In recent years, Monster Hunter has grown to be one of Capcom's most well-known franchises, propelled by the success of titles like Monster Hunter: World and Monster Hunter Rise. The beast-slaying franchise's popularity has led to several side projects, including a Monster Hunter feature film and the franchise's foray into more traditional RPGs. Monster Hunter Stories 2, an RPG spinoff released earlier this year, is preparing to launch its third free updating, featuring a slew of familiar monsters.
Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin builds on the success of the first Stories title adding new battle mechanics and co-op gameplay, a staple of the main series. Since the game's release in June, it has received frequent free updates adding new monsters and quests for players to dive into. Previous updates have added popular monsters like the Hellblade Glavenus and Monster Hunter Rise's Palamute as 'Monstie' companions. Monster Hunter Stories 2's third free update will feature a trio of variations of fan-favorite monsters.
Monster Hunter Stories 2's third free update will release on September 2 and see a trio of Monsties added for players to befriend. Featured in the update are the Soulseer Mizutsune, Elderfrost Gammoth, and the Oroshi Kirin. The update will also add four new quests to the game along with the Monsties, with some marked specifically for co-op play. A trailer posted on the Monster Hunter YouTube channel showed off some of the flashy special attacks used by the Monstie's boss forms in battle, calling back to their main Monster Hunter series counterparts.
The end of the trailer also showed off a roadmap for the future of Monster Hunter Stories 2. The RPG will receive another free update later this month, adding even more Monsties and a high difficulty quest for the Kulve Taroth, added earlier this month. October's free update will feature a yet-to-be-announced high difficulty quest as well as gold and silver variants of the Rathian and Rathalos, respectively.
2021 has been a banner year for the Monster Hunter franchise, with two major releases in Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin and the previously-released Monster Hunter Rise. Rise was the second best-selling game in its release month of March, and the title is slated to receive a PC port in early 2022.
Monster Hunter's popularity has exploded in recent years, and the success of the two recent titles suggests that popularity will continue to grow into the future.
Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin is available now on the Nintendo Switch and PC.