TheRetroArcade
Veteran
Posts: 1,980
Joined: Feb 2026
Joined: Feb 2026
Monster Hunter Stories 3 delivers deep build crafting and battle systems, but they're wasted on a war story that's barely there.
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Bad news, folks: It's happening again. Another mysterious malady is making monsters even more monstrous, and the ecosystem seems poised to fall into ruin unless somebody bludgeons however many lizards it takes to get to the bottom of things.
What is it? A turn-based creature collecting RPG using Monster Hunter's monster roster.
Expect to pay: $70/£55
Release date: March 13, 2026
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Reviewed on: NVIDIA RTX 4070 Super, Intel Core i7 14700KF, 32 GB RAM
Steam Deck Unverified
Link Steam
It's me. I'm somebody. Specifically, I'm the prince and monster-riding ranger captain of a kingdom that stands on the brink of war, because unlike your typical Monster Hunter ecocrises, this rash of crazed, crystallized megafauna threatens something even more precious than the delicate balance of nature: It threatens diplomatic relations.
Warfare has often lingered at the edges of Monster Hunter history, but Monster Hunter Stories 3 is the first time it's threatened to break out where we can see it. The implications are chilling: Bad enough that humanity might turn its tools for slaying godlike monsters on each other, but what would we think about warfare—and about those who make it—if it meant those same monsters were brought to the battlefield?
Unfortunately, Monster Hunter Stories 3 doesn't have much to say about war except that it makes dinosaurs upset.
Stories 3 is gorgeous: Environments and monsters are rendered in a lush cel-shaded style, and as someone who's thoroughly bought in on Monster Hunter, I was content spending many of my 40-odd hours with the game enthusiastically Dicaprio-pointing at monster animations I've spent years failing to dodge.
But the strongest thing about Stories 3 is the madcap complexity of its monster battling and breeding. It continues the series' magic trick of translating the flavor and rhythm of Monster Hunter combat into turn-based battling—not as a Hunter, but as a Rider, fighting alongside my hand-picked, bred-for-combat crew of my favorite creatures from across MonHun generations.
Or as Capcom's localization team settled on calling them in 2016, "Monsties"—a term which I'll be doing my best to avoid, because I'm 32 years old.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
Stories' combat is essentially three layers of simultaneous, Pokemon-style rock-paper-scissors. When me and my monsters dive into battle with a wild Seregios, I'm keeping track of more than its elemental weakness to lightning. I've learned it favors technical style attacks that my monster and I can counter by choosing power style. Its tail's weakness to slashing damage makes it the best target for my longsword; if it was airborne I might be able to knock it to the ground by puncturing its wings with piercing damage from a bow or gunlance.
But as soon as a monster enrages or transforms—as MonHun monsters love to do—all those priorities change. When frenzied, that Seregios will switch a flurry of speed style attacks; some monsters might start attacking with new elements that'll force me to reconsider which of my monsties (help) I've got on the field, while others can manifest ice blades or hardened razor scales that will shred my team to pieces if I don't swap to a hammer and shatter them.
If that sounds like a lot: It is. After a few dozen hours, I'm still catching myself staring blankly at the screen as I struggle to hold all the moving pieces in my head at once. But successfully exploiting those shifting dangers and opportunities is a rewarding juggling act that I eagerly sought out, echoing the same fantasy of bu...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?
PC Gamer's got your back
Our experienced team dedicates many hours to every review, to really get to the heart of what matters most to you. Find out more about how we evaluate games and hardware.
Bad news, folks: It's happening again. Another mysterious malady is making monsters even more monstrous, and the ecosystem seems poised to fall into ruin unless somebody bludgeons however many lizards it takes to get to the bottom of things.
What is it? A turn-based creature collecting RPG using Monster Hunter's monster roster.
Expect to pay: $70/£55
Release date: March 13, 2026
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Reviewed on: NVIDIA RTX 4070 Super, Intel Core i7 14700KF, 32 GB RAM
Steam Deck Unverified
Link Steam
It's me. I'm somebody. Specifically, I'm the prince and monster-riding ranger captain of a kingdom that stands on the brink of war, because unlike your typical Monster Hunter ecocrises, this rash of crazed, crystallized megafauna threatens something even more precious than the delicate balance of nature: It threatens diplomatic relations.
Warfare has often lingered at the edges of Monster Hunter history, but Monster Hunter Stories 3 is the first time it's threatened to break out where we can see it. The implications are chilling: Bad enough that humanity might turn its tools for slaying godlike monsters on each other, but what would we think about warfare—and about those who make it—if it meant those same monsters were brought to the battlefield?
Unfortunately, Monster Hunter Stories 3 doesn't have much to say about war except that it makes dinosaurs upset.
Stories 3 is gorgeous: Environments and monsters are rendered in a lush cel-shaded style, and as someone who's thoroughly bought in on Monster Hunter, I was content spending many of my 40-odd hours with the game enthusiastically Dicaprio-pointing at monster animations I've spent years failing to dodge.
But the strongest thing about Stories 3 is the madcap complexity of its monster battling and breeding. It continues the series' magic trick of translating the flavor and rhythm of Monster Hunter combat into turn-based battling—not as a Hunter, but as a Rider, fighting alongside my hand-picked, bred-for-combat crew of my favorite creatures from across MonHun generations.
Or as Capcom's localization team settled on calling them in 2016, "Monsties"—a term which I'll be doing my best to avoid, because I'm 32 years old.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
Stories' combat is essentially three layers of simultaneous, Pokemon-style rock-paper-scissors. When me and my monsters dive into battle with a wild Seregios, I'm keeping track of more than its elemental weakness to lightning. I've learned it favors technical style attacks that my monster and I can counter by choosing power style. Its tail's weakness to slashing damage makes it the best target for my longsword; if it was airborne I might be able to knock it to the ground by puncturing its wings with piercing damage from a bow or gunlance.
But as soon as a monster enrages or transforms—as MonHun monsters love to do—all those priorities change. When frenzied, that Seregios will switch a flurry of speed style attacks; some monsters might start attacking with new elements that'll force me to reconsider which of my monsties (help) I've got on the field, while others can manifest ice blades or hardened razor scales that will shred my team to pieces if I don't swap to a hammer and shatter them.
If that sounds like a lot: It is. After a few dozen hours, I'm still catching myself staring blankly at the screen as I struggle to hold all the moving pieces in my head at once. But successfully exploiting those shifting dangers and opportunities is a rewarding juggling act that I eagerly sought out, echoing the same fantasy of bu...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?