10 best gaming surprises of 2021 (and 5 terrible ones)

05) Great Moment – Monster Hunter Stories 2 exceeds expectation

Do you know what my kids like about Monster Hunter? Fun armor, neat-looking weapons, and really clever monster design. Do you know what my kids don’t like? Inventory management, stamina gauge management, heavy crafting, grinding.

Monster Hunter Stories 2 was the solution to all my problems. Plus…it was just really damn fun. The Monster Hunter Stories games are games in which your character lives in a village that’s learned to befriend monsters (or Monsties as they call them). You can take many of the most terrifying creatures in the Monster Hunter universe and ride on them like mounts and take them into fun, rock/paper/scissor-style battles.

Not only was the game absolutely massive, doubly so when you learn to fly and you realize the verticality of several of the worlds, but it also featured a really clever story that got you fully caught up with the lives of every character from the first game since you left them over a decade ago.

Combine this with really fun online missions, a Pokemon-esque “catch ’em all” drive to find all the rare monsties you can befriend and a campaign that really tests your ability to battle and you have a really cool game for Pokemon fans and Monster Hunter fans looking to try something new.