Monster Hunter Stories Finally Brings Franchise To Mobile

Whenever there is a hot new game or genre, you can bet that a mobile copy will happen soon. That is true for MOBAs, battle royales, and everything in between. Sometimes, these copies are all mobile gamers can hope for if the big franchises don't port their titles to smartphones. Lo and behold, Capcom has surprisingly made available one part of its Monster Hunter franchise to both Android and iOS. But make no mistake, it's not the graphics-heavy, button-mashing game that you might think.

Monster Hunter Stories originally came out on the Nintendo 3DS two years ago. Judging by that alone, you can pretty much guess it's not the full-blown monster fighting game the title is known for. Instead, Stories makes use of a more stylized presentation and trades in real-time action with turn-based combat and RPG-like progression.

It may not have been what fans expected but many loved it all the same. It still had the spirit and lore of Monster Hunter, just presented in a different way. It also lent itself better to bite-sized chunks, which is perfect for smartphones.

It's not your regular mobile game though. You can pretty much tell that it's a premium title judging by its premium price. Monster Hunter Stories costs $19.99 on both Google Play Store and iTunes App Store. That's a price you thought only Square Enix could demand.

Fortunately, there's a free but limited version available for Android. It's an appetizer but your progress will be carried over to the paid game should you choose to continue. No such freebie for iOS but, considering it has had a Monster Hunter game long before, that's probably OK.