Instead of chopping monsters into pieces in order to make increasingly spikier and more ridiculous pieces of armor, the newly released RPG spin-off Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin will have you take a more friendly approach. You'll be able to tame and raise a variety of monsters, interact with them through a story-focused campaign, join forces and engage in turn-based battles with them, and eventually even ride them around as you explore the world.

As for what exactly this might look like in gameplay terms, that you can find out through the freshly posted launch trailer. Have a gander, it's quite a colorful one:

While I haven't played Monster Hunter Stories 2 myself just yet, I am happy to say that it has been enjoying a rather warm reception so far. As always there are some complaints, mostly surrounding the long grinds needed to raise perfect monsters and the repetitive nature of the combat, but overall it seems like Monster Hunter Stories 2 has accomplished exactly what it set out to do. So if you're interested in a Pokemon-like experience set in the Monster Hunter universe, Monster Hunter Stories 2 seems to be well worth a closer look.

You can do so, as well as check out the various reviews, over at Steam. Have fun!