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As one of Capcom’s biggest franchises, the Monster Hunter methodology of releases has always left me stumped.
Like many others, I fell in love with the series playing Monster Hunter World and its open-arms approach to newcomers. But up until that point, the series had been all round the houses in terms of releases. It still proved to be the case when the follow-up, Monster Hunter Rise, initially released only on the Nintendo Switch.
Similar for the spin-offs, which largely released on handhelds only. Monster Hunter Stories was no different, the first game releasing on the Nintendo 3DS in 2017. Heck, I even played this on my Android smartphone as it released on there too. Now though, the first game in the spin-off series is releasing on the Nintendo Switch and PC and, alongside Monster Hunter Stories 2, on PlayStation as well for the first time. But why not Xbox? Could it just be the Monster Hunter way of unusual release schedules, or is there another reason? Either way, there are plenty of Xbox fans wondering why they have been left out.
The Monster Hunter Stories subvert the basic elements of the traditional series somewhat. Primarily, you aren’t hunting monsters to kill them, but are looking to ride and raise them. You are known as a Rider, someone that lives alongside monsters rather than hunting them. There is more than a hint of Pokémon to Monster Hunter Stories. You hatch the monsters, train them up in a party, learn different moves and more.
Not only that, but Monster Hunter Stories is a turn-based RPG. You still have the option to choose your weapon type, change and upgrade your outfits from the spoils of war and more. But the action RPG is turned into a very, very traditional RPG.
The first Monster Hunter Stories released in the West in 2017 on the Nintendo 3DS. Playing, and it certainly has that look of a polished PS2 game with small towns to explore, and wider, open areas filled with not very much. The camera doesn’t control all that well either, but if you can get over these minor foibles, that is a very solid JRPG underneath it all.
Both games utilise a rock-paper-scissors method for their turn-based mechanics. Your standard attacks can either be power, speed or technique and choosing the right one to counteract your opponents can make all the difference. Monsters in your party aren’t 100% controlled; you can’t govern their standard attacks but if they have a skill you wish to use, you can instruct them to use that instead.
Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin then released in 2021 for the Nintendo Switch and was an immediate step up in the graphics department. This time around, a pack of Rathalos have disappeared that you are tasked with investigating. As a descendant of a legendary rider, a lot is on your soldiers shoulders from the very beginning.
Monster Hunter Stories 2 has an additional major feature in that you can change your weapon during battle. This allows you to take advantage of a monster’s weakness in ways that aren’t present in the main series. This is first introduced to you when fighting a Kulu-Ya-Ku, a personal favourite monster. It picks up a stone that it uses as a shield and you need to attack it with a blunt weapon to effectively break it. Hopefully this feature will appear in the upcoming Monster Hunter Wilds to allow new strategies to be formed.
Both games play out very similar to one another. You are a rookie Rider learning the ways of your profession whilst exploring a wider world, meeting new characters and just otherwise having a joyous RPG adventure. But it is the amount of features and callbacks to the wider Monster Hunter universe that will be what entices veterans over to this new way of playing.
At times, these games feel like one giant easter egg full of references, from the weapon types, plethora of recognisable monsters right down to the poogies, felynes and even the icon of each monster in the UI. For fans unfamiliar with the series, these are light-hearted adventures that younger players will get a kick out of. For the veterans, it is all about chasing down your favourite monster and adding it to your party. I haven’t yet found a Tobi-Kadachi in these games, but there is a guaranteed space in my party for them when I do.
Apologies if all this has whet your appetite for more Monster Hunter on Xbox, but I must again warn you that currently, these games are not coming to Xbox. It’s great on one hand that they are being released on PlayStation 4 after being online previously available on Nintendo or mobile devices, but a lack of an Xbox port is a major disappointment. And I don’t really have the answer for why that is.
It could be down to Xbox Game Pass, where the Monster Hunter series has flirted. Both Monster Hunter World and Monster Hunter Rise have been in the subscription service, with Rise launching straight into it when it hit Xbox consoles. And it could be a case of waiting for the right time to launch into the system, though I’d argue that any time is good Monster Hunting time.
Or it could be due to the lack of current-gen support for these titles. I mentioned these are launching onto the PlayStation 4, and whilst they are fully playable on the PlayStation 5, there are no current-gen specific features associated with playing on the newer console. Fewer and fewer games are launching on older consoles now (and rightly so as we’re nearly halfway through this console cycle already) and off the top of my head, the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. trilogy are the only ones of note to do so recently. They however, have the promise of a current-gen update on the way, so maybe they were allowed to do so on that basis. Could it be that unless there is an Xbox Series X|S version of these planned, they are unable to launch on just the Xbox One?
I could argue though that it isn’t really needed. These games aren’t going to cause your console to overheat or start smoking due to the demands they are putting on the processors. The first game ran on a Nintendo 3DS and aside from some pretty visual updates, still plays very similar now.
Even just one of these games on Xbox would be fantastic. And if I could choose, it would definitely be Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin. It isn’t a direct sequel in true JRPG fashion and plays very similar to the first, but is a lot better looking. It has the quality of life updates too such as an interactive map and letting you know which of the three attack types the monsters in your party are best suited for.
Capcom are usually the very good guys when it comes to simultaneous releases across platforms, so this one has left me a bit stumped. But please Capcom, can we have the Monster Hunter Stories games on Xbox soon?
Huge thanks go out to Capcom for providing us access to Monster Hunter Stories and Monster Hunter Stories 2 on PlayStation. There’s a Steam page up if you fancy playing these on your PC.