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Although I’m afraid I might be jumping the gun, I need to start this review with a clear statement. If you liked Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth, then this is a no-brainer. Play Digimon Story: Time Stranger. You’ll undoubtedly love it.
For years now, Digimon fans have been starving for a big-budget game. I’m not saying the previous Digimon games are shabby or underwhelming. Take the World subseries, for instance; they do a fine job of simulating what it’s like to raise a Tamagotchi in the Digital World, but they’ve never quite delivered the full potential that Digimon fans deserve.
Until now, that is. Digimon Story: Time Stranger isn’t just the most visually impressive Digimon game the franchise has ever seen — it’s also one made with great care and attention for its most ardent fans. I don’t consider myself the biggest Digimon enthusiast, but I’ve been invested in the series for a long time. I’ve watched every anime released so far, I’ve platinumed both Cyber Sleuth titles, and I’m always trying out new games whenever I can.
That’s why writing this review was a bit tricky. On one hand, I know I’m wearing Rosemon-tinted glasses given my familiarity with the franchise; on the other, I know I need to emotionally detach and analyze the game within its spectrum as a turn-based JRPG. While Time Stranger is a delight for the series’ buffs, I can’t say the same for those who’ve never cared much for Digimon.
A New Odyssey
At the start of the game, we choose between Dan Yuki or Kanan Yuki, a choice that determines who will be our silent protagonist, while the other takes the role of our voiced Operator, guiding us through our missions as an ADAMAS agent. This organization is responsible for investigating bizarre occurrences known as anomalous phenomena.
These anomalies range from eccentric lifeforms to spontaneous explosions, earthquakes, and whatnot. The organization noticed that around these anomalies, there’s always something they call Phase Electron lifeforms, known to us mortals as Digimons.
Digimon Story: Time Stranger introduces our protagonist as an ADAMAS veteran, and to help us understand both the organization and ourselves, there’s a short initial lore dump. Soon after, we set out to investigate another anomalous phenomenon, but everything goes south. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building is destroyed by Digimon, and in the middle of the chaos, we’re teleported to an unknown place.
That’s when we discover we’ve traveled eight years into the past. For some reason, our Operator can still contact us through the Digivice. According to her, the future (or present) is caught in an ever-growing conflict that’s turning into a worldwide calamity nicknamed the Shinjuku Inferno. Now, it’s up to us, in the past, to uncover whatever clues or mysteries we can to stop the world from imploding eight years later.
Since our protagonist is an Agent whose duty is to deal with these anomalous phenomena, we have both personal stakes and professional responsibility in the main plot. We’re not just someone thrown in the middle of a conflict and forced to solve it. We’re the only ones who can do it, since I don’t see anyone else getting a second shot at preventing Armageddon by traveling to the past. It’s an intriguing premise and quite refreshing for a JRPG.
As mentioned, our protagonist is silent — a feature that nowadays instantly makes me frown. While it doesn’t do the narrative any favors, it’s not so lazy as I was expecting. At various moments, we can pick dialogue choices that don’t alter the story, only the immediate reaction of whoever we’re talking to. These choices seem to fall into three categories: a basic one, an inquisitive one, and a sassy jokester pick (which did make me giggle more than once).
Like every good silent hero, we need to be accompanied by a voiced sidekick. That role belongs both to our Operator and to Inori Misono, an ordinary girl who finds herself caught up in the problems of the Real and Digital Worlds, as well as Aegiomon, a mysterious Digimon who joins us on our journey. Before long, Inori, Aegiomon, and our protagonist form a bond that becomes the driving force behind the entire story.
In fact, I can confidently say that the narrative in Digimon Story: Time Stranger is first and foremost character-driven. From the very beginning, we know our objective, so the game’s effort lies in making us care about everyone who stands to lose something with the world’s destruction. Gradually, Time Stranger introduces us to a wide cast of Digimon — some more relevant than others — as well as notable human characters.
Most of these characters feel authentic and play an important role, even if it’s fleeting. Every minor interaction you have with a Digimon, whether it’s pivotal to the story or just a random encounter on the map, eventually pays off as the game progresses. I don’t want to spoil anything, but the time-travel theme works surprisingly well with Digimons, considering their innate ability to digivolve.
The Pitfalls Of Time Travel
However, here comes a caveat. Time travel is a notoriously tricky theme to pull off convincingly in any work. I’m no physicist, and I don’t demand scientific accuracy from time-travel plots, but if a game establishes certain rules about it, I expect it to stick to them.
At first, Time Stranger respects its own self-imposed limits. However, as the story unfolds, it breaks those limits arbitrarily just to advance the plot. In the end, the story’s conclusion is still satisfying, and I managed to overlook these narrative slips, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’re there.
Another issue is how long it takes for the plot to pick up. Typical JRPG behavior, I know, but that’s no excuse. The first ten, maybe fifteen hours depending on your playstyle, are quite sluggish and go nowhere. It’s an introductory arc, presenting both the Shinjuku and the Digital World Iliad while we repeatedly go back to the same sewers.
Yet, when the story finally kicks into gear — oh boy. At one point, the story takes a very interesting 180 with some unpredictable subplots that really got me intrigued about what was coming next. When you pair that with a gorgeous presentation, slick cutscenes, and explosive animations, you have a treat.
At Its Prettiest Yet
No other Digimon game has ever looked as good as Time Stranger. The game is extremely colorful, full of personality, and visually stunning. As we explore the Iliad, we jump between different biomes, each represented by a Digimon that fits its environment. There’s a ton of identity and uniqueness in every area, even if they’re accessed through a stage-select menu rather than an open world, as some had hoped.
Every setpiece also boasts a fantastic soundtrack. The ambient tracks match each region perfectly, enhancing immersion. There are some truly epic ones during tense moments, like boss fights, that really deserve a standing ovation.
My only complaint about the soundtrack would be the audio design. During battles, every Digimon insists on yelling the name of their special skill every single time they use it. This often turned fights into a cacophony of Digimon shouting the same damn attack over and over again, making it impossible to appreciate the music in peace. At times, I’d literally stop selecting a command just to listen to the track in full.
To top it off, we have voice acting, which, while it falls short now and then, is solid enough and helps us connect more intimately with some character. Most of the main story is voiced, but not all of it. Also, character models finally have expressions. No more poker faces everywhere distracting me from the narrative, as it often happened with Cyber Sleuth.
All that combined sets the perfect mood and bolsters the narrative. However, the story still has its highs and lows, with a few clunky deliveries and a script that could benefit from more polish and refinement. Some dialogues suffer from excessive exposition, repeating already-given information as if the game didn’t trust the player’s attention. I hate myself for saying this, but Time Stranger suffers from too much telling when it should just be showing.
How many times must a potential ally misunderstand us or not even let us explain ourselves before jumping into a boss fight? There are also various tropes straight out of Japanese media, especially shōnen anime. I’m biased here, since I love stories driven by the power of friendship and newfound strength in moments of tension, but I know that at times it can feel a bit far-fetched.
Yet, despite all these complaints, I still felt enamored with Digimon Story: Time Stranger. There are so many nods for fans that I couldn’t feel more satisfied. I know that those who are familiar with and fond of Digimon will feel a warm nostalgia whenever they stumble upon these references. At the same time, newcomers will have to endure a few clichés and a somewhat slow-paced storytelling if they want to reach the JRPG’s ending.
Digivolution Of The Battle System
During the narrative downtime, we have the core of every video game: its gameplay. Digimon Story: Time Stranger brings back the same turn-based system seen in Cyber Sleuth. We can take up to three Digimon into battle (with room for three more guests), a timeline dictates the order of all combatants, and when our turn comes, we choose a command.
There are two main elements in every battle: the Digimon’s attribute and the skill’s element. Each Digimon attribute functions like a rock-paper-scissors adaptation. Vaccine is strong against Virus and weak against Data, while Virus is strong against Data, and so on. We also have other attributes, such as Free and Variable, which are neutral.
Then we have elements. Each Digimon can be resistant or weak to a specific element, such as fire or ice. So, for instance, if a Vaccine Digimon uses a fire skill against a Virus Digimon weak to fire, the latter will take triple damage. Since in every battle we can analyze the enemy and see all their previously known resistances and weaknesses, battles become more strategic than simply picking the strongest skill.
We also have traits, such as Dragon or Deity, and some skills deal extra damage to them. However, I noticed this happened more serendipitously than as a planned endeavor, so I didn’t pay much attention to it. My go-to strategy was to hit a Digimon with every possible element until I found their known weaknesses and then mercilessly eliminate them.
Initially, I was having a blast. At each new enemy was an opportunity to scour for their weakness, using everything I had in my arsenal. Every Digimon has one or two special skills and four slots for attachment skills, allowing me to expand and diversify my offensive options. So there I was, spamming every element possible just to learn what worked and what didn’t.
The Game Plays By Itself
That’s where Digimon Story: Time Stranger’s biggest gameplay issue lies for me. I mean, I wouldn’t call it exactly a problem, but maybe a not-so-desirable situation. One of GMTK’s videos shares a quote from Sid Meier saying that «one of the designer’s responsibilities is to protect players from themselves.» The video then doubles down on that idea with another quote, this one from Soren Johnson: «given the opportunity, players will optimize the fun out of a game.»
I know this sounds like a tangent, but hear me out. Digimon Story: Time Stranger gameplay feels so optimized that most fodder enemies come off as a formality rather than a real challenge. After several hours delving into the same sewer, fighting the same enemies over and over again, I resorted to some of the most notorious quality-of-life features ever seen in turn-based RPGs: battle speed-up and auto mode.
I’d simply perform a preemptive strike on an enemy in the field (they’d instantly die if my Digimon were strong enough) and start the battle with the advantage. Most of the time, a single attack from my party would kill them, ending the fight. I’d do the same thing over and over again, repeatedly, for what I’d say was around 90% of all battles. It was as if the game was playing itself.
Except for the boss fights, I saw no reason to engage in combat anymore. Even if the auto mode didn’t always use the most effective skill against the enemy, I just needed to adjust my party so that each Digimon’s attribute was effective against the enemies in that specific zone — and that was it, mindless victory after victory.
I was getting utterly bored with the game until the story picked up the pace. What else was there to do besides scanning new Digimon or digivolving mine into stronger versions? I must add, though, that the boss fights are insane. Some really required my attention, and even though every gimmick they pulled was basically the same across the board, it was still refreshing.
Then, it hit me. When I had earned enough Anomaly Points to spend on a sort of skill tree that benefited my entire Digimon roster, and my Agent Rank rose to level 5, I unlocked Ultimates digivolutions. I spent almost an hour digivolving and de-digivolving my babies, and it was glorious. The thing is, every fodder battle feels so unceremonious because, really, how else would you efficiently grind every single Digimon to eventually register all 475 of them?
I’m not sure if that was the design the developers intended, but it was the one I accepted for myself. I wasn’t engaging in normal battles to enjoy them — I was doing so to scan new Digimon, digivolve the ones in my box, unlock new forms, new skills, and new bursts of dopamine. Then, when I had to face a boss with a specific attribute, elemental weakness, or trait, chances were I already had the perfect Digimon to take them down.
From that point on, I started having fun. As a platinum trophy and JRPG enthusiast, completionism has always been something intrinsic to my personality (therapists say I’m filling some void with game achievements, but whatever).
Seeing my Field Guide filling up with more and more Digimon or encountering those little guys I’d only seen in the anime was enough to sustain my enjoyment through my 60 long hours with Time Stranger. Once again, does that mean this JRPG is for everyone? Hell no. Will Digimon fans and creature-collecting enthusiasts enjoy it? Oh yeah.
Заключительные комментарии:
Digimon fans starving for a game with a proper budget can finally have their fill. Digimon Story: Time Stranger is everything that those who grew up alongside Taichi and Agumon once dreamed a game could be. The story, though it sometimes stumbles with its time-travel theme and clunky script, has a glorious conclusion, and there’s nothing better than filling your roster with 400+ Digimon. However, those who are just looking for a new turn-based JRPG might not find much here to hold their attention, especially since the first hours feel unappealing for anyone who doesn’t care about Digimon.
8/ 10
История Дигимонов: Незнакомец во времени
Обзор на PS5
Как JRPG RPG Системы сбора существ
Изображения 10
Где играть?
ГДЕ ИГРАТЬ
Цифровой
Плюсы и минусы
- More than 450 Digimon for monster-collecting enthusiasts.
- Most impressive presentation a Digimon game has ever had.
- Boss battles require strategy and the right party composition.
- Fans will lose their minds over some references and easter eggs.
- The story takes a while to pick up the pace, but the outcome is glorious.
- Initial hours drag on far too much.
- The game plays itself most of the time.
- Script could use some tweaking here and there.
