Monster Hunter Stories Review

When Monster Hunter Stories first released years ago on the 3DS platform, it was widely praised for bringing an approachable, story driven spin to Capcom’s usually intense Monster Hunter franchise. Now, with its arrival on Xbox Series X, the game gets a welcome second life with updated and polished visuals, smoother performance, and a mass of content that still feels refreshing in the modern day.

What was once a delightful RPG experiment has matured into one of the most charming monster-collecting adventures available on modern consoles and I found myself hooked using the cloud features to play on the go. This was perfect to get that nostalgia hit of playing an original handheld title both portable and on the big screen.

Whilst the mainline Monster Hunter series focuses on high skill hunts and real time combat loops, Monster Hunter Stories* takes a total different approach. You step into the shoes of a young, aspiring Rider rather than a Hunter and instead of slaying beasts outright, you befriend them. You hatch eggs, raise “Monsties,” and form bonds that translate into both combat strength and narrative heart. The Xbox version doesn’t fundamentally change the core experience, but it highlights just how well this formula has aged and how much better it feels with crisper visuals and taking advantage of the more powerful console output.

The story begins one year after a devastating monster attack that plundered your hometown of Hakum Village. Reconstruction is underway with the goal of the village to slowly return to how it once was. You play as a promising young Rider candidate whose final step toward becoming a full-fledged Rider participating in the “Rise of Kinship” ceremony which is a ancient rite that forges a bond between humans and monsters through a sacred Kinship Stone.

The opening hour is simple, acts a tutorial yet captivates you. Hakum Village has you feeling the residents hopeful but cautious, its elders protective, and its youth (including you) eager to prove themselves and help in any way possible. The premise sets the tone beautifully showcasing that this isn’t a story about doom and gloom but about rebuilding, understanding, and survival.

Your Rite of Kinship gives you more than a shiny talisman it symbolises the core loop of the game. The Kinship Stone is your conduit to the Monsties you hatch, a reflection of the bonds you build, and a mechanic that expands as you progress. After your Kinship Stone receives its first charge during an early journey into the mountains, you meet Navirou, a chatty feline companion who sticks by your side for the entire adventure. His humour won’t land for everyone, but his company provides a steady source of guidance and personality throughout.

Where Monster Hunter focuses on tracking and hacking monsters, Stories introduces a strong monster-collecting ecosystem focused on exploration, probability, and strategy. You collect eggs from monster dens scattered across the world some rarer than others, each containing potential Monsties with varying stats, genes, and elemental traits. With big quality-of-life updates that make egg collection feel smoother and more satisfying than ever. You get a quip from your companion that indicates Egg weight, smell, and rarity all hint at the potential. Players will quickly develop an instinct for which eggs are worth keeping from these lines or colour patterns that display on the eggs.

This new release includes an “egg carton” feature that lets you batch multiple eggs, turning collections into a rewarding loop. The more you hatch, the better the odds you’ll uncover Monsties with boosted stats or rare traits. You can also find Egg fragments that are earned through exploration or network battles allow you to assemble completely new eggs. It’s an inventive system that reduces the grind and gives you a path to specifics without relying solely on random chance. It’s a blend of Pokémon-like collection and Monster Hunter’s ecology, and it works brilliantly.

One of the biggest shifts from the main series is combat. Monster Hunter Stories embraces traditional turn-based battles, but with enough tactical nuance to satisfy even longtime RPG fans. I am a sucker for monster collection and turn based combat and I can vouch that this is where the game really shines for me. The core system revolves around head-to-head clashes. When you and an enemy target each other, your chosen attack types determine the outcome of either Power, Speed or Technical attacks.

At first glance it’s a rock-paper-scissors triangle at first but over time the game gradually adds more complex variation with monsters shifting patters mid fights, phases changes and eventually elemental damage come into play. Learning monster behaviours and patterns becomes crucial as learning weakness grants you a damage bonus as well as increasing your Kinship Gauge. Using Kinship provides powerful abilities as well as allowing you to ride your Monstie during battle. You find yourself constantly trying to read the room and brute forcing things doesn’t cut it here. Even early boss fights can be punishing, and I struggled and learned the hard way very early on. One notorious early challenge features an enemy that repeatedly heals itself, forcing you to think outside the box or risk a quick defeat. It’s a refreshing reminder that beneath the game’s charming cartoonish art style lies a deeply strategic RPG.

Progression is tied closely to your Kinship Stone and story progression. Charging it unlocks new features and allows rarer Monsties to join your party. Each upgrade feels meaningful, expanding both your tactical options and your party’s diversity and more options to work on your current party. You can also unlock new abilities for your Monsties through the Gene system. This is a mechanic that adds layers of depth as each Monstie has genetic slots containing traits that can be swapped or enhanced. Aligning genes of the same colour or type unlocks bonus abilities, letting you customize your team for specific strategies. Want an ice resistant ally that breathes fire? A tanky sidekick with healing skills? This is all possible.

Whilst on your quests Monster Hunter Stories features multiple towns, each acting as a hub for quests, crafting, and interaction. Improved loading times make hopping between zones and dens incredibly smooth something the original release did struggle with. As expected, crafting is vital. You’ll collect materials by defeating monsters or exploring the field, then use them to upgrade or forge weapons and armour. The familiar loop of “hunt, gather, craft, repeat” remains intact, but the turn-based foundation makes it more accessible to newer players. Sub quests in towns are very simple in ‘Slay X amount of Monsters / Gather x Materials / Find lost items’ but allows you to go off the beaten path uncover new dens, battles and whilst repetitive it’s very important for progression and useful supplies later in the more complex battles.

A unique touch is the Prayer Pot system. You can offer charms or items to influence various game conditions such as stat boosts, EXP gains and influencing shop prices. Offering more Zenny (In game Currency) strengthens that effect giving you control over the games risk vs rewards.

While your Rider is silent, the world around them is full of memorable characters. Cheval, your childhood friend, struggles with grief after losing his parents in an attack. His arc is emotionally grounded, portraying how trauma can twist good intentions. Meanwhile, Lilia takes a different path, joining the Scriveners to research the mysterious Black Blight spreading across the world and home. These characters grow alongside you, creating narrative threads that intertwine with world building and gameplay. All will anime inspired voice acting and facial expressions making these interactions more charming and impactful.

Its cel-shaded approach gives it a nostalgic feel, and the extra fidelity enhances everything from the monster designs to exploration. The thick outlines, bold colour palettes, and anime-inspired protagonists give the game a storybook charm that stands apart from the more realistic style of mainline Monster Hunter games and more reminiscent of handheld / Indie feeling RPGs. There are few minor imperfections with the character and monster models at times but if anything shows how well this cel-shaded approach has aged.

If you are a fan of the Monster Hunter Series or just a general fan of Monster Collection / Turn Based RPGs this is a very impressive game that just isn’t a simple remaster it really does shine. I find myself using cloud based services to get that fix of just one more battle and making progress slowly that gives me that dopamine of my youth. Not to mention it’s filled to the brim with charm, deep but approachable turn based combat that gives you that push to spend time away from the story to gather as many eggs and grind EXP and lose track of time.