Monster Hunter Stories 2 do you need to play the first one

With the recent demo and upcoming release of Monster Hunter Stories 2 Wings of Ruin on the Nintendo Switch you might be wondering whether or not you need to play the first one before embarking on the sequel. We’ve done the research and gone through the process ourselves having missed the opening game in the series, so the details below should give you enough to make the call for yourself.

The fact that there’s a free demo for the opening section of the game means you can also test it all out before shelling out any cash for yourself. Alternatively, you can check out the Monster Hunter Stories 2 walkthrough to see it in action and get more of a feel for the story and gameplay, which we’ll discuss in more detail below.

We definitely recommend trying out the demo in the very least.

Do you need to play the first one: the short answer

In a nutshell, you definitely don’t need to play the first game to start the sequel, but having a little bit of knowledge about the back story and gameplay mechanics will help you get into it a little better. Don’t worry though, we’ve got you covered with the back story and beginner gameplay tips below, which should see you starting on a flyer.

The overarching story for Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin is kind of separate to that of the previous instalment, but there are a couple of characters that are in both. The way that it’s all presenting with the excellent cutscenes in the game is that it’s a new situation with only slight similarities between the events.

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Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin story

You can see the opening story cinematic for MHS2 in the video below, but essentially you play a character that you create that is being trained by a Monster Rider called Kayna. It starts out with a mysterious girl in the forest outside of the settlement and a Rathalos egg. At this point Guardian Ratha leaves the island and it’s up to you to train up and help to find out what is happening to cause such seismic events.

The only real character to transition over from Monster Hunter Stories is a felyne by the name of Navirou, who helped out in the first one fighting the Black Blight. He has since travelled around and now searches for the truth behind the disappearing Rathalos that is happening throughout the land.

There’s also sort of a reference to your character’s grandfather Red in the previous game, but it’s a bit too tenuous to confirm this early on. You can also check out our computer games section, or visit the Monster Hunter website at https://www.monsterhunter.com/.

Beginners notes

If you didn’t play the first one then you might be looking for some beginners notes on the gameplay, but the game actually does a pretty good job of introducing all of the different mechanics, so you could just jump into action and you’ll probably be fine. You can also watch the walkthrough video above to see how it all works, but we’ve also put together 10 beginners notes below to help you out:

1. The overall arc is that you head out riding a monstie (a monster that you hatch from an egg that becomes tame) and have to deal with dangerous monsters in battle.
2. You do this taking it in turns to inflict damage. You need to choose the right attack type – speed, power or tactical – to beat the monster. You can either guess it based on the type of monster you face or work it out with trial and error.
3. You also build up gauges to do special moves like skills and riding attacks to inflict extra damage.
4. If you take too much damage you can use items like potions on your go to heal up or use antidotes to remove status ailments like poison.
5. The aim is either to defeat them or make them retreat, and you’ll get a batch of material that you can use to craft or upgrade weapons and armor.
6. If they retreat, you can follow them into their den and get an egg from them while they sleep.
7. As you’re exploring the environment, you can pick up all sorts of items for crafting or to sell, so make sure you grab stuff as you go to keep your stores of potions good if for nothing else.
8. You can also buy provisions from any merchants, so this is another good way to keep a good stockpile of everything that you need.
9. Don’t forget to visit the blacksmith to forge new armor and weaponry, or upgrade your current load out. Visit every now and again to see what materials you need and use this info to guide what you go after.
10. Just because this is a stories game, that doesn’t mean that the principle of elemental leverage doesn’t come into account. For example, if you’re going up against an Anjanath then you want armor with fire resistance and a weapon that deals water damage to max out your impact.