Only a year after Wilds, fans can indulge in Monster Hunter Stories 3. Although it’s just a spin-off, the RPG has already been one of the biggest highlights of the year for MeinMMO editor Nikolas Hernes, because it excellently implements grinding and leveling.
What kind of game is Monster Hunter Stories 3? Superficially, the game resembles the RPGs of Pokémon or Digimon. As a human, you have multiple monsters with you and complete quests or follow the story in turn-based battles.
The special thing about Monster Hunter Stories 3 is how the mechanics of the main series are implemented. They are not just laid over like a skin, but are utilized for the turn-based combat system.
The game will be released on 03/13/2026 on the Nintendo Switch 2, Steam, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. I was able to test the game for MeinMMO on the Switch 2.
For me, Stories 3 is the best part of the series and one of the best games in the entire franchise, which I had a lot of fun with and will continue to enjoy in the future. That has already been evident in my preview of the game, but while continuing to play, I was especially impressed by the dull
grind in the open world.
Seldom has an open world been so enjoyable and motivated me to grind and level up without forcing me to do so. This became my favorite game on the Nintendo Switch 2.
A World Full of Exploration
I’m not a big fan of open worlds. Often they are too large and not engaging enough for me.
Stories 3 follows a similar principle for its game world as Monster Hunter Wilds. There are larger areas than open worlds, where you can fight roaming monsters, complete side quests, or steal eggs and gather resources in monster caves.
On paper, this sounds like a pretty lame open world, but the RPG masters the gameplay loop that makes grinding so enjoyable. The most important point is: Nothing is unnecessary.
The main aspect of the monster caves is obtaining new monsters. In ordinary, rare, and super-rare caves, you can grab eggs and hatch them in the stables.
When entering a new area, it immediately awakens my explorer’s instinct. Which monsters live here? Which monsters can I get? As a fan of the series, I also pondered which monster could be hiding in unknown eggs.
Even after 40 hours, I enjoy grinding through the different areas, because Monster Hunter Stories 3 always has a reward
for the player, even later in the game.
Even useless
grind offers me something
If you read about exploration instinct
, you might wonder what it looks like afterward. How good is the open world and the grind in it when you already know which monsters are present in an area? In short: I love the different areas and the gameplay loop.
The different monsters have 3 x 3
gene slots that determine what passive and active skills they have. If you have, for example, 3 fire skills in a row, the monster receives a bonus.
Depending on the rarity of an egg, there are also rarer skills. These can be easily inherited to other monsters to improve your creatures and build builds. Additionally, the new feature of habitat restoration has been added. The areas are divided into different habitats that you must unlock by defeating certain monsters.
In these habitats, you can release your monsters to improve a population. This also makes monsters that you may not need useful. Moreover, the different elements represent another facet of your team building.
Habitats have different elements, and monsters can take on these elements. If you found a Tobi-Kadachi in a fire habitat, it might not only have thunder as an element but also fire. In the habitats, you can also create monster populations just to create your favorite creature with a completely different element.
This is not only incredibly satisfying for fans who already enjoyed building in the main series, it allows you to utilize even useless
monsters and experiment with the habitats.
An Incredibly Satisfying Gameplay Loop
Grinding monsters for your own armors and weapons, collecting eggs, and restoring the habitats are all individual aspects that are already fun on their own, but Stories 3 creates an incredibly good gameplay loop and connects everything together.
In the open world, you can now freely switch between your 6 monsters and fly, climb, or swim while doing so. This works without load times, and everything ran smoothly for me even on the Nintendo Switch 2.
In the habitats, you have your own camps where you can forge, hatch eggs, and manage the habitats themselves. Everything is in one place, and in combination with the grind mechanics, it creates a flow that kept me engaged for hours:
- I fly through the open world, fighting monsters and collecting eggs.
- I return to base, craft new weapons, and check out my new monsters.
- I see if the monsters are worth it for my team or inherit genes.
- I use the monsters for the habitats and head back into the world to get new eggs and test new weapons and monsters.
Without load times and thanks to comfort features like the instant death
of monsters that are significantly weaker, everything goes pretty quickly, and you are constantly rewarded.
Leveling your own monsters goes quickly as well, because even if you only pick up herbs, you earn experience points. This way, you can quickly try out new monsters without having to level for annoyingly long.
But don’t worry: Despite some grinding sessions, I never felt over-leveled because most battles, especially in the story, do not revolve around whether your monster uses excessively powerful attacks.
The battles are mostly like a puzzle. You have to strategically attack different parts using various weapons and elements to defeat the opponent. In this regard, tactics and your knowledge of weaknesses are more important than your level or that of your monster.
The beautifully animated Kinship Attacks provided me with a regular visual treat, which already looked great in part 2:
Perfect for the Nintendo Switch 2
For me, Stories 3 quickly became my favorite for the Nintendo Switch 2. I continued the story on the TV and enjoyed the effect-heavy Kinship Attacks that could come from animes, and when I wanted to grind a bit, I switched to handheld mode and watched a series in the meantime.
I liked the graphics both on the big TV and on the Switch 2 screen, and I barely noticed any technical shortcomings, so I can highly recommend the game to anyone who has a Switch 2.
I focused heavily on the grind in this review, but I also really liked the story and the characters, and anyone who just wants to play a good RPG story will also find what they’re looking for here.
Fans of the entire Monster Hunter series should definitely check it out, as Stories 3 is not just an RPG with a Monster Hunter skin, it is a love letter to the nearly 22-year-old series. Monster Hunter Wilds also offers much that’s new: The final update of Monster Hunter Wilds lures hunters back into the game, bringing new, unusual weapons
