The Nintendo Direct September 2025 event has come and gone, revealing a mountain of new games and more information on already announced titles heading for Xbox and PC.
One such title that has received new intel is Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection, the latest entry in Monster Hunter’s spin-off Monster Hunter Stories series.
During the Nintendo Direct, Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection got a new trailer revealing more of its story, playable Monsties, turn-based combat, and most importantly – its release date.
We know that Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection will be launching on March 13, 2026, for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC via Steam.
Here’s everything we know about Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection from the Nintendo Direct and another trailer released shortly afterwards by Capcom.
The trailer begins with a recap of the game’s premise. Monster Hunter Stories 3 takes place in a world where Rathalos have been driven to extinction.
One day, however, an egg birthed a pair of Rathalos bearing the mark of the world-ending Skyscale Rathalos. To protect their world from this doomed prophecy, the kingdom of Azuria put one of the baby Rathalos to death.
Many years later, a horrible plague has begun spreading throughout the land, encasing everything in crystals and making the local monsters turn feral.
You play as the heir of Azuria, who has been tasked by the kingdom along with the surviving twin, Rathalos, to investigate and find a cure for this crystal plague.
To make things worse, war is on the horizon as the trailer shows footage of Azuria engulfed in battle with the kingdom of Vermeil, whose armies are led by a warrior riding the other twin Rathalos, which was presumed to be dead for years.
The trailer then showcases a montage of Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection’s gameplay, which looks to be a full-blown evolution of the Monster Hunter Stories formula compared to the previous game, Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin.
For starters, while riding your Monsties (which are monsters that a player can tame and control) out in the open world, you can switch which Monstie to ride without dismounting.
For example, you can jump off a cliff and hover while riding a Tobi-Kadachi, then switch immediately to riding a Rathalos in midair, without needing to dismount from Tobi-Kadachi and plant your feet on the ground to call a Rathalos first.
This will no doubt make exploring the world go by way faster and potentially allow for some cool platforming tricks where you can jump and forth between multiple Monsties while traversing precarious areas.
Next, the trailer gives us brief glimpses of Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection’s turn-based combat system, which looks to be the same as in previous games.
Human party members take turns using their weapons to attack enemy monsters or command their pet Monsties to sic them. Combat is waged by employing attacks with either Power, Technical, or Speed tags to overpower opponents in Rock-Paper-Scissors style clashes.
What’s new about the combat system thus far is that we’re getting a new weapon type for the player character to use in battle, the Longsword.
Additionally, enemy monsters now have a special gauge meter below their health bar that decreases whenever they take damage, which they never had before in previous games.
Could this be a damage mitigation shield counter like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, or an ‘Enrage’ meter that causes an enemy monster to instantly perform a devastating attack when the meter is empty? We’ll have to wait for more info from Capcom to find out.
At long last, I can finally ride Plesioth and make everyone’s lives miserable in Monster Hunter Stories
Perhaps the most exciting announcement from the trailer is that we’ll be getting several new monsters to hunt and potential new Monsties to tame.
Thus far, we know that Paolumu, Rathalos, Velocidrome, Tobi-Kadachi, Nerscylla, Yian Kut-Ku, and Anjaneth will return as Monsties from previous games.
Glavenus and Legiana are also potentially returning Monsties, as we see them being ridden in cutscenes but not during gameplay yet.
As for new monsters, we see a feral Chatacabra and a tease for Rey Dau from Monster Hunter Wilds at the end of the trailer.
By far the most exciting addition for me personally is that Plesioth is finally going to be a Monstie after being only an enemy for many years in previous games.
For those who don’t know, Plesioth is one of the most reviled and hated monsters in the entire Monster Hunter franchise. It’s gigantic, hits like a truck, it can shoot steel-cutting water beams, and it has a venomous bite that puts players to sleep.
Worst of it, Plesioth repeatedly uses an infamous attack now referred to by Monster Hunter Stories 2 as the ‘Hyperspace Tackle’, which can hit players a million miles away despite not looking like it hit them due to its massive, invisible range.
I’ve always wanted to have a Monstie version of Plesioth ever since Monster Hunter Stories 1, so I could give enemy Plesioths a taste of their own medicine and prank players in online PVP multiplayer matches.
I’m so happy to finally see my wish come true, along with all the new, exciting monsters and gameplay features Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection is bringing.
I know for a fact that I wasn’t expecting to see monsters from Monster Hunter Wilds’ monster roster so soon.
Here’s hoping we get to see Arkveld, Rey Dau, and Nu Udra as tameable Monsties when Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection launches on Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC on March 13, 2025.
