Monster Hunter for Beginners
As a relative newcomer to the Monster Hunter series, I had not heard of the MH Stories spin-off games that take the monster hunting action of the mainstay series and mixes them with a Pokémon creature training technique. The original Monster Hunter Stories was released on the Nintendo 3DS back in 2017 and now thanks to the Monster Hunter Stories Collection, players can play both these games on new hardware. The collection includes 2017’s Monster Hunter Stories as well as Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin which came out on the Switch in 2021. As fans know, the Monster Hunter series is all about precise combat, a high-skill cap for its plethora of weapons and hunting giant boss like monsters. MHS manages to take all of that and condense it into a nice package that is a lot of fun but won’t be for everyone.
MSRP: $29.99
Platforms: PlayStation (reviewed), Switch, PC
Price I’d Pay: $29.99
In Monster Hunter Stories games players will hatch and train their ‘monsties’ and battle alongside them. Discovering new monsters in the open world was always a treat, players will find regular and rare eggs in monster nests – randomized dungeons where the goal is to make it out with the egg to be hatched. Budding hunters are able to build a squad of various monsites with different abilities and attacks; if you’ve played any of the mainline Pokémon games then you get the idea. In battle the monsties will act on autopilot for the most part, players can choose their special abilities and ride them for enhanced damage and effect when powered up. The monsties will learn abilities that will help navigate the overworld as well like jumping, breaking boulders and a few more.
Players are also able to hot-swap between their monsters in battle and unlike most creature taming games, this action doesn’t take a turn; so, players can swap monsters and use their attack in the same move. And as a nod to the main series, it’s possible to target and break off specific parts for crafting loot. While Monster Hunter Stories doesn’t have nearly the amount of weapon and armor choices that are in the main entries, there is enough here for players to outfit themselves for an offensive or more defensive playstyle if they choose.
The Monster Hunter Stories Collection adds some great quality of life updates to these games. Of course, the graphics have seen an overhaul and both games look great with the Wings of Ruin looking better due to it being a more recent release. Both games have full voice overs for the story cutscenes which is huge, as I said I never played either of these two games originally, but I am certain the first game had no voices on the 3DS; so, fans of that one will be in for a treat. I wish the narratives were better here though, both games have stories that is more involved than the mainline games, but they never really escape the usual JRPG type tropes. It doesn’t help things that both tales are more skewed for a younger audience, the dialogue in the first one didn’t resonate with me at all, the second is better but still not great though.
Thankfully the gameplay is the star here and battles remain a fun, yet simple affair. Combat in both games is incredibly accessible due to the rock-paper-scissors turn based combat but there is a catch. Combat is incredibly simple and will be mastered quickly and while juggling combos, hunter and monstie abilities add some flavor; it becomes repetitive quickly. Thankfully both games have a fast forward mechanic that allows players to choose the speed of battles which helps move things along.
As a collection, both Monster Hunter Stories games have received an excellent glow-up. The visuals both look great with enhanced graphics, and I loved the newly recorded voice lines for the characters. Hardcore series fans may be put off by Monster Hunter Stories’ easier combat that can be mastered quickly but I had a good time with both games. Finding and then training the monsties made me feel like a kid again playing Pokémon for the first time. I think that younger fans will find more to enjoy here, with its simplified combat and less mature story, Monster Hunter Stories’ is a low barrier entry into the larger Monster Hunter Universe. Despite its shortcomings, this one is worthy of the hunt.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
