Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection

Genre: Turn-Based Monster-Collecting JRPG

Players: 1

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Review:

Monster Hunter Stories 3 is a Turn-Based Monster-Collecting JRPG, the latest in this spinoff series of the mainline Monster Hunter franchise. Released in 2026 on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2, this game is set hundreds of years after the prior games in the Monster Hunter Stories series, with a more mature tone and a plot centered on an ecological menace threatening the world and the human conflicts this provokes.

Before going on, I want to note that with the mainline Monster Hunter franchise, I was not at all enamored with the series until the release of Monster Hunter Worlds and Monster Hunter Rise, which I feel streamlined that series and made it more accessible and just overall improved it tremendously. I mention this because I feel like Monster Hunter Stories 3 is doing the same thing for the Monster Hunter Stories series – prior to now, this series just never “clicked” with me in a way that captured my interest, but Stories 3 is in my opinion an excellent improvement on the formula that takes it above and beyond its predecessors.

It helps that Monster Hunter Stories 3 is truly gorgeous. While this game doesn’t stray too far from the style of the earlier Monster Hunter Stories games, retaining the same colorful, anime-style, cel-shaded 3D visuals that make it a brighter, less-gritty take on the world of the mainline Monster Hunter series, here that style has been given plenty of added detail and visual flair that makes it truly stand out. In particular I have to highlight the phenomenal animation this game has on offer, with attacks during battle being eye-catching and imaginative in ways that few JRPGs are.

This is backed by a decent orchestral soundtrack, and solid voice acting, including a voiced customizable protagonist who’s engaging in a way that prior series protagonists aren’t. In fact, I strain to even remember prior protagonists, but here your character is a prince or princess trying to balance their royal duties with their passion for being a ranger and maintaining the local ecology, with both the kingdom and local wildlife under threat from a mysterious “Crystal Encroachment” threatening fauna and driving countries into conflict with each other.

Beyond the presentation and story, Monster Hunter Stories 3’s gameplay also feels like a refinement of the series, with much better pacing, more open and interesting environments to explore (though not actually Open-World), and tweaks to the battle system that help to highlight strategic choices during battle. While I’m still not thrilled with the series’ rock-paper-scissors combat mechanic, I feel like that’s balanced out here with other combat options, and presented to the player in a way that makes those options easier to understand. What’s more, the new gameplay element where players influence a local ecology by letting loose monsters to increase that monster’s local population is inspired, and really helps to set this game apart from pretty much every other Monster-Collecting game I’ve seen.

I do still wish that Monster Hunter Stories went in the direction of a true Open World – this might not be the best choice for every game, but I feel like this series’ focus on gathering resources and finding rare monsters would benefit from being able to go anywhere to make exciting new discoveries. I also think there’s even more room for improvement in the game’s combat systems.

However, while there may still be additional improvements that can be made to the Monster Hunter Stories series in the future, I think Monster Hunter Stories 3 is a success well beyond what we’ve seen previously. After two entries in this series that were fine but didn’t thrill me, Monster Hunter Stories 3 is a game I find to be a genuinely great Monster-Collecting JRPG, and any fan of the genre would do well to pick it up.

tl;dr – Monster Hunter Stories 3 is a Turn-Based Monster-Collecting JRPG, a spin-off of the mainline Monster Hunter series. This game improves and streamlines the formula of this series greatly, resulting in what is by far the franchise’s best game yet, and while I think there’s still room for improvement, overall this is a game I highly recommend to any fans of JRPGs.

Grade: B+

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