Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin Review — Raising Monsters Instead of Hunting Them

Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin turns the series’ hunt-and-carve loop into something gentler: a turn-based RPG about stealing eggs, hatching them, and raising the monsters inside as partners. Capcom developed and published the game, and Wikipedia credits Marvelous as co-developer. It launched worldwide on July 9, 2021 for Nintendo Switch and Windows. It is a sequel to Monster Hunter Stories (2016) and a spinoff of the Monster Hunter series. A sequel, Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection, arrived in March 2026.

Trailer, via Monster Hunter.

A Rider, Not a Hunter

The shift is the whole point. In Monster Hunter Stories 2 you do not stalk a monster to kill it. You assume the role of a young Rider who uses a Kinship Stone to form bonds with creatures called Monsties, then fights alongside them in turn-based battles.

The player character is the grandson of Red, a legendary Rider. The story opens with a fateful encounter with Ena, a white-haired Wyverian girl who has been entrusted with a Rathalos egg by Guardian Ratha. That egg is the problem. A Rathalos with small black wings bursts out of it, and legend says the creature will bring ruin to the world in time.

Rathalos Are Vanishing

Before any of that, the game sets its hook: Rathalos are disappearing around the world, with a mass disappearance seen at a festival on Hakolo Island, while large pits emitting a strange, pinkish light appear everywhere. Monsters with pink, glowing eyes — “rage-rayed” creatures — attack and destroy everything they see, and the pits seem to be the source.

The Hunters blame the birth of Razewing Ratha, the player’s Rathalos, and capture it. That is when the story complicates itself. The Hunters are working with a mysterious group that wants Ratha for its own reasons. The player takes Ratha back and escapes with Ena, and Ratha spreads his wings in the process.

Oltura and the Pits

Later, the player watches an enormous worm-like creature emerge from one of the pits and devour a Rathalos. That monster turns out to be a powerful Elder Dragon called Oltura, which has been creating the pits and luring Rathalos in to consume them and gain power. As the player and Ena track Oltura, the pits’ light starts to turn blue.

The trail leads back to Hakolo Island, Oltura’s birthplace. There the player and Ena confront Zellard, revealed as the leader of the mysterious group. He intends to awaken Oltura to destroy the world and build a new one, having grown disillusioned with humanity after Red’s death. He nearly sacrifices Ratha to Oltura. The source account cuts off there, so what happens next is not established.

What the Buddies System Adds

Monster Hunter Stories 2 keeps the egg-stealing and hatching loop from Monster Hunter Stories (2016), the game it follows. You befriend monsters by taking eggs and hatching them, then bring your Monstie into turn-based fights against wild monsters.

The sequel adds the “Buddies” system. Under it, the player character and their Monstie are joined by an additional character and an additional Monstie. The source does not say how much that changes the shape of a battle, only that a second pair joins your side.

The series’ modes are broad: single player, multiplayer and co-operative play are all supported, and the game is presented from a third-person perspective. Genres are role-playing and adventure, with action themes.

The Plot’s Machinery

The story piles on a lot of parts: Rathalos vanishing, pink-light pits, rage-rayed monsters, a compromised Hunter organization, a mysterious group, and Zellard’s plan to remake the world after Red’s death. In this paper’s view, that is standard-issue RPG conspiracy plotting, and it is the weakest thing the game carries.

The game’s own summary promises “dramatic events and heartwarming friendships.” Our read is that the friendship lands harder than the conspiracy, but that judgment is ours, not something the summary establishes.

What the Game Gets Right

The strongest thing Monster Hunter Stories 2 does is commit to its premise. A Monster Hunter game where you raise the monsters instead of killing them could have been a novelty, and the egg-stealing loop could have been a gimmick. Instead the game builds a full turn-based RPG around it, with quests, skill growth and deeper bonds with the creatures as you go.

The Kinship Stone and the Monstie bond are not decoration. They are the system the whole game runs on, and the addition of Buddies gives it more room to breathe.

In our view, Capcom’s spinoff is the rare one that justifies itself. It takes the most recognizable thing about Monster Hunter — the monsters — and asks what happens if you stop fighting them and start raising them. The answer is a turn-based RPG with real systems behind it.

The published critical score sits at 8.6/10, drawn from an aggregate of 11 outlets. That feels right. This is not a game that reinvents the RPG, and its plot leans on familiar pieces. It is a game that plays to its own strengths without apology, and the Monstie bond is the reason to play it.

Capcom · game review · Monster Hunter Stories 2 · Monstie · Nintendo Switch · turn-based RPG