It's been a long time for the Digimon Story series. The last truly new entry was Cyber Sleuth back in 2015 (One of my favorite games ever, as you can see by my review of it. Hacker's Memory was released later, but it's more of a side story and feels DLC-esque rather than being a new game. Aside from that, we've mostly had re-releases, so things have been pretty barren for Digimon fans. That finally changed on the 2nd with the release of Digimon Story: Time Stranger, and as a huge Digimon fan I had to jump in head first. Now that I've played through it, I'm here to share my thoughts on it, with a decent amount of discussion on how I think it compares to Cyber Sleuth.
Story
Time Stranger has you take on the role of an agent for a secret organization that investigates anomalous activity, most of which involves creatures that the agency dubs "phase electron lifeforms," but that refer to themselves as Digimon. Early on the anomalies you're looking into cause an apocalyptic event that thrusts you back in time 8 years, where you try to determine what it was that caused the event, as well as seek a way to prevent it. Your search for answers spans both our own world and that of the Digimon.
I won't give a lot of detail on the story beyond that, since story is such a big part of JRPGs and I don't want to spoil anything, but I will say I enjoyed it quite a bit. I felt the characters were a bit weaker than those in Cyber Sleuth, but they were still pretty solid, and the actual plot was pretty great.
Setting
Like a lot of Digimon media, the game is set both in the real world and cyberspace, and in this case is also split between two different times. Similarly to Cyber Sleuth, the real world segments are set in a version of modern day Tokyo, though there isn't as much of it to explore as it isn't quite as central to the game as Tokyo was in the previous game.
The cyberspace areas are set within the Digital World, but rather than the standard Digital World ruled over by Yggdrasil and protected by the Royal Knights, Time Stranger focuses on Iliad, a version of the Digital World whose protectors are inspired by various Greek and Roman gods.
Something I really liked about the game was how alive Iliad felt. The central hub town is filled to the brim with Digimon, some are interactable and some aren't, and it's so populous that it feels like a real city. On top of that, being set in a proper Digital World rather than Cyber Sleuth's EDEN led to a lot more variety in the places you visited. Most of EDEN was fairy uniform in appearance, so I appreciate it being less monotonous here.
Visuals and Soundtrack
Time Stranger is a great looking game. They didn't go for realism, and the graphics feel sort of last generation, but the game more than makes up for it with its style. On top of that, a lot of Digimon models have been reworked to be more detailed, with furry Digimon having visible fluff, and ones like Meramon having animated flames rather than a static orange look. I've included a picture of the new Meramon below, but it honestly doesn't really do it justice since the animated effect is a huge part of what makes it such a massive improvement over previous games.
The soundtrack is enjoyable; it's a bit less memorable to me than Cyber Sleuth's but I think it does the job pretty well. There are DLCs that allow you to replace it with music from the various anime series, or that of Cyber Sleuth, but I passed on those since the game's base soundtrack is good enough for me.
Gameplay
The most important part of any game, as well as the part I have the most to say about. The core of Time Stranger's gameplay strongly resembles its predecessors in the Digimon Story series, but this game improves on the formula in a lot of ways that I will need to mention here, specifically in comparison to Cyber Sleuth. That being the case, I'll split this part into a few smaller sections.
Combat
As with previous games in the Digimon Story series, the combat in Time Stranger is reminiscent of the Shin Megami Tensei series. The battles are turn based, 3v3 fights. Your Digimon each have one skill unique to them, and several they can inherit from other species. Unlike Cyber Sleuth, the inherited skills can be unequipped from a Digimon and equipped to another as an item, making it quite a bit easier to get the inherited skills you want.
Other changes from the predecessor include changing out an active party member for a reserve member or using an item no longer taking up an entire turn. The game has type effectiveness, with a triangle of attributes, and separate elements whose effectiveness varies per Digimon species. You also have a meter that increases as a fight progresses, that when filled allows the player themselves to perform a skill called a Cross Art. There are multiple with various effects that can be unlocked as you proceed.
Overall it's very similar to the previous game, but the things they've changed make it a lot more pleasant in my opinion, and the boss fights are more balanced in a way that keeps the game challenging (so long as you don't grind excessively and overlevel). The balancing accounts for the ability to use an item without taking up a turn so make sure you stock up!
Collecting and Raising Digimon
Every time you encounter a Digimon, you scan it, and when you get enough scan data for a single species, you can Convert it to obtain that Digimon. This is your primary way of getting new party members. Your Digimon will gain experience and level as they fight, learn new skills, and become stronger. When they meet certain stat requirements, they can Digivolve to a new form that's stronger, or back to a previous form, but they also return to level 1 upon doing this. They have a level cap that increases each time they Digivolve or De-Digivolve, so if they hit the cap before meeting the requirements to evolve, they may need to revert to a prior form and train up again.
The player also has their own level, which increases by using Agent Points obtained from Story and Side Quests to unlock new Cross Arts or passive bonuses. Cross Arts and some of the passive abilities the player can unlock also become stronger as the player levels, and higher Digivolution levels require a certain player level, so your own abilities need to improve if you want the strongest team you can get.
Excess Digimon can also be "loaded" into another Digimon. They are lost when you do this, but the Digimon they're loaded into gains experience and stats based on how evolved it is and what level it is when you give it up for this. All of your Digimon, even those in the box rather than the party, gain experience from battle, so it's worth having a lot of Digimon so the excess can be loaded to make your party stronger. They can also be converted into money if you're short. A big difference from prior games is that they required you to go to the Digilab to convert or Digivolve, but that can be done straight from the menu in Time Stranger.
There is also a Digifarm, where you can put your Digimon and have them train over time, increasing their stats and influencing their personality. Personalities influence their stat gain on leveling, as well as what passive ability they may have. Additionally, most of the passives unlocked using Agent Points are applied to Digimon with certain personalities, and some Digivolutions have personality requirements.
Side Quests
The side-quests you can do are largely the same as they are in other games. You may have something you need to find or someone you need to fight, and you're rewarded with Agent Points to level yourself as well as items and money. Some side-quests are pretty standalone, while others are longer chains. At certain points in the story, quests you haven't completed will become unavailable. Quests blocked this way are not unavailable permanently, but you need to progress through most of the game before you have access to them again. Thankfully you can't be caught by surprise with this, as the game will warn you if you're approaching one of the cutoff points.
While they are mostly the same as other games, Time Stranger did make one big change from previous games in the series. Previous games would usually require you to do some side-quests between chapters before you could proceed with the story, but Time Stranger doesn't do this, they are all completely optional. This is one of my favorite changes from previous entries as I always felt like forcing you to do them made the pacing of the story awkward. My one issue is that some side-quests are gated behind paid DLC. Those quests don't give Agent Points, but personally I am not a fan of content being locked behind DLC right from release.
Overall Impressions
This game is utterly fantastic. I went into it thinking that if it was even half as good as Cyber Sleuth, it would be amazing, but aside from my distaste for launch-DLC locking quests behind it, and the fact that I like the characters a bit better in Cyber Sleuth, this game exceeds it in every way. The story is great, the world feels alive, the visuals are vastly improved, and it has a lot of quality-of-life improvements that previous entries in the series lack. It's extremely approachable whether you're a longtime Digimon fan, or entirely new to the franchise, and it manages to be challenging at times throughout(unless you go overboard on grinding, which you definitely can if you want an easier experience). This is the definitive Digimon game, and I cannot recommend it enough.
VERDICT: Essential
Reviewed on PC
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