Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection is the third mainline entry in Capcom’s “Stories” series of Monster Hunter JRPGs, set to launch in March 2026. Like its predecessors, Twisted Reflections will adopt a turn-based battle system, but the popularity of action-based RPGs did have the developers consider a change in genre.
Talking to Game*Spark in a recent interview, Monster Hunter Stories 3 director Kenji Oguro comments, “Early in development, we were torn about whether to continue as is or change direction. These days action RPGs are popular, and we’re aware that they’re well received.” But to begin with, he explains, the Stories series was launched to be a new pillar of the Monster Hunter franchise, distinct from the mainline, action-focused games. “A major reason for adopting a turn-based command RPG format was that we wanted people who aren’t good at action games or who simply prefer RPGs to be able to enjoy it.” On the other hand, the strengths of the Stories series lie in narrative and collecting and raising monsters. This is something the developers doubled down on for the latest entry, according to the director.
Additionally, given how far the mainline Monster Hunter series has come with its action mechanics, Oguro thinks that attempting to add action to the Stories series would only make it pale in comparison. “I think people would just go, well in that case, aren’t the mainline games better?” He adds that “expressing Monster Hunter-like battles without adding action mechanics might be what defines the core identity of Stories.”
That’s not to say that Monster Hunter Stories 3 won’t leverage Capcom’s prowess in action gameplay. Oguro says he made use of this know-how to execute a pretty dramatic change to field gameplay. Specifically, this involves making the environments more interactive (“inviting players to do stuff”) and adding mechanics that make simply traversing the field fun.
Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection releases on March 13, 2026 for PC (Steam), PS5, Xbox Series X❘S and Nintendo Switch 2.
