After Pokémon exploded in popularity, the number of similar monster collection games rose. I reviewed Monster Sanctuary two years ago, a fun fusion of RPG- and Metroidvania elements. This time, I played a game based on an existing IP about monsters: Monster Hunter Stories. Originally released on the Nintendo 3DS, this spin-off found a sizeable audience, big enough to pave the way for an anime adaptation and a sequel. The game has become more accessible thanks to the Nintendo Switch port, but is it even worth your time? Let’s Ride On and find out.
Monster Hunter Stories takes place in the mainline Monster Hunter series, but instead of following the titular Hunters, this story tells a tale about the Riders. They don’t just fight monsters, they befriend them as well. Using the power of Kinship stones, they bond with monsters from their birth to grow up and fight together.
One faithful day, you and your friends Lilia and Cheval sneak into the forest and you accidentally bond with a Rathalos egg. Unfortunately, your village is attacked shortly thereafter by a monster corrupted by the Blight, a mysterious force corroding the land. Two years later, you hatch your first Monstie, a monster bestie, and set out on your journey to explore the lands and get rid of the Blight once and for all.
If I had to describe this story in one term, it’d be “Saturday morning cartoon”. It’s got a colorful vibe, filled with vibrant characters with their quirks, where the heroes fight the forces of evil using the power of friendship. This is nothing revolutionary, and nothing really stands out, but it makes for a cozy vibe. The story is sufficiently engaging, and the characters are likable. To my surprise, that includes your sidekick Navirou. He has the same tendency to talk in your place as Paimon from Genshin Impact, and a knack for animal-themed puns like Teddie from Persona 4. Luckily, I didn’t find him nearly as annoying as either.
Monster Hunter Stories takes the action-packed, boss-hunting gameplay of its original series and combines it effortlessly with a more traditional JRPG structure. On your journey to cleanse the Blight, you’ll visit many places, gather many resources, and fight many unique monsters.
Just like its inspiration, Monster Hunter Stories’ battles are turn-based where you send out a Monstie to fight. But that’s where the Pokémon comparisons end. The biggest difference is incredibly obvious: you don’t let your monster fight your battles, you fight together. You control your player character during battle, while your Monstie mostly fights independently.
Monster Hunter Stories combat lies in its Rock-Paper-Scissors system. Normal attacks are either Power, Speed, or Technical type moves. When two battlers use their basic attacks against each other, a Head-to-Head will occur. If one attack type has an advantage over the opponent’s, the loser will take a lot of damage, while the winner barely gets a scratch. For instance, if the player uses a Speed attack against a wild monster using a Power attack, the player wins, just taking some chip damage, and the monster takes a devastating blow. Winning a Head-to-Head also rewards you with Kinship, which can be consumed to unleash more advanced skills, like buffs or stronger attacks. It also lets you manually select what skill a Monstie uses.
Using the Head-to-Head mechanics feels like playing an actual game of rock-paper-scissors sometimes. Most basic monsters consistently use one type of attack or another, and you can easily switch your active Monstie to one that prioritizes the opposing type of attack. In that sense, you can easily play around the system. But some Monsters use a variety of attacks, making them tougher to predict. Sure, it keeps you on your toes, but it can be infuriating sometimes. Additionally, your human character is extremely squishy, making it frustrating when enemies focus all their focus on them.
Like the main Monster Hunter series, some boss-tier monsters have separate parts to destroy. Doing so rewards you with extra items, and lets you shut down some aspects of the boss’s moveset. Other extra mechanics, such as powerful double attacks and QTEs that give a free extra hit of damage, make your battles more dynamic.
You can choose to ride your Monstie after gathering enough Kinship. This turns the both of you into a single, stronger unit, making your battles easier to predict. However, you can only use regular Power, Speed, and Technical attacks during this state. Winning two Head-to-Heads charges your Kinship stone even further while having your Monsties HP drop to zero or losing two Head-to-Heads causes you to be knocked off. You can unleash a powerful Kinship skill at any point while riding, which ends the riding state. The higher your Kinship level, the more damage it deals. Riding is an interesting and dynamic system that keeps battles fresh. It encourages playing into the RPS system and has you balance maintaining the state, your health, and your powerful Kinship Skill.
Both your human protagonist and your Monsties have different ways of customizing your build. The protagonist can purchase armor, weapons, and accessories from blacksmiths. Each piece has different elemental alignments and unique abilities. You unfortunately only have access to four of the many different weapon types from the Monster Hunter series, but each has different unique abilities to make them stand out. There are even special forge quests to get unique equipment based on monsters, which has you deliver the drops from the right monsters.
Your allies can instead be customized through the rite of channeling. Each Monstie has specific abilities placed in a 3×3 grid and a limited number of slots. Using the Rite of Channeling, you can implant one ability from one Monstie to another, though that does mean the Monstie giving their ability is released to the wild. If you don’t want to let go of an ally, you can also use Channeling Gems instead. Getting a bingo within the grid lets you boost their abilities even further. This gives you great flexibility with interesting limitations to empower your Monsties.
The world of Monster Hunter Stories boasts many different locales to visit beyond the gates of Hakum Village. While most areas are basic biomes, they are still fun to explore, whether a region is linear or an open plain. You’ll use your Monsties overworld abilities, like climbing or swimming, to reach new places with more resources to gather. This does sadly limit your team flexibility somewhat, as you both want many different exploration abilities, as well as a varied moveset in battle. I do appreciate that you can interact with an obstacle to instantly equip a Monstie in your party that can tackle the problem at hand.
While exploring, you occasionally come across Monster Dens, which are like miniature, simplified dungeons. At the end of each Den, a Monster Nest awaits. If you are lucky, you can snag an egg and escape, but be careful if a mother monster shows up. It is worth it, though, as eggs can be hatched into new Monsties.
Many people will require your help in this world plagued by Monsters. There are plenty of subquests to do and are either accepted by talking to townsfolk or from the quest board. Most are boring fetch quests, or quests that have you kill a set number of monsters. You can accept as many as you want, so I just grabbed as many as I could, and let them sit in the background. The most interesting quests have you track down and hunt a specific boss monster, that either roams around the overworld or sleeps in its den. I found them to be the easiest quest to do, as their location is pinned on your map and thus easily tracked.
If you want to learn more about the quirky cast, you’re in luck, as some subquests involve learning more about a specific character. This gives the massive list of quests some extra substance.
“Saturday morning cartoon” is not just a good descriptor for the story, it also perfectly applies to the art style. This game is incredibly vibrant and colorful, creating a cozy, entertaining vibe, though the quality of the graphics is nothing to write home about. The sound design is also great, as the music is great for relaxing in the field or getting pumped in battle. The horn that signals the start of a battle with a wild monster consistently gets me hyped, and the sound that plays while striking a downed monster is incredibly satisfying. Lastly, the cast of voice actors does this entertaining cast justice, making everyone stand out even more.
A combination of Monster Hunter and monster-collecting games was bound to be a match made in heaven, and Monster Hunter Stories sticks the landing. Your mission to stop the Blight takes you on a vibrant, colorful journey to places filled with fun characters. Not only will you make human friends, but you also build a varied roster of different Monsties to fight with. Those fights are consistently engaging, keeping you on your toes through special abilities and the Rock-Paper-Scissors system. While the lack of predictability may sometimes be frustrating, and the quests may not be interesting, Monster Hunter Stories still offers an entertaining experience for all ages. Ride On!
MONSTER HUNTER STORIES gets a 7/10.
