Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection Review — Twin Tales

The Monster Hunter series has always been famous for its larger-than-life battles, pitting players against massive tyrants of nature in an exciting loop of hunt, harvest, and hunt again. Just beneath that legendary gameplay loop, however, has always been an incredibly interesting fantasy setting with amazing storytelling potential, which some of the mainline Monster Hunter games certainly capture better than others.

Enter Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection, the third entry in a series that takes a step back from the familiar Monster Hunter gameplay loop to instead focus on that storytelling potential. This lesser-known companion to the mainline Monster Hunter series is one I was definitely unfamiliar with before this review, but with this third entry as my introduction, I can certainly say that it made a great first impression.

Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection follows our protagonist, the prince or princess of Azuria, and the only Rathalos rider of the kingdom. Said Rathalos was hatched from an egg found in crystallized quartz, but it was born alongside a twin, which is a grim omen that portends destruction. With tensions between Azuria and neighboring Vermeil already high, our character sets forth into a world on the brink of destruction, and within the flames, hopes to find a long-shadowed truth.

If I haven’t made it absolutely clear by now, the story in Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection is the main meat of this bountiful harvest of a game. The world crafted around existing Monster Hunter material is great, and its separation from the mainline series allows the story to venture into different territory. Where most Monster Hunter games follow a plucky band of explorers mapping new territory in the wake of the discovery of some massive and dangerous new monster, Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection allows itself to go into a darker, more political place, telling a story of betrayal and war that had me hooked pretty early on.

This is thanks in no small part to the incredible cutscenes of the game. In no exaggeration, I found the cutscenes in Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection to captivate me unlike any others in recent memory. It wasn’t that they were groundbreaking or revolutionary, but the unique cinematic direction in the cutscenes of Twisted Reflection made it feel like I was watching a high-budget animated film. These cinematic moments had excellent framing, incredible color choices, and great character expression, and they were backdropped by a simply gorgeous score that tied everything together.

The moments spent in these fantastic cutscenes made up for all of the slower points of dialogue in the game, where characters just stood around and nodded their heads occasionally while delivering exposition.

Normally, I might make the argument that the cinematography is so good that the game might as well have not been a game but instead a movie, but Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection has some meat on its bones mechanically as well.

The actual gameplay serves as a series of straight-ahead, somewhat linear levels where you do some light platforming and item collection between being drawn into turn-based battles. The turn-based battles use a rock-paper-scissors sort of mechanic where different attack types counter others, with the added bonus of two of the same attacks canceling each other out.

The turn-based combat isn’t too complex or inventive, but it is fun and engaging, especially with how animated everything is, with every attack being a big moment with a little cutscene of its own. What’s particularly interesting is how the game allows you to use different monsters as additional members of your party, who act on their own but can chain together attacks with your human party members for devastating effectiveness.

The aforementioned parkour or exploration segments are less exciting. Again, these areas are mostly linear paths with battles scattered throughout, and mostly serve as a chance for you to pick up extra optional goodies or listen to more dialogue between more important battles. I think these sections were designed to show off the fact that you ride your Rathalos, but the movement is so awkward that it almost breaks the fantasy altogether.

This is especially true when flying, as the Rathalos feels like a weightless kite that just drifts slowly toward the ground in one straight-ahead direction. There is no omnidirectional movement in the air, and turning feels stiff and awkward. I can understand why the game would need to limit the freedom of flight, especially with how the combat encounters trigger, but with how it was implemented, I honestly would have preferred these flying moments not be in the game at all.

Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection makes for an incredible story-driven game with some fun, excitingly cinematic turn-based combat packed between gorgeous cutscenes and fantastic character moments. While I liked it on the whole, the biggest flaws of the game are those that are present in any JRPG. The pacing at times can feel slow or intentionally padded, and there can be a little too much dialogue or exposition spoon-fed awkwardly between gameplay moments that just slows the whole experience down. However, I’d venture to guess that if you’re a JRPG fan, you probably don’t mind these issues so much, and if so, there is probably little to nothing I could point out in Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection that sounds like a flaw.

Try Hard Guides was provided a Steam code for this PC review of Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles on our Game Reviews page! Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection is available on Steam, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch.