Monster Hunter Stories is about the story of a talented Rider who seeks to save the world alongside their trusted monster companion. Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.
Monster Hunter Stories Review Overview
What is Monster Hunter Stories?
Monster Hunter Stories centers around an estranged town of people in the same universe as the mainline Monster Hunter titles. However, unlike the familiar Hunters who make a living by poaching monsters, these people seek to coexist with them in a symbiotic relationship instead. Those who embody these ideals are known as Riders who, with their trusted monster partners, maintain the peace of the land with unwavering dedication.
Monster Hunter Stories features:
⚫︎ Great starting point for those interested in Monster Hunter
⚫︎ A simple, easy-to-follow story
⚫︎ Better visuals than the original DS game and its mobile version
⚫︎ Straightforward, turn-based gameplay
⚫︎ Fun filler content to spend time on
⚫︎ Charming visuals reminiscent of its DS origins
For more gameplay details, read everything we know about Monster Hunter Stories's gameplay and story.
 PlayStation |
 Switch |
 Steam |
Monster Hunter Stories Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Simple Story Even Simpler Gameplay Charming Visuals Engaging Voice Acting |
You Can Really Feel Its Age |
Monster Hunter Stories Overall Score - 80/100
Monster Hunter Stories’ 2024 remaster embodies the term well, for better or worse. It’s just an aesthetic upgrade with a few additions in proper voice acting, the museum feature, etc. But while the voice acting does serve to raise the game’s immersion to a completely different level, everything else about the game can feel dated. Fortunately, the original Monster Hunter Stories was already a great game, so its direct remaster can only be similarly notable.
Monster Hunter Stories Story - 9/10
For a game with "Stories" on its name, it doesn’t have a deep narrative. But that’s perhaps part of its charm, as Monster Hunter Stories’ plot is much lighter and accessible than its grittier main series titles. The narrative’s honesty gives it an endearing appeal, allowing anybody to easily connect with the characters.
Monster Hunter Stories Gameplay - 8/10
Aside from the much better visuals, nothing has been added to the gameplay itself. Its combat is still the same easy-to-understand rock-paper-scissors system without any additional mechanics. However, it does have quite the strategic depth, as enemies don’t just randomly pick attacks without rhyme or reason. The game does suffer from a severe lack of customizability in many aspects, though, which its monster collecting system can only address to a very limited extent.
Monster Hunter Stories Visuals - 7/10
Even with the upscaled and enhanced graphics looking sharp on large screens, one can immediately notice its shortcomings as an old title. Character models aside, the environment has a noticeable lack of polygons, and the models would sometimes interact strangely with their collision boxes. Facial expressions are also stiff, and the cutscenes are merely recycled from the original but with a higher resolution. On the other hand, everything else looks great and may even pass as modern-day creations.
Monster Hunter Stories Audio - 8/10
The original game was already fun, even with its basic audio experience. However, the added voice acting (as in proper voice acting), ripe with energy and dedication, makes the game more engaging and immersive. Unfortunately, however, this port doesn’t have a revamped story that gives the main protagonist their own voice lines, so you’re stuck with the annoying Felyne sidekick at practically every turn.
Monster Hunter Stories Value for Money - 8/10
Monster Hunter Stories has an amazing amount of content. Not only does it have side quests for days, but the act of looking for strong monster eggs can easily drain several hours of your time because of its rewarding payoff. The postgame is even better, as the Arena is an excellent avenue for your creativity and competitiveness.
Monster Hunter Stories Review: Same Game, Better Experience
Monster Hunter is perhaps one of the most popular and memorable Player versus Environment (PvE) games there is. After all, it’s hard to beat the experience of regularly gearing up and fighting tooth and nail against enemies that are often several times larger than you. While many other games tried to get into the genre, such as God Eater and Horizon, few come close to the icon that is the Monster Hunter series.
On the other hand, Monster Hunter Stories is a massive deviation from the mainline series’ gritty, action-packed gameplay. Unlike its brothers and sisters, it uses a turn-based combat system that plays more like a monster-collecting game than an action RPG about committing domestic violence towards unsuspecting monsters for their scales and fur.
It was originally released for the Nintendo 3DS and immediately enjoyed massive success. The game was nominated for multiple awards on different platforms and received a very high overall rating in many reviews.
So, what makes Monster Hunter Stories so good despite its striking differences from the franchise’s mainline titles?
Monster Hunter Stories is a narrative-driven RPG about three kids who love monsters. Unlike the Hunters in the main games, these kids grew up in an environment where monsters mostly coexisted with humans. However, as the plot develops, tragedies unfold, and the three end up following different paths. One of them even becomes a sort of villain that you, the protagonist, must save.
Because traumatized childhood friends over impending global destruction, right? I think that’s how the saying goes.
The game is full of heartwarming moments delivered through its forthright storytelling. It’s full of memorable characters, too, which is quite the deviation from many of the main series’ unremarkable NPCs. Heck, the combat system has you working with monsters instead of simply divorcing their heads from their shoulders at first sight. Cooperation and bonds are, in fact, the prevailing themes of the game. This is evident from the kinship stones allowing for human-monster partnerships and many of the characters pulling through with the power of friendship.
Overall, it presents a very different experience of a familiar world, especially to fans of the series.
Ignoring the existence of its mobile port for a bit, the game’s popularity meant that a remastered version for modern consoles and PCs was a definite possibility. Less than a decade later, it became a reality. The only question now is if the remaster is any good.
The short answer is yes. As a remaster, it’s essentially the same game but with much better graphics and a few additional features. In other words, it didn’t just take the original and allowed it to be playable on other platforms without any touching-up (I’m looking at you, Soul Nomad and The World Eaters).
In addition, it has a new Museum feature accessible from the title screen, which is essentially the Gallery function. The game also gets the fast-forward feature from Monster Hunter Stories 2 and the mobile version of itself.
Long story short, I enjoyed every second of the game in a way that reminded me of my childhood. It was nostalgic and ran like a charm (at least on my Nintendo Switch). Gathering (stealing) eggs is still the frustratingly rewarding task I remembered; fighting monsters with my partner remains a predictable gamble with the occasional surprises, and the characters were as cringeworthy and adorable as I remember them to be.
The only real issues I can see with this, though, are that the experience may not be as magical as it was to those who have played any of its previous versions, and… the visuals and parts of its gameplay didn’t age too well.
Of course, that’s not an issue at all for those playing with nostalgia, but it can definitely be a bummer for new players.
Pros of Monster Hunter Stories
| Things Monster Hunter Stories Got Right |
|---|
|
Simple Story Even Simpler Gameplay Charming Visuals Engaging Voice Acting |
Simple Story
Understandably, the plot behind Monster Hunter Stories is very barebones. It follows the typical hero story where the end goal is saving the world with all the usual drama involved. But despite being full of tropes and quite predictable, its straightforward storytelling gives it a charm. Watching each character pursue their goals in a way that’s easy to understand makes the urge to cheer for them on the sidelines irresistible. There are also some compelling moments here and there.
Even Simpler Gameplay
Featuring a beginner-friendly combat system with a handful of variations and mechanics, Monster Hunter Stories is an easy game to pick up for even the most action-averse gamers out there. All players need to do to properly grasp every fight is to learn the tendency of each monster they encounter. Following that, strategy and adaptation can take everybody to the end of the game.
This clear deviation from the series’ mainline titles allows Monster Hunter Stories to be at a level of accessibility the former games can only dream of. That is especially true for those who pick this game up for the Nintendo Switch and perhaps on Steam Deck. Its newfound portability outside of mobile and low-commitment gameplay make it an excellent choice for those who like to game on the go.
Charming Visuals
Monster Hunter Stories maintains its endearing, cartoonish, lighthearted visuals for its remastered release. This time, however, the game can be displayed in full HD. This allows players to enjoy the full glory of its cute models, easy combat, and enhanced cutscenes on larger displays without relying on mobile casting.
Engaging Voice Acting
Perhaps the most striking difference between the 2024 release and the original is the addition of proper voice acting. No longer will you need to sit through minutes of dialogue with only short, unintelligible murmurs and the sound effects of letters being summoned from the ether to accompany the experience. On top of that, the voice acting is actually good!
… Okay, maybe they can get a little annoying and even cringe sometimes. But that just adds to the game’s childish charm, I think. In fact, the game’s voice acting may be the most modern thing about Monster Hunter Stories’ remastered release.
Cons of Monster Hunter Stories
| Things That Monster Hunter Stories Can Improve |
|---|
|
You Can Really Feel Its Age |
You Can Really Feel Its Age
Unfortunately for those expecting a major remaster of this excellent title, the 2024 release of Monster Hunter Stories is essentially the same game as the original, but with an upscaled resolution and added voice acting. Hence, you’ll find many aspects of the game that didn’t age well, which you’ll only ever see nowadays in titles explicitly aiming for a more dated feel.
Many of these issues can be understandably seen in how larger displays are particularly unkind to Monster Hunter Stories’ upscaled visuals. For example, even if the character and monster models were improved, the landscape's severe lack of polygons is now very obvious. There are also times when you or the monsters just sink into the ground slightly, perhaps due to collision issues. Facial expressions are also very stiff and were obviously not part of the developers’ considerations when modernizing its aesthetics. Even the textures are shortcuts for different things such as grass and engravings.
But the most glaring sign of the game’s old age is its customizability. Players are very limited in the number of things they can personalize for their character’s appearance, skills, equipment, etc. While this could have been due to the limitations of retro (yes, the DS is now retro, pained as I am to admit) consoles, the game’s nature as a remastered release means that issue is carried over.
Is Monster Hunter Stories Worth It?
The magic happens only once, unfortunately.
Despite the game’s charm, if you’ve already played Monster Hunter Stories on the DS or mobile, there’s not much point in getting it again on the new systems. The PlayStation, Switch, and PC releases aren’t major remasters of the original title. It simply adds voice acting and a few more features. Sure, it does look much better than on DS or mobile, but that won’t justify its $29.99 price unless you’re enough of a fan that you’d want to experience everything again on HD.
However, if you’re someone who hasn’t played this game before, then it’s a no-brainer. Get it.
| Digital Storefronts | PlayStation |
Switch |
Steam |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $29.99 |
Monster Hunter Stories FAQ
Does Monster Hunter Stories have multiplayer?
Essentially, no. However, there’s an Arena mode where you can face off against Rider-Monster teams by other players.
Will Monster Hunter Stories 2 have a remaster?
It’s unlikely at this point due to the relatively recent release of Monster Hunter Stories 2. However, it might be possible in the future.
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Monster Hunter Stories Product Information
 |
|
| Title | MONSTER HUNTER STORIES |
|---|---|
| Release Date | June 14, 2024 |
| Developer | CAPCOM Co., Ltd. |
| Publisher | CAPCOM Co., Ltd. |
| Supported Platforms | PC(Steam), PS4, and Nintendo Switch |
| Genre | RPG, Adventure |
| Number of Players | 1 |
| ESRB Rating | E |
| Official Website | Monster Hunter Stories Website |
