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SOJMonster Hunter · Stories
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What is Monster Hunter Stories?

The same world from the other side of the saddle: a turn-based RPG about befriending the monsters instead of carving them.

In Monster Hunter Stories (3DS, Japan October 8, 2016; the West followed in 2017) you play a Rider, from a village that bonds with monsters rather than hunting them. Stolen eggs hatch into partner ‘Monsties’, battles run turn-based on a prediction triangle, and the main series’ bestiary is redrawn in a warm, storybook style. A television anime, Ride On, aired on Fuji TV alongside it.

The spinoff became a pillar. Stories 2: Wings of Ruin (July 9, 2021, co-developed with Marvelous) shipped a million copies in eleven days and passed 2.7 million in Capcom’s figures, following a young Rider and a flightless Razewing Rathalos prophesied to end the world. A remaster of the first game reached modern platforms in June 2024, and Stories 3: Twisted Reflection launched on March 13, 2026 for Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC, set two centuries after Wings of Ruin.

THE RIDER’S WORLD

What changes, what stays
Kinship, not carving
The bond mechanic replaces the loot loop: Monsties are raised, their genes mixed to pass abilities between species, a breeding system the main games would never allow.
The bestiary, translated
Every monster keeps its real attacks and habits, re-expressed as turn-based patterns. Knowing the main games makes you literate here, and vice versa.
A genuine trilogy now
With a 2016 original, a hit sequel, and a 2026 third entry across two console generations, Stories is no longer an experiment. It is the series’ second spine.

THE COVERS

Both games
Monster Hunter Stories, Japanese 3DS cover, 2016
Stories · Japanese 3DS cover · 2016
A Rider atop Rathalos, the whole bestiary swirling around them, under a CERO A all-ages rating: the spinoff’s warmth is on the box.
Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin key art, 2021
Stories 2 · Key art · 2021
The Razewing Rathalos carries its Rider over a green valley: the sequel’s cover promises flight, not combat.
Two covers, one promise
Both Stories covers put the monster under the hero rather than against him. The entire spinoff is summarised by that one compositional choice.

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