. Yet, by doing so, you open yourself up to a counterattack, which makes every Feral encounter extremely challenging, as it all comes down to choosing the right part to target and the right action to execute during your turn.
Another thing I noticed is how the pacing of some fights, or at least the important ones, is much slower, and quite reminiscent of hunts in the mainline series. While you can quickly defeat weak foes or even end the fight on the map before transitioning to combat, the monsters you face all require you to think about your strategy first. Most of the encounters I had were pretty long, as it isn’t just a “spam the same attack until you defeat it” type of loop. You need to swap weapons and Monsties constantly and rely on your allies to come out of the fight victorious. I don’t remember losing so many hearts in Stories 2, but Stories 3 had me sweating bullets more than once.
Hatching With Purpose
Another key aspect of the series that returns for this installment is egg-hunting and egg-hatching. You can still head into the many dens around the map, all of which appear at random locations and offer different eggs. The new gimmick, however, is habitat restoration, which allows you to tailor the ecosystem to whatever you want it to be.
Some of you might have seen it in the demo already, but you now have the option to add new species to an area of the map so they can populate it. There are even times when adding different species can trigger mutations on some Monsties, such as turning your Rathian population into Pink Rathian.
As someone who’s always looking to min-max several aspects of a team, this is a dream come true. You’re shaping the map to meet your needs and crafting powerful Monsties in an interactive way, which I prefer much more than just running around until an egg hatches.
It is remarkable just how cohesive the exploration and hatching mechanics feel in this entry. While Stories 2 centered around exploring most of the time, Monster Hunter Stories 3 keeps that exploration-centric approach, but sprinkles a lot of planning potential on it, allowing you to experiment with every ecosystem until you have that perfect egg farm for your Captain’s team. Plus, it is always engaging to see what type of mutations you can trigger, and in truth, this system enthralled me more than I thought it would.
A Stellar Monster Hunter Experience
While it was just a preview, I can already tell that Monster Hunter Stories 3 is more than a sequel with added systems. It is an entry looking to improve upon every single aspect of the series. Combat is much more tactical and challenging, hatching has more purposes, the visuals are superb, and the narrative is outstanding, even in its initial moments. Usually, I feel skeptical after previewing a game before experiencing all of it. Still, Monster Hunter Stories 3 makes me feel confident that we have a top-notch turn-based creature-collector ahead of us.
