Monster Hunter Stories Preview

My history with the Monster Hunter franchise is a bit of a rocky one; though I absolutely adore them in principle, I haven’t been able to get to story-end in any of them. Be it due to the rising difficulty, spreadsheets worth of gear optimisation, or slightly clunky controls, I simply couldn’t find the time or motivation to take on some of the bigger beasties. Regardless, my love for the series still burns, which was why I was surprised to see Monster Hunter Stories coming to PC! As the title was originally for the 3DS and then even turned up on mobile devices, I disregarded it and its sequel as silly little games for a younger crowd and totally not for me. Oh, how wrong I was.

The game kicks off with three children, dressed in absolutely cheek-pinchingly adorable little cowls with mean faces drawn on the hood, exploring some woods in search of monster eggs. Unlike the mainline series, you see, the culture these kids belong to works with monsters instead of hunting them. Using special bracelets with Kinship stones, adult warriors, or Riders, form bonds with monsters, using their unique abilities to defend the village and keep the area safe. The aforementioned kids, as children do, are eager to become Riders themselves, so they go out and hope to find an egg to hatch. While they do so and even manage to hatch one — a feat that's supposed to be impossible without the use of a Kinship stone — the resulting monster is none other than a Rathalos. I would be running back home screaming, but hey. That’s just me.

The diminutive king of the skies naturally imprints onto your custom character, and so a bond to last ages is formed… or so one would think. Soon after this, tragedy strikes the children’s village, as a giant beast wreathed in darkness attacks, destroying buildings and killing the mother of your friend Cheval, one of the Rathalos three. This all happens in the span of half an hour, making it quite the opening for something I thought would be a kids' game. The game proper begins sometime later, as your character is finally old enough to become a Rider, with the now hateful Cheval beating you to the punch by a bit.

Before I discuss the gameplay, I’ve mentioned the main character a few times already, so allow me to elaborate a bit: after the beginning cutscenes have played, you can create your own custom character from an honestly impressive set of options. Starting with choosing a body type between feminine and masculine, you are then given options for eyes, hair, mouth, and accessories. The style of the game is a bit cartoonish, with big eyes and heads with overdone expressions, but I honestly liked the options given and the range of expressions they were able to emote. You can even pick from the eyes, hair, or mouth of another character if you really like the piercing look in Cheval's eyes, for example.

And so began the epic of OTIS!

The gameplay itself has all the building blocks of a mainline Monster Hunter title: your central hub is a village with vendors and unique characters, you can take on missions to do out in the field, which usually revolve around collecting items or defeating monsters, and you can use the resources you collect and obtain to improve and create new weapons and armour. Where the game does make its mark is in both monster kinship and combat.

Monster Hunter Stories is a game about hatching Monster Besties, or Monsties as they are called, and building your bond with them. Each different monster has unique abilities you can use in the field, or in combat, such as detecting materials, and they’ll learn new ones as they improve. The battles themselves are turn-based, with you fighting alongside your Monstie du jour. Though you can have a gaggle of beasties with you, only the active one takes part in battle. To get more fiendish friends, you must sneak into monster lairs and snatch an egg to hatch in the safety of the village, granting you make it that far before mama notices a missing youngster.

The battle system is pretty easy to grasp. Enemies will show who they are attacking via a big red line and will use one of three basic attacks or a Skill, with the basic attacks being Power, Speed, or Technical. The three basic move types are strong against but also weak against one another, so a Speedy attack can be beaten by a Technical blow, whereas a Powerful punt can kerfuffle a Technical attack and so on. It’s basically a game of rock-paper-scissors with a few added layers. What makes it slightly more strategic is the fact that you have limited say in what your Monstie does: they will do their own thing unless you specifically tell them to use a skill (you can’t make them use a basic attack).

When two combatants attack each other, they go into a head-to-head mode, where choosing the right move will net you increased damage, and a wrong pick will have you being bonked. If you and your beastly buddy happen to choose the same type of attack, you will perform an epic Duo attack that will both do a fair bit of damage while also cancelling the enemy's attack. If you succeed in a head-to-head confrontation a few times, you will be able to hop onto your buddy's back and attack as one! This both adds more HP to your pool and adds some much-needed power to your blows. Keep winning those roshambo matches, and you will be able to perform a Kinship attack, which is unique to every Monstie. They are often very powerful and very over-the-top fun!

opinion: while there were some flat textures and simple designs, the simple charm of both the art style and characters make them easy to forgive and forget. I especially liked how expressive the characters seemed to be, with Cheval managing to sneak some actual malice into his voice every now and again. The world is vibrant and cheerful, but I never felt the game was “too” childish.

I was not expecting to like Monster Hunter Stories as much as I did. The undeniable charm of the characters, the simple mechanics with a layer of strategy, and the generally relaxed feel of the game made playing a blast and had me wanting more. I’m looking forward to seeing all the different Monsties I can hatch and am genuinely interested to see where the story of the Rathalos three goes. If, like me, you’ve never tried it out before, now may be the perfect time to get into it!