A Standalone Monster-Catching Odyssey
In an attempt to keep the hype around turn-based RPGs going into 2026 after the renaissance last year, I withheld my review of Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin until the beginning of the year. After all, it is a big year for And, despite what you may have heard elsewhere, it wasn’t because of a thing called real-life getting in the way.
Monster Hunter Stories 2 is a standalone tale, separate from the first Monster Hunter Stories game, but with plenty of similar themes. Once again you are playing as a Monster Rider rather than a hunter, but once again you must still defeat a large number of monsters in turn-based combat. In between travelling around the maps you will find Monster Dens that will contain eggs within for you to hatch. There is a bit of a Pokémon to Monster Hunter Stories as you collect monsters and then use them to fight alongside you. You don’t have full control over their attacks and abilities; instead, it is more about picking the right monster for that particular situation.
Again, there are the ethical issues when you unlock the Rite of Channeling, which is just a fancy term for gene splicing. I jest, but the fact that everyone seems eager for you to unlock this ability that allows you to engineer your monsters to take stats and moves from others – that in turn “disappear” – just shows that everyone is complicit.
A Story That Plays It Safe
The story is quite processional, and lacks any real originality. Your Rider travels around from town to town, helping them solve their issues whilst investigating a larger issue. Each town has a ‘buddie’ who will accompany your Rider for that portion of the story. Towards the end of the game, they all blend into one another, with none of them really standing out from the others.
The larger issue this time around involves a bunch of Rathalos disappearing and a pink light appearing over the sea. Then, an Anjanath appears in a rage, seemingly imbued by the same pink light that appeared.
And Navirou also makes a return. The wise-cracking, slightly too annoying sidekick, Felyne, from the first game is also on hand to guide you through this new adventure. His obnoxiousness has been toned down for the second outing it feels, and is slightly more tolerable as a result. He remains the voice for your silent protagonist though, talking you into a lot more trouble than feels worthwhile, then letting you deal with all the large monsters to defeat whilst he puts hit feet up.
And Combat That Doesn’t Innovate
Combat is largely the same from the first game, adapting a rock-paper-scissors template in terms of the attacks you can perform. It means the first couple of times you face a new enemy you may need a couple of goes to figure out which type of attack will be most fruitful, but after that it is simply just a case of remembering.
New features include the ability to switch weapons on the fly – and access to new weapon types are a lot quicker than the first game – which will help you massively. You can now target specific parts of a Monster, with each body part having different strengths and weaknesses based on your weapon type. It is a welcome new layer to the battle system, that was previously criticised for being too basic. Unfortunately, it still doesn’t feel robust enough to carry you through the entire 35+ hour story, and will become tiresome over time.
Sub-Optimal Performance
The difference between how this looks compared to the first game is night and day, and is the best new feature in this sequel. Unlike the first game that originally launched on the Nintendo 3DS, the second game originally launched on the Nintendo Switch. That extra power means this is a much better-looking game. But whilst it looks a lot better, performance and optimisation are still sub-par for Xbox Series X|S consoles.
Transitioning between the world map and into a battle comes with a delay of several seconds; a period of time just long enough for you to wonder if the game has crashed. We’re not used to these lengthy transitions in this generation cycle as much, and yet it happens more often than not here.
It is a similar case when transitioning between areas too. It’s just something we aren’t used to anymore, so when it does happen it feels all the more jarring.
A Better-Looking Sequel That Struggles to Overhaul
Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin is certainly a better-looking game than the first one, but it feels like it plays it a bit safe in improving anything else really. The combat has been tweaked rather than overhauled, and whilst it is still enjoyable, it’s a stretch to keep at it for the duration of the game. The story takes an age to really get going, and even then, it plays it safe.
With the upcoming release of Monster Hunter Stories 3, now is the perfect time to jump into these first two Monster Hunter Stories, but temper those expectations accordingly.
Important Links
Monster Hunter Stories Finally Arrives On Xbox – And It Brings Wings of Ruin With It – https://www.thexboxhub.com/monster-hunter-stories-finally-arrives-on-xbox-and-it-brings-wings-of-ruin-with-it/
Buy from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/monster-hunter-stories-2-wings-of-ruin/9N4TKJQRLBKS/0010
There’s a Deluxe Edition – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/monster-hunter-stories-2-wings-of-ruin-deluxe-edition/9MW04FKKLRVP/0010
And a Collection, bundling both Monster Hunter Stories games – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/monster-hunter-stories-deluxe-collection/9PJNWTFPK0VQ/0010
