Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection review

With previous Monster Hunter Stories games launching exclusively on Nintendo devices and then making their way to other formats sometime later, it speaks volumes that Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection is launching on all formats simultaneously. After all, the Monster Hunter series in general is now bigger than ever, so why wouldn’t Capcom want to capitalise on that? And then there’s the fact that this latest RPG spin-off is the most mature one yet, with an older cast of characters, a more engaging story and full voice acting.

Monster Hunter Stories 3 opens with a scene in which something magical appears to happen: twin Rathalos are born from the same egg. But as it turns out, this isn’t actually something to be celebrated, with the event being linked to a terrible prophecy. The action then picks up years later, with you in control of either the prince or princess of a place called Azuria, depending on the character you’ve created. It doesn’t take long for you to realise there’s going to be trouble ahead: forces from the neighbouring Queendom of Vermeil have been spotted at the border, and they’re not likely present for a friendly chat.

The story of Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection, then, is one of warring neighbours, but for your player character there’s also the matter of family involved. On top of that, as someone who cares for monsties – the friendly term for monsters in this spin-off series – it’s also worrying that there seems to an increase of feral monsters across the lands. These feral monsters seem to be affected by the crystal growths they bear, making them fiercer and more unpredictable than your normal monster.

Still, the general format of Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection will remain familiar to anyone that has played a previous game in the series. You’ll need to traverse multiple open field areas to progress the story, and along the way there are a wealth of optional side-quests to pick up and complete. There are plenty of opportunities to gather valuable materials, too, and you might occasionally come across monster dens. Venture into these and you can grab valuable monster eggs, which you can then hatch to either add a new monstie to your collection or in some cases release into the wild to restore the ecosystem.

In any case, it’s safe to say that monsties play a large role in Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection. While you can explore fields on foot, you’ll mostly spend your time riding on a monstie not only because it’s faster, but also because they offer additional actions and traversal abilities. Your trusted Ratholos may be rather large and somewhat fearsome, for example, but it can’t climb walls or move through water. A Tobi-Kadachi can climb walls, however, while a Royal Ludroth is at home in water, so you might want to make sure you have those among the selection of six monsties available to you at any time.

Another thing to consider is the fact that hostile monsters also roam the fields you need to explore, and trying to fight them without monsties to back you up is just silly. Come into contact with a hostile monster and you’ll engage them in battle, but if you’re riding a monstie at the time and land a hit on them first, you can do so with an advantage. A real nice touch is that weak monsters can be defeated this way without entering battle, too. And if you’d rather avoid battle, you can make your monstie roar while you’re riding it in an attempt to scare an adversary off.

Combat is ultimately unavoidable in many situations across Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection, though, and those familiar with the series will find that it’s very much like how it was in Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin. That means battles are turn based, with players able to choose between three attack types: power, technical and speed. The attack type you use is particularly important when targeting an opponent who also has their sights on you, triggering a head-to-head. In which case, choosing the attack type which gives you the upper hand is beneficial. Learning that power beats technical, technical beats speed and speed beats power is a start, and being able to correctly anticipate an enemy’s attack will put you at a distinct advantage.

Of course, you don’t fight alone. While you can have a party of six monsters in Monster Hunter 3: Twisted Reflection, only one of them will join you in battle. They’ll generally fight of their own accord, but you can issue them commands if you wish. More importantly, you can easily switch your current monster out for another, allowing you to more effectively strategise and make use of features such as double attacks in which both you and your monster correctly counter an enemy attack. A Rathalos isn’t capable of technical attacks, for example, but a Yian Kut-Ku has one at their disposal.

Skills are available during combat too if you want an attack that carries extra oomph, but they consume stamina. Thankfully it recovers a little after every turn. Skills also come in power, technical and speed varieties, though unlike normal attacks, they also diminish a monster’s Wyvernsoul gauge, which breaks their fighting spirit and makes it easier to defeat them. Fully deplete a monster’s Wyvernsoul gauge and they’ll be staggered, allowing you to go all out with a Synchro attack in an attempt to finish them.

Making things more complicated is that enemies can become enraged or change form during a fight, making them more fearsome and changing their attack tendencies. Thankfully you can equip multiple weapons and switch between them to fight more effectively. Maybe a piercing weapon is more effective than a slashing one? You can target specific parts of a monster, too, with some being more susceptible to certain weapon types than others. And in those times of desperation where you really want to lay on the hurt, you can mount your monster to take things up a level if your Kinship Gauge is full, giving you access to powerful Kinship Skills that can change the course of a battle.

Would this be a Monster Hunter game if it didn’t have some type of extra powerful monster variant for you to be fearful of as well? As mentioned earlier, you’ll occasionally encounter feral monsters in Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection, which are covered in crystals. To defeat these particularly dangerous monsters you’ll want to target and destroy these crystals, but doing so typically results in the monster performing a counterattack, making the process tricky. Every time you encounter a feral monster, then, you’ll need to work out when it’s safe to attack these crystals and capitalise on the opening.

All in all, then, Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection isn’t all that different than what’s come before gameplay-wise, with just the odd tweak to the formula. That itself might present some concerns for some. Those who haven’t previously gelled with the series’ combat won’t find anything to win them over here, for example. Indeed, it’s not ideal that you can’t issue your battle companion and their monstie direct orders, as it limits your ability to strategise. And when it comes to those tweaks, the process of stealing eggs from dens has been somewhat steamlined, which may disappoint some.

Ultimately, while Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection may not do anything to win over those who found the combat system of its predecessor disagreeable, those who do like it will find it to be a much better game overall. From its fields which are much more enjoyable and rewarding to explore, to its more mature story that will have you gripped from the off, this is undoubtedly the best Monster Hunter Stories game yet. And with its wonderful voice acting and eye-catching visuals, it’s by far the best presented, too.