Monster Hunter Stores 2: Wings of Ruin has made me a believer that not all JRPGs will rub me the wrong way. Its charming, lovely story mixed with its wonderfully engaging combat and being able to kidnap monsters create a fantastic experience which also adds to the depth of Monster Hunter's world and lore.

Monster Hunter Stories 2 is a fun, anime-inspired ride that gets better the further you delve in. It has a huge roster of Monsties to tame, a simple to learn but difficult to master combat system, and an insanely addictive Monstie development system.

The PC version is absolutely the definitive way to play the game, while environments can be a bit flat in terms of detail and the draw distance leaves a lot to be desired, it’s gorgeously animated, has a beautiful art style, jaw-dropping models, and steady performance. Not once did I have a technical issue aside from one that I assume was related to Steam, it was a joy to play from start to finish and is the version this review is based on.

Monster Hunter Stories 2 may look cute, but it still retains the huge amount of depth the series is known for. No, it's not as expansive or as fast-paced as the likes of Monster Hunter World but that works in its favour. Stories 2 is the approachable series entry point I've been waiting for and has inspired me to return to other games in the series to test out my skills again.

Fans of the Monster Hunter series – even the main games – will have a real hit on their hands here, with a pleasant change of pace from the usual Monster Hunter antics. That doesn’t mean that there’s not plenty here for the layman too, and if you’re looking for a fun, if a bit easy, title to run you through to that huge release window in October than this is definitely worthy of your consideration.

Monster Hunter Stories 2 is a win, with so many quality of life changes from its predecessor on 3DS. It’s welcoming and accessible, familiar yet new, complex but not too confusing, and has plenty of surprises waiting for players and I can see myself playing it way beyond this review.

The narrative acts as a small, mostly harmless, reward in between lengthy bouts of grinding, largely pushing you from area to area. Barren locations and unappealing textures do kick things down a notch when exploring its world, but you’ll forget about them as soon as you enter combat and bask upon the detailed, epic monster models and their special attack animations. It’s not perfect, but underestimating Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin would be a disservice to fans and newbies alike, as it’s a fully-fledged turn-based RPG that also has a lot of the mainline entries’ DNA baked into it.