Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin feels like a classic JRPG, and I mean this with all of the lofty praise and unfortunate criticisms that come with that genre. The battle system offers familiar turn-based mechanics and creature taming that are easy to learn yet hard to master, while exploring the open world bears all the signatures of genre classics as you embark on a grand adventure that initially feels a bit incomprehensible.
“Ride or die,” as Dominic Toretto of Fast and Furious (and family memes) fame would say, and that’s exactly what you’ll be doing as the ancestor of a legendary rider who is quickly caught up in a journey that will soon encapsulate the entire world. While Wings of Ruin can find itself bogged down by repetitive dungeon designs and poorly telegraphed combat encounters, the brilliance that hides within its cast of characters and more tender story moments are worth sticking around for, even if tedium sets in long before the credits roll.
Wings of Ruin can be compared to Pokemon in more than a few ways, although it’s more ambitious in how it goes about battles and storytelling. That’s not a dig at Pokemon, if anything it’s a compliment - Capcom has taken the finest elements of Game Freak’s iconic series and turned them into something more. Fans of the mainline games or younger players after a fair yet challenging fantasy outing will find a lot to love here, even if cracks in the experience aren’t afraid to make themselves known.
It all begins in a humble seaside village where you’ve spent your entire life living in solitude. As the grandson or granddaughter of Red, a beloved rider who once saved the world, there are plenty of familial expectations weighing down upon our protagonist, despite the fact they’re completely silent and can only communicate through a handful of adorable facial expressions. You were raised to worship Rathalos, legendary dragons who are said to maintain balance across the land. One day, the skies and waters run red as they all vanish, soaring into the skies and leaving humanity behind as an unknowable blight begins to tear them apart. Because the adults are useless in this world, they send this fresh-faced teenager out to save the realm because ‘destiny’, I guess. Fair enough!
From here it’s off to the monster-infested races, and many of the features you learn about in the opening hours will remain constant throughout the whole game. Monster Dens - miniature dungeons housing a number of treasures and resources - are scattered across the land, and conclude with a nest where you can scavenge eggs of different rarities. This is where the Pokemon comparison becomes most apparent, with Wings of Ruin boasting over 100 different ‘Monsties’ to collect, all of which have their own distinct abilities and appearances. There’s a lot of depth here, with the ability to merge monsties into other monsties resembling some sort of cutesy take on Persona. I found myself sticking to a strict selection of creatures with enough elemental skills to swing most battles in my favour, although completionists and more hardened multiplayer riders will be able to delve into the inner workings of this system for hours on end.
Battles in Wings of Ruin follow the ‘rock-paper-scissors’ template of Fire Emblem and Advance Wars. You can execute power, speed, and technical attacks, all of which are capable of countering each other when used in the correct sequence, and it only takes a few short encounters to learn exactly how each fight plays out. However, it’s given additional complexity thanks to a selection of abilities and party members who provide buffs and extra damage. At times it can be too simple, but I feel that’s a deliberate move on Capcom’s part to ensure this game is approachable for newcomers. You’ll be left on your lonesome more often later into the campaign, but you’ll frequently have a fellow rider by your side helping to alleviate some pressure in the early days.
Some boss encounters will have your party members scream out the obvious like “we need to attack its POISONOUS tail,” which is an indicator that you must wipe out a specific body part to avoid an early demise. So long as you enter each dungeon with the right weapons and armour, strategy seldom ascends above this level. Not everyone will gel with this level of adjustable difficulty, but it seems like Wings of Ruin is purposefully hoping to draw players in who might not be familiar with the genre, offering a selection of surface level systems that newcomers can easily in engage in, while veterans can take the time to perfect them if they so wish. I’m somewhere in the middle, since I’ve never had time for the catch ‘em all mentality. If you’re a useless monstie I’ll kick you to the curb, ain’t nothing personal.
Monster Hunter purists coming into Wings of Ruin hoping for an equal experience will likely be disappointed, and misguided in terms of what this game is trying to achieve. Saying this, the crafting and customisation elements have been brought into the limelight with this sequel, with each monster you slay having its own selection of weapons and armour to craft in each major settlement you come across. Resources are gathered by killing the relevant monsters or just prowling around dungeons, so it’s easy to change up your look or craft a specific item for quests and wider progression, with each new spoil proving to be hugely rewarding in its own right. Once again, it’s simplified, but in a way that feels beneficial and arguably more innovative than what came before it. Personally, I’m all about fashion, choosing to both slay my look and the monsters I encounter instead of being pragmatic and opting for the armour that will stop me from being murdered.
Wings of Ruin manages to tell a compelling story within the confines of its conventional formula, dishing out a wonderful cast of supporting characters as you stumble across each new environmental locale while building towards the narrative crescendo. My presence in this land seems to matter, especially with how I’m thrust to the centre of its unfolding drama again and again as the plot progresses. Much of the melodrama revolves around your signature monstie, an ancient creature with blackened wings that label it a terror destined to destroy the world. Your job is to challenge these misconceptions, working alongside your friends to put everything right without needlessly sacrificing allies along the way.
Outside of the campaign, you’ll be able to take on your usual array of side quests and also partake in online battles, which are one-on-one encounters where monstie types and elemental properties play a far more serious role. This personally wasn’t for me, and I had little incentive to invest in the battle system through online play given the rewards were so slight. But for competitive players, perhaps they’ll find their itches scratched in a similar manner to how Pokemon tackles the competitive scene, since it’s once again the closest comparison I can make. There ain’t no shame in learning from the best.
While the places you explore in Wings of Ruin are sprawling, they can unfortunately grow repetitive. The layout of monster dens and larger dungeons are evidently made up of pre-fabricated parts, with resources and monsters all placed in a way that feels artificial. It holds back an affair that is engaging so much of the time, especially in lavish cutscenes where epic confrontations play out before your very eyes. Sadly, these are contrasted with dull exchanges crammed with dialogue and voice acting that simply aren’t up to scratch. A talking cat accompanies you throughout the entire game - I couldn’t stand him and would feed him to a monstie if I could. He’s meant to be cute, but his grating voice and atrocious puns come across as anything but. Flaws like this hold Monster Hunter Stories 2 back, but they never keep it down for too long, as there was more than enough for me to stay engaged.
Those looking for an easygoing yet surprisingly deep JRPG will be taken with Monster Hunter Stories 2, even if some of its more notable flaws are harder to forgive. But once you look past those, you’re left with a wondrous little adventure with an engaging battle system, lovable characters, and an emotionally resonant narrative that sunk its claws in far deeper than I ever expected it to. If you’ve never been able to vibe with the mainline games, give this one a punt.
Score - 4/5. A Nintendo Switch review copy was provided by Capcom