Monster Hunter’s New Game Is Making Up For The Series’ Last Disaster

Capcom just announced Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection, a new entry in the series, and I’m hoping it will help save the franchise from the disaster that was its latest installment. A spin-off series within the larger franchise, Stories is an RPG that puts players in control of a Monster Rider and presents a turn-based combat system. The new Monster Hunter Stories game was one of the biggest reveals from the new Nintendo Direct.

Following a linear story arc with more focus on character development, the protagonist is an ally to the many monsters in the series, and instead of hunting them, your goal is to turn them into allies, as you can use their abilities to explore the world. The most recent entry in the spin-off series was Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin, though the latest installment in the franchise was Monster Hunter Wilds, which is being heavily criticized.

Monster Hunter Stories 3 May Save The Franchise

Twisted Reflection Could Renew Player Interest

I believe that Monster Hunter Stories 3 has the potential to save the franchise from its doom, even if the game isn’t a core entry in the series. While it is a spin-off game that offers a drastically different gameplay experience, the turn-based series has proven to be fantastic in the past, and Twisted Reflection has great potential to be even better.

Wings of Ruin, for example, has an 81 Metascore and an 8.2 user score on Metacritic.

The franchise has hit an all-time low with how poorly received Wilds was, especially by PC players. However, Monster Hunter Stories 3 could renew player interest, even if it doesn’t cater to the entirety of the core series’ community.

Monster Hunter Stories 3 Already Looks Better Than Wilds

The Game Seems To Be Keeping What Made Its Predecessors Successful

If Capcom sticks to what worked well with Wings of Ruin, Monster Hunter Stories 3 has the potential to remove some of the negative perception players have of the franchise following the problems raised by Monster Hunter Wilds. Based on the reveal trailer, Twisted Reflection is retaining its cartoon-like graphic style and investing heavily in story and a variety of monsters to befriend.

The turn-based combat that makes Monster Hunter feel like Pokémon works well, and the stories the spin-off series tells are more compelling than those of the core installments. While a portion of the community may miss the ability to hunt down monsters in action-based combat, I’m sure a portion of the fans will be pleasantly surprised to expand their horizons within the franchise.

While the game was announced during the Nintendo Direct, it will be a multi-platform title. Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection will be released for Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC (via Steam) in 2026. Overall, the game will feel different from Wilds, but I’m sure it will make me more hopeful for the future of the Monster Hunter series.

Source: Metacritic