Monster Hunter Stories ($19.99) hitting iOS and Android at around half the price of the Nintendo 3DS version that had recently launched at the time was surprising to me given how late some ports of handheld and console games arrive on mobile. If you’ve never played or heard of Monster Hunter Stories, it isn’t a traditional Monster Hunter game but a single player JRPG that tried to appeal to a younger audience. The end result was a technical showcase for 3DS and one that put most bigger franchises to shame. The iOS and Android version is the definitive experience with much better visuals and performance. Read Shaun’s review of it here. We also featured it as our Game of the Week when it launched. Today, the game got a surprise update promising support for iPhone screen sizes up to iPhone 12. The screenshot below is how it looks with today’s update on iPhone 11:
Monster Hunter Stories already had support for taller iPhone screens so I was a bit confused by the patch notes. The first sentence in the patch notes said “Important Announcement" and I immediately thought Capcom was going to delist it or end support for the game going by what happened to Monster Hunter Freedom Unite on iOS. Thankfully, Monster Hunter Stories on iOS now boots up without the warning of it needing to be updated for future iOS versions and it also has better support for the taller screens with a notch. Capcom has added a bit of space on each side for UI elements to take into account the notch and rotation. That seems to be the only difference. Sadly, the game still runs with black bars on my iPad Pro (2020). Hopefully a future update brings in support for newer iPad Pro screens. The screenshot below is from how the game looked on iPhone 11 before today’s update:
I imagine Capcom is making sure it is playable well in case people who are interested in the upcoming Monster Hunter Stories 2 for PC and Nintendo Switch can play a version of the original without legacy hardware. If you aren’t sure if this game is something you will enjoy, give the demo a shot. It is available as MHST The Adventure Begins . The full game is also available on iOS and Android with save transfer support. Check out our forum thread for Monster Hunter Stories here. Have you played it yet and are you looking forward to Monster Hunter Stories 2 or Monster Hunter Rise?
