One of the biggest booths at NYCC 2025 was the Capcom booth, featuring the upcoming Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection as a playable demo. Continuing the MH Stories spin-off series, the series leverages current-generation hardware and a larger open world in Twisted Reflection.
After playing the thirty-minute demo, this unique take on Monster Hunter has a lot to offer fans of both the mainline series and turn-based JRPGs alike.
What is Monster Hunter Stories?
Originating on the Nintendo 3DS with Monster Hunter Stories, it’s a turn-based spin on the tried and true Monster Hunter series. Playing as riders, you team up with Monsties to fight other creatures throughout a stylized version of the grounded world of Monster Hunter.
The combat system is a unique take on the turn-based systems found in other monster-battling games, such as Digimon or Pokémon. While players give commands to the protagonist and their companions, Monsties attack automatically using AI.
A Familiar Wilderness – Initial Demo Impressions
Starting in the overworld, my Rider and his party needed to get to higher ground to find Monster Eggs. Using a Monstie with the ability to climb up objects, they were then tasked with marking points of interest. It reminded me of moments like that in the recent Zelda titles, but familiar Monster Hunter elements became noticeable.
Collecting crafting materials, aspects of the interface, and more reminded me of my time playing prior mainline titles. But once players enter combat, the game’s most unique mechanics reveal themselves.
Taming Your Monstie – Turn-Based Battle System
When in battle, you give commands to Riders while the AI controls the Beasties. Similar to the mainline Monster Hunter games, Hunters can use different styles of weaponry. The demo gave me access to three different ones, each playing a role in the game’s unique weakness mechanic.
Power is strong against Technical, while Speed is effective against Power, for example. The mixture of turn-based and auto-battle mechanics took me off guard, as I had a mixed experience with AI party members in games like the original Persona 3. But the AI party members (both allied Riders and Monsties) made smart decisions during my demo session, inspiring confidence in the full game’s combat encounters.
The Hunt – Returning Mechanics from Mainline Monster Hunter
One major pillar of the battle system is tried-and-true battle mechanics from the mainline Monster Hunter games being implemented. Specifically, the Stagger and Limb-Breaking systems that Monster Hunter Wilds offered.
This was highlighted during the demo’s boss encounter, as the only way for my party’s attacks to be effective was to break Monster parts. By breaking one or multiple limbs, you can stagger them, and all your attacks can land major damage.
Having these mechanics built into a turn-based combat system adds a fantastic layer of strategy to combat encounters. Every battle against larger Monsters keeps you on your toes and makes you think about encounters, similar to how preparing for the hunt in mainline Monster Hunter adds a new layer of excitement to the core gameplay experience.
A Painterly Look – Presentation/Performance
Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection looked fantastic on PlayStation 5. Looking reminiscent of Studio Ghibli films, characters and the world around them stand out. Even the Monster/Monstie designs fit with this art direction, while still maintaining their grounded appearance from the mainline games.
The battles themselves looked awesome, making great use of expressive animation work and visual effects. Also helping give battles a visual pop are the character zoom-ins during clashes.
Regarding the game’s performance, Twisted Reflection runs at 60 FPS on PlayStation 5.
Closing Thoughts on Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflections
The Monster Hunter series may support single-player adventures, but the mainline games are infamous for their ad-hoc and online multiplayer raids.
So, taking many aspects of that experience and adapting it into a turn-based JRPG was always an exciting prospect. Having the full context of where this series began, and then playing the latest upcoming installment, it’s amazing to see how far it’s come.
Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection will be released on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on March 13, 2026. Stay tuned for our extensive NYCC 2025 coverage here at Lords of Gaming!
