Monster Hunter Stories

 3DS
Monster Hunter Stories Image
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79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 53 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.2

Generally favorable reviews- based on 108 Ratings

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  • Summary: When a monster strikes, the fearful hide, but the brave? They ride. Venture into monster nests to collect eggs and hatch a wide array of species with uniquely powerful skills. Form teams, battle alongside them, crush opponents with combo attacks, and ride into the sunset a champion. NeedWhen a monster strikes, the fearful hide, but the brave? They ride. Venture into monster nests to collect eggs and hatch a wide array of species with uniquely powerful skills. Form teams, battle alongside them, crush opponents with combo attacks, and ride into the sunset a champion. Need more muscle? Then mix and match genes to create monsters with more abilities! When a monster infected by the Black Blight attacks your remote village of riders, tragedy will thrust you into an exciting yet dangerous world, where you must bond with monsters on your adventure. As the story snakes along, you'll encounter a wealth of side quests and hours of challenging turn-based battles where you must coordinate monster skills, rider skills and enemy attack patterns. The instinctive rock-paper-scissors combat system is a series first, a breath of fresh air for veterans and newcomers alike. It's the perfect entry point into the popular Monster Hunter universe and a game unlike anything else in the series! You can even battle other players online, locally, or via the StreetPass feature. [Nintendo]… Expand
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 39 out of 53
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 53
  3. Negative: 0 out of 53
  1. Nintendo Life
    Sep 13, 2017
    90
    Monster Hunter Stories is an excellent adventure that channels the colourful world of Capcom’s storied series into a joyous JRPG. It suffers from performance issues on non-New 3DS hardware, but it’s still full of personality, beautifully presented and fun to play, with combat that’s easy to grasp but engaging throughout. Longtime MonHun fans will appreciate Stories as a thoughtfully-made spin-off, but the gameplay template and tone are so different that you don’t need to be familiar with — or even enjoy! — mainline Monster Hunter to have a great time here. Regardless of whether you’ve been hunting Hornetaurs since the beginning or couldn’t tell a Felyne from a Fatalis, Stories is yet another charming 3DS RPG that’s well worth your time.
  2. The Games Machine
    Sep 7, 2017
    88
    Monster Hunter Stories is a perfect synthesis between a classic JRPG and the Pokémon formula. Though is quite easy to play, the combat system and the rest of the features are solid enough to keep your attention alive till the end.
  3. Nintendo Force Magazine
    Jan 7, 2018
    85
    I fully recommend it as a first step into Monster Hunter. [Issue #31 – January/February 2018, p. 26E]
    All this publication's reviews
  4. NintendoWorldReport
    Sep 7, 2017
    80
    Monster Hunter Stories was a very enjoyable adventure, but the battle system let it down. With all the improvements made to make the game pop, the battles feel shallow during the campaign. You are asked to make a boring leap of faith in the hopes of finding rewards. Everything else about the game works. Exploring the world hasn't been better than this and the style just pops on the Nintendo 3DS. Newcomers and veterans alike will find a lot to love, but also need to go in with lowered expectations about the combat.
  5. We Got This Covered
    Sep 17, 2017
    80
    Monster Hunter Stories may look and sound like a traditional Monster Hunter title, but underneath that veneer is a deep monster collecting game that surprises in its breadth, with cartoonish graphics and a kid-friendly story to boot.
  6. SpazioGames
    Sep 7, 2017
    75
    It's far too easy and its combat system seems to be too dumbed down, but we've had a great time with Monster Hunter Stories nonetheless. We can't stop farming eggs and monsters, and we're doing it well after the campaign was over.
  7. M3
    Sep 8, 2017
    50
    At best, Monster Hunter Stories is a good Pokémon knock off for fans of the genre. The flawed story makes it difficult to recommend for others.

See all 54 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 23
  3. Negative: 0 out of 23
  1. Izzytehpwnr
    Oct 2, 2017
    10
    absolutely the best 3ds title to come out so far on the 3ds this year (2017)

    the game is jam packed with content... Exploration/raising    absolutely the best 3ds title to come out so far on the 3ds this year (2017)

    the game is jam packed with content... Exploration/raising strength/bonding with creatures and a light hearted story about becoming a faithful rider of monsties. If you are a fan of turnbased combat, building a created hero, and raising creatures to their potential strength, then this is the game you have been looking for.    … Expand
  2. Tiziown
    May 22, 2021
    10
    One of the best collectible monsters game ever made, not inferior to Pokémon or Dragon Quest Monsters.
  4. kiwijinxter
    Oct 12, 2017
    10
    Gotta HATCH 'em all!

    As a die-hard Monster Hunter (MH) player who has spent 100s of hours (each!) in Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, Monster    Gotta HATCH 'em all!

    As a die-hard Monster Hunter (MH) player who has spent 100s of hours (each!) in Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate and Monster Hunter: Generations, I was already heavily invested in the MH world and all its monsters, so I bought Monster Hunter Stories on the first day it was released without second thought. And I've never regretted it. Traditional MH veterans should find many subject matters familiar (monsters, weapons, armour). In fact, my affinity to the monsters is what made me buy this game. The difference is you're not a Hunter in Monster Hunter Stories (MHS), you're a rider! That means that instead of slaying monsters, you breed and befriend them so they can be your allies! Together with your monster party, you go hunting other monsters. It's truly refreshing, and of course, much less tense compared to traditional MH gameplay.

    While MHS offers a totally different gameplay and mechanics from the usual highly addictive cycle of working with 3 online friends to strategise, prepare and kill desired monsters to obtain parts to create better weapons and armour, Monster Hunter Stories has it's own addictive nature and it comes in the form of "gotta hatch 'em all" and forming the best monster party you can command! What really surprised me was how equally addictive Monster Hunter Stories (MHS) is, in a whole different way. Let me explain.

    Firstly, there's the "gotta hatch 'em all" aspect to it. You go around randomly-generated monster dens stealing their eggs and hope to hatch all sorts of monsters with unique gene pools - yes, even the same species of monster can have multiple combinations of genes (active skills, passive skills). "Gotta hatch 'em all" gives a familiar ring to another similar game, Pokemon (gotta catch 'em all). If you've played Pokemon, you immediately understand why MHS can be so addictive - you just want to get that next egg which could reveal a Red Khezu, or Pink Rathian, or Shrouded Nerscylla with good genes.

    Secondly, there's the customisation aspect to the game. Even with the monster genes described above, you are (several hours into the game) able to do genes transfusion so some monsters can adopt certain genes from other species! Talk about a recipe for those with Obssessive Compulsive Disorders! Of course, you've got your usual upgrade of weapons and armour, but it's mechanics is a lot simpler in that you don't have to grind a particular monster 20 times to get the super rare drops or body parts. Because the monster fights are much shorter than traditional MH fare, it's not anywhere as onerous. That said, it's no easy task to simply upgrade your weapons or armour, as they often require specific amounts of specific materials. In that respect, there is some similarity to traditional Monster Hunter gameplay. Other similarities to traditional MH games include simplified versions of combining items (e.g. into Potions, Paintball, etc.), villages to visit which includes your house, etc.

    Thirdly, the combat, while simplified, isn't a cakewalk. In Pokemon, you could almost sail through every battle without really "dying" because a lot of the mechanics are predictable. MHS on the other hand - while it has the same rock-paper-scissors mechanic to winning battles - there is a certain element of unpredictability because some craftier monsters don't necessary follow a pattern, so you can't simply predict (and easily win) battles. For example, Speed trumps Power, but the monster could use Power first, then decides to switch to Tactics instead, so you can't blindly spam a single move. Combat also gives a sense of camaraderie with your monster where you build up kinship as you successfully win a few rounds of rock-paper-scissors (Power-Speed-Tactics). Once built up, you can jump on your monster and unleash a more powerful attack. Traditional MH veterans will be familiar also with the fact that many monsters have specialty elements that work better (or worse) against monsters with other elements.

    I've played a couple of Pokemon games in the past including HeartGold/SoulSilver, X/Y etc. but if you asked me to compare Monster Hunter Stories with Pokemon games, I'd pick MHS anytime as Pokemon tends to bore me, but MHS feels much more organic and substantial - I feel more of an affinity to my monsters in MHS than my pokemons in Pokemon.

    Whether you're a MH veteran or you've never played MH before, I highly recommend Monster Hunter Stories, not least because it's so charming, but for a MH veteran, you'll be immediately familiar with a lot of things, yet be pleasantly surprised by the entirely new gameplay mechanics; for a non traditional MH player, this is a substantially new world to explore without much of the grind and difficulty you hear about traditional MH games. Super, highly recommended!    … Expand
  5. KenyaFerrand
    Sep 19, 2019
    9
    Super fun! And for everyone. I just hope we get a sequel for home systems one day
  6. ThatsNotPros
    Oct 6, 2017
    9
    I love it, this game becomes 20x more enjoyable if you pretend you're a power ranger and your monster is a zord though. But that's off topic,I love it, this game becomes 20x more enjoyable if you pretend you're a power ranger and your monster is a zord though. But that's off topic, it's an RPG with monster hunter fueling it, and they fuel it right. It's interesting and unique, stands out as its own thing even if it is tied to a series entirely. I say get it, though I should warn you that if you want the game to enter into the monster hunter series with, it isn't this. This is a fun little thing to chill with.… Expand
  7. Wadeplay
    Sep 9, 2017
    9
    good game with colorful graphic i really love it especially MC expression laugh,sad,mad maybe one of the best graphic that push 3DS hardwaregood game with colorful graphic i really love it especially MC expression laugh,sad,mad maybe one of the best graphic that push 3DS hardware more than ever for battle system isn't to hard just like playing rock-paper-scissors what i really love about this game is that you can freely hunting your own monster which is very nice. for me the story not so mediocre for everyone that love MH should play this and give this game a chance for me MH veteran this game is really fresh new looking MH… Expand
  8. Gramscci
    Oct 31, 2021
    5
    Un gran juego, súper recomendable! Combates e historia sumamente entretenidos.

See all 23 User Reviews

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Awards & Rankings

10
#10 Best 3DS Game of 2017
8
#8 Most Discussed 3DS Game of 2017
14
#14 Most Shared 3DS Game of 2017