[[2026 Games]]  ## 2026-03-17 I’ve always *liked* **Monster Hunter Stories** as a series, but never *loved* it. It always felt like it was this close to achieving greatness, but never reaching it. It turns out that third time is the charm though, because **Twisted Reflection** is finally a game I can love. I’m twenty hours in and am showing no signs of stopping. Every qualm I previously had with the series has been addressed, every aspect I liked enhanced, to the point I barely know where to begin. Possibly the biggest improvement has been to the combat. The old **MHS** games were basically just fancy Rock-Paper-Scissors, which was serviceable, but not enough for a [[Goopy Goblin Gamer Brain|goop]] lover like me. In the latest entry, that aspect is there, but there are tons of new additions that give the combat more depth. You have an MP bar, which means you don’t have to spend kinship gauge to use abilities, leading to way more interesting moment-to-moment choice making during a battle. Each weapon has a distinct identity that makes them all feel worthwhile. I’m currently going Longsword / Hunting Horn / Gunlance, but switch around whenever I’m in the mood for something different. Battles with feral and invasive monsters up the challenge, causing you to really need to understand how each monster behaves in order to win against them. Feral monsters are afflicted with a blight that makes them stronger, and destroying that blight requires different timing and strategy depending on the monster. Invasive monsters are even more intensive, but all the more satisfying to beat. Outside of combat, exploration has been heavily streamlined. The game takes a **Xenoblade**-like approach, with more interesting geography, distinct regions, and gorgeous designs. The loop has shifted to something that is perfect for my particular set of brain worms: you pull eggs from dens to hatch monsters, and those monsters are then released back into habitats. Do this with the same species enough times, and its ecosystem rank will increase in that particular region. The monster becomes more common, will hatch at a higher level, and have special bonuses and a bonus element depending on where you released it. This is also how you can unlock certain variant and deviant monster types. Not only does this allow for a huge amount of customization, it also feels like a much healthier representation of what a Ranger in the **Monster Hunter Stories** games should be like. It was hard to square the circle of being an environmental protector in previous games, while simultaneously mowing down monsters left and right and stealing their eggs like a bandit. Monster customization has also improved thanks to changes to the gene system. Now when you transfer genes from one monster to another, you don’t lose the old monster, so you can customize to your heart’s content (and then send those monsters off to new habitats when you’re done). I’m too early into the plot to say whether it’s good or not, but it’s immediately more interesting than that of the previous two games. I’m not a “super serious story” kind of guy, but the stories of the first two **MHS** games were so threadbare that it made it hard to even want to keep playing if nothing was really going to happen. I can deal with “no story at all,” but “story that gets in my way and is boring” is not something I fuck with. I particularly like the party your main character brings along with them. They’re all interesting and unique in their own ways, and it’s been fun doing their side-quests to learn more about them and upgrade their kits and monsters. More thoughts to come as I progress!