Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection

Steam Reviews

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• Recommended Posted March 16, 2026 on Steam (TLDR; The Game Should Have A Post Ending Where You Can Run Around And Tie Up Loose Ends Without Placing You Right Before The Final Boss) As some one who has just beaten the game at the time of this review I can say with full confidence that this definitely rivals MHS2 in terms of quality and enjoyment. I love this franchise and I have put over 200 hours into MHS2 alone. However there is one glaring issue that I can not overlook as it ruined the ending for me. In the past two installments there was post game content and while the first one had iffy content the second set a standard I thought would be up held for the remaining installments. I was wrong as after you beat the game there is no going forwards. You are stuck in time right before the final boss fight even after watching the credits roll. This disappointed me greatly as not just for the fact there wasn't post game content but rather the journey. In the past you were able to go back to the final boss area not to fight them but either to reflect on your journey or to access a challenge unheard of. The most beautiful arena is locked after a certain point and that's not fair to the player. I wanted a sense of resolution after beating a pretty tough boss. I wanted to explore the world without the sense of danger looming over. I wanted to see the new wave of life get restored due to my actions. I wanted a proper ending. This is an opinion expressed by me and if you think the ending is perfect good for you. All I want if it's possible is a some sense of post game. Just something that let's you run around with Simon and explore the world freed of your ancestors' transgressions. However don't let this bring you down as the rest of the game is a masterpiece that should be play. All in all I just hope to see title updates for this amazing game.
• Recommended Posted March 28, 2026 on Steam Just beat the game after ~ 100 hours (if I count the 40+ I spent in the Trial version), and it's a total delight. A cut above the previous two entries in nearly every way... except (post-game spoiler beyond here) [spoiler] the post-game, which doesn't exist. I'm hoping that's a "doesn't exist yet," because it is sincerely a HUGE bummer when everything else about the game was phenomenal. :( Not every game needs a massive post-game, but the previous entries had them, and that sets a precedent. I was disappointed to find that not only does a finished save load from right [i]before[/i] the final battle, but also doesn't allow you to remove Ratha from your party! He's just stuck there, taking up a slot and making any other fire monsties you want to include on your team redundant. You also don't get to use Simon anymore, and that would have been nice, since now I can't even use his costume that came in the bundle beyond Act 1. So here's my request: please make the post-game world a post-final-battle world, too. I don't need some grand explanation for why Eleanor can hang out with us when she should be in Vermeil helping with the recovery. She can just be there. Let us use Simon as a companion again so we can use his DLC costume. You could even include his endgame costume so he'll have the same amount of costumes as your other companions. And let us remove Ratha! I don't want that guy on my team for trashing Elder Dragons.[/spoiler] That aside, highly recommended if you like creature collectors, Monster Hunter, JRPGs, or any combination thereof.
• Recommended Posted March 13, 2026 on Steam [sorry non native english speaker coming] I'm not deep in these Monster Hunter games, but wanted to give this one a try. And i dont regret it. Sure i'm not a big fan on hero type stories or YOU ARE THE CHOSEN ONE stories (just say this to avoid spoiler) buuuut so far i actually grew to like it, the characters are so loveable. I know the price might be a bit much for people, its a great game, yet i agree. If you dont have all the money freely at hand, just wait for a sale, its worth the wait. The combat made me a bit unsure at first "not again, i'm so tired of turnbased" but i have to say, i enjoy it. Its simple enough a super casual gamer like me understand and manage it, yet not too simple that you get bored out of ya mind. I also experienced so far no bugs, crashes or any other similar issues. Which is a pleasant surprise. [now i typed too much and no one gonna read it anyway xD] - I also noticed that most negative reviews about crashes are from people with better pc stats than me, so maybe there is something to look out for. I myself play on max settings and have no issues. - Update: [34h in] I can say for sure now that i really enjoy this Game. Still didnt had a single issue with crashes, lags, fps or anything similar while being max settings. My only complain so far. Some stuff is over explained while some things are too little made clear and get quickly lost. [or i'm too stupid, who knows]
• Recommended Posted March 18, 2026 on Steam I'm going to get this right out of the way now; As of time of writing this, there is No PVP, No Co-op, and No Postgame. I'm not upset about PVP, but i am kinda bummed about the other two. THAT BEING SAID. I do genuinely like this game. I wouldn't say [i]aaas[/i] much as 2 gameplay-wise, the postgame team building was very fun, but i did definitely have a very good time. (just beat the final boss while writing this, and i did very little in terms of sidequests; you can milk a lot more time out of this game!) The story's good. It's not the [i]most[/i] innovating thing in the world, but considering this is monster hunter we're talking about, having even a solid plotline is unheard of. Characters feel like actual characters and not cardboard cutouts, and no character is the designated "joke character," which makes interactions feel a lot more genuine all around. Rudy is also a lot more fun than Navirou, because he's a legitimate character just like everyone else instead of a walking punchline. Longevity-wise; This is a proper JRPG. The "postgame" is moreso "some extra challenges that are harder than the final boss, but are technically doable pre-final." a "postgame" save just loads you right before the final boss, akin to Zelda games. Hi-rank does not exist; This is basically what nighttime is. Superbosses? Calamitous Elder Dragons and Decisive battles against Invasive Monsters. Now, retracting my statement somewhat on the "No postgame" bit for a moment, and here's why; The final bosses of MHS1 and MHS2, Makili Pietru and Oltura respectively, are both fought around LV40. The final boss of MHS3 is roughly LV70. The lategame is basically the equivalent of postgame content--maybe not in terms of direct difficulty, but definitely in how the gameplay loop works. Oh, and as this seems to be a big-name monster hunter game that seemingly is the stories equivalent of MH: World, there may very well be additional content releases. I could honestly see a proper postgame or multiplayer being added in the future, though that may just be me coping. Okay, performance. I have had ONE crash, and i'm pretty sure that was a fatal exception rather than anything graphics related. I've had small lagspikes during cutscenes specifically, as they're all rendered in-engine instead of pre-rendered, and this causes audio desync that can get pretty nasty at times. That might just be me running it off of an HDD, though, in which case it still ran pretty damn well for hardware it probably shouldn't be running on. Normal gameplay ran fine, even on high. Swapped it to medium later on to see if it would fix the cutscene problems, but no dice. If lacking PVP/Co-op or not having a true Postgame is a dealbreaker for you, then oof. But this seems to be a proper shift in the formula that may very well linger from this point on, and while it's definitely different, i don't dislike it.
• Recommended Posted March 14, 2026 on Steam 2026/3/14: Finished the game after a sequence of "just one more quest"s snowballed into me bashing my head against the final boss for 40 full minutes, and I wouldn't have it any other way Now that I've completed the game though, I do have to mention some criticisms I have of the game now. 1: Game does crash. First time I loaded it up today, I went 30 minutes, and then I crashed. But no crashes afterwards whatsoever. 2: Absolutely no "Endgame" content. I mean literally. Compared to Stories 1 and 2, which let you play in the same world after you've beaten the final boss, loading a save which has completed the story here will simply put you back in front of the final boss. Which, tbh, does suck. I did want to play around in the world after we saved it. But I suppose it's a fine compromise. And, this does make the game feel like it was cut short, or at least had parts snipped off. 3: Lack of certain fan-favorite monsters. The roster is reduced by a decently sizable margin compared to previous titles. Obviously this is shown in some notable monsters being excluded, but it's also seen in how many lower-tier monsters have also disappeared from the roster. I'm not going to go too much in depth on the good of this game in this review section, since the below section has already done plenty in this regard, but I'll just say that despite these flaws, this game still had me clock 30 hours in it over a period of 48 hours, which the other two Stories games were not even close to accomplishing. It has absolutely crit the hell out of my attention span, and I love it for it. For my overall review score, I'd give it a 8/10 right now, with the 2 lost points being due to the fact that the game does not let me play in it enough. If it let me play in the world after the final boss, continuing on after the story's conclusion, it'd be a 10/10 and my GOTY contender for this year. (Rest of this section is speculation, feel free to ignore.) As for post-launch support, it remains to be seen what kind of support we'll get. Stories 2 had some title updates, so I would assume we might get some for Stories 3 as well. But, this might be a hot take, I personally want an expansion more. Over these 30 hours, I've found myself REALLY enjoying the world and the characters that've been built up, far more than Stories 1 and 2. The one thing I'm hoping we'll get is the ability to play in the world after the final boss, to be able to see the world after the story with our own eyes instead of through a cutscene. I know I might be in the minority, since Stories games never traditionally had expansions (afaik). But I feel like the game still has so much potential to be expanded upon, and not doing an expansion would genuinely be a gigantic missed opportunity. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2026/3/13: This game is crack cocaine, and is definitely the perfect jumping-in point for anyone looking to pick up the Monster Hunter Stories series. List of improvements over Stories 1 + 2: -Overall fluidity and smoothness of actions. Dismounting works intuitively, switching monsties is fast and convenient, and activating monstie world roam abilties are also extremely simple. But the most important thing, to me, is how much better the controls for Mouse + Keyboard are. In Stories 1, the mouse's movements corresponded to joystick inputs instead of actual camera movements, meaning moving the mouse horizontally and vertically would only pitch the camera up, down, left, and right at a constant rate, instead of varying based on the speed of your mouse movements as you'd expect. And in 1 and 2, your mouse would CONSTANTLY get disconnected from the camera for no good reason (I think it triggers on RMB? But I really cannot fathom why that was implemented). Not in Stories 3. This game is the first Stories game that actually feels great to play on mouse + keyboard. -Complexity of fight mechanics. Stories 1 and 2 used a very simple "rock-paper-scissors" based fighting system, which was servicable, but it lacked true skill expression. Stories 3's addition of stamina bars and Wyvernfell meters make fights far more intriguing, as now you have to juggle more things, which I do prefer over simply pressing the right button for the right monster. -More improvements to monstie management. Rites of Channeling no longer consuming a monstie is huge, and allows for a single monstie to be so much more valuable than before. Now, each and every monstie is a full package of genes to transfer over, rather than the single good gene they had like in Stories 1 and 2. Ecological conservation is also a very interesting way for monsties to gain new elements, though it does rely heavily on RNG (getting the correct eggs for monsties you need to release may take a while). -Misc. QOL changes and content improvements. Being able to insta-kill weaker monsters directly in the world, more general interactions with followers, more control over follower actions/gear, holding down F to collect everything you walk past without stopping...I could go on. And besides these improvements, it's still an extremely solid Stories title. \ It has (in my personal opinion) the strongest story of all Stories titles (so far). Stories 1, while its story was 100% servicable for the game it was (which was a far less serious title), still felt a little too whimsical for there to be any stakes. And Stories 2 mentions your dead Grandpa WAYYYY too much for me to take it seriously. Stories 3 is the first MH Stories title which actually made me sit upright in my chair during some story segments. It has excellent worlds for the player to explore using the various redesigned movement abilities of the monsties. And with how much smoother the monsties move, this is the first Stories world that feels fun to run around in. Plus, the little ecology survey items scattered all over the place provide a nice little reward for attentive players who are still interested in ecology (me). You may be asking, "what are the flaws of this game? Surely this game isn't just perfect?" right now. ANd that's a good question, I'm trying to find the answer to that as well. I'll update this review once I find any flaws worth pointing out. No, but for real, if you put a gun to my head and forced me to name a flaw of this game, I probably still couldn't. That's how much fun I had with this game. Honestly, Stories 3 feels like the Monster Hunter: World + Iceborne (Post TUs) of Monster Hunter Stories titles. That's probably the best way I can put it. It is definitely worth the full price purchase. Disclaimer: I did not encounter any crashes/save data porting issues for the entire 14 hours I played this game. If you encounter crashes, I don't know how to solve that, but I've attached my PC specs and some other misc. info about my setup below to hopefully help you out: -NVIDIA driver version 591.44 (Dec. 4 2025 drivers) -Game installed on an external SSD connected via SATA cables (with 2TB of space left on the drive) -Trial version installed on same drive, completely unmodded
• Not recommended Posted March 14, 2026 on Steam The game itself is great, I can not however recommend the game on pc. Performance is not an issue on my build however the fact that if you open the game more than 5 times in a day you get locked out of it because of denuvo is a farce. I paid for the game yet can't play it? this is why people pirate games bro.