As a fan of RPGs, I love that so many of them are now offering the chance to play the first couple of hours ahead of launch. If you’re keen on playing the game, it’s a head start. But if you’re on the fence, it can be a great barometer in deciding if the game is for you. Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection is one of those games that offers a trial. Unfortunately, I don’t think it will appeal to newer players.
A very slow start
My problem is with the pacing. While this is common for most RPGs, this game is trying to create intrigue, but it falls flat. I say this because we get drip-fed world details. We start with a cool sequence around the discovery of a rare Rathalos egg. Upon its hatching, not one but two monsters come out. While this would be a cause for celebration, we’re told this is a bad omen, and one must die.
We fast forward to the future, and we find out that the Queen has disappeared. They refer to her as a ‘turncoat.’ But we don’t get to know what she did until much later. But for the rest of the demo, we’re focused on our character’s training. Not as a new Ranger Hunter, but of them training another Ranger.
In an interesting change, our character is no longer a silent hero. We are the prince/princess of this kingdom, and they are a well-respected Ranger Hunter. But that doesn’t stop the game from teaching us every aspect of the game in a slow, specific manner. Instead of us being the pupil, we are the teacher. You will spend the majority of the trial’s run time learning things.
Not enough here to keep my attention
Outside of one aspect of the game, it’s hard to tell what’s new here. Based on my limited experience with the previous games, a lot of the gameplay feels the same. Combat still incorporates a rock-paper-scissors approach to fights. You will have to pick the correct fighting style (strong, tech, or speed) to get an attack advantage over your foes.
If you’ve played regular Monster Hunter, the shift to turn-based attacking is easy to grasp. Like the action-RPG games, you can and should attack a beast’s limbs. In fights involving “Invasive Monsters”, this is key to victory. If you are not quick to take out a limb, it might cause the elimination of your team in one swift attack.
From what I can tell, the one new aspect of this game involves Monster “reintegration”. As with the previous games, there is a focus on finding rare or endangered monster species. After collecting and hatching eggs, the game encourages you to release them. They introduce this late in the trial, and it’s hard to tell how deep it goes. From the brief cutscenes, it does seem like we will introduce new variations of monsters. But I can’t tell if we’ll also discover new monster species.
I’ll wait for a sale
The first three hours of Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection don’t do enough to warrant my long-term attention. Yes, the last cutscene does offer some suspense and intrigue, not to the point that I’d want to shell out $95 at launch. This feels like the kind of game I’d pick up once it goes on heavy discount. For now, I see only the most die-hard fans jumping out to play this right away.
