Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection Review – Gliding Towards Greatness

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The Monster Hunter games aren’t known for their compelling stories, and that’s perfectly fine. The real draw is the thrilling combat against massive monsters – it doesn’t need a complex, dramatic plot like Shakespeare. We don’t need a sad or overly sentimental reason to hunt a Rathian.

Monster Hunter Wilds missed the mark with its story delivery. It featured slow, drawn-out sequences where characters slowly explained the plot – a mechanic reminiscent of the escort missions in Assassin’s Creed. Players, particularly Monster Hunter fans, didn’t enjoy this approach.

While the core Monster Hunter games are known for their action, spin-offs like Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection demonstrate that the series can also excel at storytelling. This turn-based RPG is particularly successful, proving that Monster Hunter can deliver a compelling narrative that complements the monster-hunting experience.

For a video game to truly shine, it needs strong gameplay that complements its story. While Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection is a significant improvement over the last game, it still has some problems that prevent it from being a masterpiece.

Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection Has the Best Story in the Series

Okay, so I’ve been playing Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection, and it’s really cool! The world is built around the idea that humans and monsters actually team up. You play as a Rider, which basically means you can bond with monsters – they call them ‘Monsties,’ which is kinda a weird name, honestly – and ride them around. You don’t just ride them though, you fight with them, giving them commands in battle. It’s a totally different take on the Monster Hunter universe!

You play as the prince or princess of Azuria, a kingdom that generally enjoys a peaceful coexistence with monsters. But trouble is brewing – the nearby kingdom of Vermeil is preparing for war. A strange process called crystallization is turning the land barren, enraging the monsters, and threatening to destroy Vermeil.

War seems likely between the kingdoms of Vermeil and Azuria, as Vermeil hopes to conquer Azuria to escape an approaching disaster. A potential answer to the problem might lie in the Sacrosanctum, a place long ago forbidden to humans by an ancient agreement, but which could hold the solution to preventing the war.

A solution seems possible as the main character considers entering the Sacrosanctum—a place long forbidden to humans by an ancient agreement—because it might be the only way to stop the fighting.

And get this – there are these super rare Skyscale Rathalos, basically Rathalos with bright blue horns. Legend says when they’re born, bad stuff happens. I’ve actually bonded with one of them, and honestly, it feels like its power could either save everything… or completely wipe us all out. It’s a lot of pressure!

This is a general overview of the story in Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection. The game features a compelling narrative filled with political schemes and environmental ruin, constantly challenging the player. Many consider it the best story in any Monster Hunter game, keeping you engaged as you uncover the origins of the current conflict and past wrongdoings.

The biggest issue with Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection is that the main story about Azuria and Vermeil isn’t the focus for much of the game. You’ll spend a lot of time exploring the world, and the central plot doesn’t really pick up until the very end.

It’s interesting to see a Monster Hunter game explore how humans use monsters as weapons and how the events of past games impact the environment. While this aspect could have been expanded upon in Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection, it’s still a welcome addition.

Battles are the Highlight of Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection


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Monster Hunter Stories 3’s battle system builds on previous games with a rock-paper-scissors style of strengths and weaknesses. Technical attacks (represented by green) are strong against Speed attacks (blue), Speed beats Power (red), and Power beats Technical.

Battles involve more than just attacking! Moves can also inflict negative status effects, strengthen your Monstie, or recover energy. As you fight, a Kinship meter fills up. When it’s full, you can ride your Monstie and unleash a powerful special attack. You can swap Monsties each turn, but each one has its own Kinship meter, so building up to those special attacks takes time.

The main character is key to combat, able to use up to three different weapons in each battle, and each weapon has its own set of attacks. Just like in other games in the series, you can improve your weapons and armor, adding spaces for gems that unlock new abilities and characteristics.

You can use items during battles, and they’re essential for staying alive. They provide healing, but also include damaging bombs and traps. However, you can’t carry everything with you into a fight, so you’ll need to use your healing items strategically – you won’t be able to just slowly wear down enemies.

Okay, so in Monster Hunter Stories 3, building a good team is super important. You really need a lot of different moves at your disposal, especially when you run into the tougher monsters out in the world. They’ll have a yellow flag above their heads if they’re going to be a challenge, and a red flag if they’re likely to wipe the floor with you! Thankfully, most of the regular monsters are pretty easy to one-shot, and if you’re way overleveled, the game even lets you automatically win the battle!

In Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection, building a well-rounded team is crucial. Having a variety of moves available is key to success.

A key part of the game revolves around Hearts. Both you and your Monstie start with three. When you or your Monstie faint, a Heart is used to revive you. Lose all three Hearts, and it’s game over, though you can use items during battle to restore them. Your allies and their Monsties also have Hearts, but if they fall in battle, they’ll just be knocked out for a few turns before recovering – it doesn’t end the game for you.

Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection’s battle system is a strong point, aside from one problem with how the computer controls enemies (explained below). Battles move quickly, and challenging fights require careful planning and smart use of your abilities. While some restrictions add excitement, later, harder battles can be frustrating, particularly because they often demand a specific strategy that isn’t immediately obvious.

Exploration is Mandatory if You Don’t Want to Get Obliterated Later On


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Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection is a visually stunning game. It creates a beautiful world that feels like a mix of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s vibrant landscapes and the fantasy style of Fire Emblem. The monster designs are fantastic – while not quite as detailed as those in the upcoming Monster Hunter Wilds, they still look great and stand out.

Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection features large, sprawling maps with plenty to discover, like optional quests, Monster Dens, and collectibles. Similar to how Pokémon handles movement, you’ll need to collect Monsties with different abilities – such as gliding, using fireballs, swimming, climbing, and digging – to get around. It’s a bit frustrating you can’t teach all of these skills to your favorite Monstie, like a Rathalos, which means you’ll have to carefully choose your team based on what areas you need to reach.

Life is busy and there’s always something to do, but sometimes things feel unavoidable. This is especially true in the game Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection. Towards the end, the game gets really difficult, and actually tells you to complete optional side quests if you’re struggling with a boss.

The game’s side quests are enjoyable, and the crafting system is surprisingly deep. You can create powerful gear for your character by adding abilities and traits with gems. Plus, you can customize how your armor looks right away, so you don’t have to worry about being stuck with ugly outfits.

Luckily, you can customize your armor’s look right away, so you don’t have to worry about your character being stuck with ugly gear throughout the game.

Breeding a Better Monstie is Vital for Saving the World


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A great improvement in Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection is how it handles Monster Dens. These dens show up as small caves on the map, and inside, you’ll find nests with huge eggs. You can try to steal an egg, but be quick – a monster might return and attack if you take too long!

In Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection, you train your Monsties using a skill system where abilities are unlocked on a 3×3 grid. These abilities, called Genes, can be moved between different Monsties, letting you customize their skills and encouraging you to find and collect new creatures.

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Monster Dens now feature a new system called Habitat Restoration. Each area is made up of different environments, and by defeating the main boss in each one, you can start bringing creatures back to the land. This lets you control which creatures show up, making your Monsties stronger with better Genes, and even increasing your chances of finding rare versions!

I really enjoyed the Habitat Restoration feature in Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection. I spent a lot of time experimenting with the game’s ecology to discover new monsters, and it made me pay much more attention to monster eggs than I ever have in previous Monster Hunter Stories games.

The Habitat Restoration feature in Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection is really engaging, and I enjoyed spending a lot of time experimenting with the environment to discover new monsters.

Some Issues from Previous Entries are Still Present


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A major problem with earlier Monster Hunter Stories games was how the computer controlled your teammates. In Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin, you only directly control your main character. The rest of your team – a Monstie and another human character with their own Monstie – are handled by the AI. This meant you were only able to make decisions for about a quarter of what your team did each turn.

Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection is a step forward because you can now directly control your Monstie. However, your teammates and their Monsties are still controlled by the game’s AI. I went through all of the side quests for each character, hoping to gain full control over the entire party, but that isn’t possible.

Generally, the AI-controlled characters work well, and the game does a good job of keeping things balanced. However, the game gets much harder towards the end, and enemies can defeat your entire party with a single hit. That’s when the AI becomes a problem – you end up spending turns healing them instead of letting them fight, which feels frustrating.

The AI’s poor decisions often hinder gameplay, particularly in difficult battles. It might waste valuable turns by boosting stats when it could attack for free, or use a healing item unnecessarily if a larger group heal is coming up next.

To make future Monster Hunter Stories games even better, it would be great if players could directly control every member of their team. Currently, not being able to fully control characters in battle – and wasting turns while the AI makes poor decisions – really holds the game back.


Image Via Capcom

Closing Comments

Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection is a significant improvement for the series. It features the strongest story yet, and although the game still has some issues – like relying on AI companions – it’s a big step up from the previous installment. I found myself much more invested in the battles and developing my Monsties. Overall, Twisted Reflection is superior to Monster Hunter Wilds and suggests a promising direction for future games.

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2026-03-09 18:12