Review – Digimon Story Time Stranger

After eight long years since Cyber ​​Sleuth, the Story franchise returns to modern platforms with , an ambitious project developed by Media Vision and published by Bandai Namco that promises to redefine the experience of digital monster RPGs. This new chapter sets out to explore deep bonds between humans and Digimon while unraveling the mystery of the world’s collapse, promising a new level of experience and listening to all the community’s expectations during years of waiting.

The narrative of Digimon Story Time Stranger, which even has an animated short as a prelude, starts from an intriguing premise, in which you take on the role of a secret agent from the ADAMAS organization who, after witnessing a catastrophic explosion in Shinjuku, is sent eight years into the past with the mission of preventing the apocalypse known as Shinjuku Hell. The temporal structure that alternates between past and present creates an interesting plot, but the narrative construction is simple and ends up often relying on redundant dialogues and scenes.

The real protagonist that you don’t control

Right away we encounter what could be a problem for many, perhaps recurring in modern RPG titles, because even with an interesting story and good narrative moments, the game’s pace is excessively slow. The story takes considerable time to really get going, with the first ten hours being very dragging and, when we arrive in Iliad, the Digital World, we find sessions punctuated by very generic dungeons and not very interesting secondary objectives, which fill the spaces between the really important moments of the game.

The main characters demonstrate an interesting chemistry, even though it is a silent main character for us to control, with good doses of emotional depth capable of transforming these relationships into something memorable. After all, the developers promised to explore deep bonds between humans and Digimon, achieving this feat, for example, in Inori’s relationship with Aegiomon, which transcends the typical dynamic of trainer and partner, revealing psychological layers different from the conventional.​

With Kosuke Misono, Inori’s father, Hiroko Sagisaka, the streamer who connects worlds, and other characters we meet throughout the game, as well as those found in Iliad, all manage to provide genuine moments of emotional connection, particularly when they involve Inori and her family’s trauma, but they are isolated points in a narrative that often prioritizes progression over character development.​​

When we look at the antagonists of Digimon Story Time Stranger, Junomon and the twelve members of Olympos XII (Jupitermon, Neptunemon, Minervamon, Marsmon, Venusmon, Ceresmon, Mercurymon, Apollomon, Dianamon, Vulcanusmon, Bacchusmon and Titanmon) have a lot of relevance to the central narrative. Not only are they powerful combat units, but they are intrinsically connected to history, the Digital World, the truth behind the temporal anomaly, and the key to preventing the world’s collapse.

Time travel that stumbles into the past

In the field of gameplay, Time Stranger remains firmly in familiar territory for those who know the Digimon Story series, strengthening its characteristic as a turn-based RPG with elements of capturing and creating monsters, in which the central loop remains around collecting and training Digimon for strategic battles. During combat, you can have up to three active Digimon on your team, plus three more in reserve that can be exchanged and a guest Digimon that acts independently.​​

Digimon Story Time Stranger maintains the classic triangle of attributes, with Virus beats Data, Data beats Vaccine, and Vaccine beats Virus. On top of this basic layer, the game adds eleven different elemental types, creating multiple layers of advantages and disadvantages, developing a learning curve with the gradual discovery of these weaknesses and with the support of a scanner that reveals basic information about unknown Digimon, with additional data being unlocked as you face them.​

Following Bandai Namco’s recent releases, the Digi Attack function allows your Digimon to attack enemies on the field before the battle begins, in addition to having a system that allows you to automatically choose the best attack based on data, attributes and elemental weaknesses, even against enemies you’ve never faced before. This functionality also serves to break obstacles in the environment and interact with elements of the scene, adding an extra layer of exploration.​

Even with the option to increase the speed of battles, for those looking for more agility throughout the story, combat against bosses stands out for requiring different strategies and rewarding accumulated knowledge about the game’s mechanics. However, some of these confrontations can go on longer than necessary, testing your patience more than your tactical skills.​

The progression of the human character also deserves mention, explored through an unlockable skill tree with Anomaly points obtained in main and secondary missions, which allow enhancements with different buffs in status and special abilities. Your level, raised through the completion of missions, is a requirement to access Ultimate and Mega level evolutions for Digimon, providing engagement with optional content and overcoming the possible feeling of repetition.

Speaking of evolution, Digimon Story Time Stranger introduces new systems with Personalities and Links. Each Digimon has one of 16 personality types that influence stat growth, skill acquisition and even evolution conditions. Personalities are divided into four main quadrants: Value, Philanthropy, Friendship and Wisdom, each prioritizing different attributes.​​

The system known as Friendship Bond essentially works as a mechanic that provides increased status as you develop a connection between your Digimon. This bond can be increased through battles, interactions and conversations with your monsters on the field. When you Digivolve a high elo creature, some of its stats are transferred to its other form, allowing you to repeat the evolution cycle to create absurdly powerful Digimon.​

Compared to Cyber ​​Sleuth and Hacker’s Memory, Time Stranger represents an evolutionary leap, surpassing the number of 450 playable Digimon, the largest in the series’ history. All 3D models were recreated from scratch to take advantage of modern hardware, as the basis of Cyber ​​Sleuth was originally developed for PS Vita, where each Digimon has unique animations.​

The world of Digimon Story Time Stranger is also significantly more interactive than its predecessors, with Iliad featuring intricately constructed environments, interactive elements, and special missions to explore. This feature contrasts positively with the generic corridors and sterile environments of Cyber ​​Sleuth, although there are still many dungeons that are essentially corridors in disguise.​​

A creature game for adults

For a very close launch of a new title in the Pokémon franchise, Digimon Story Time Stranger is graphically competent and carries all the power of the series’ futuristic look. The Digimon shine with creative design, and even though the world appears generic, the art direction is cohesive and the visual effects during battles are impressive.

The soundtrack, which marks the return of Masafumi Takada, is competent and creates an atmosphere worthy of the anime episodes. Some themes stand out, between the environment and the emotion of battles, and manage to move people by establishing the epic tone that the game aims for. However, much of the combat and exploration music is simple, especially when compared to the themes in previous games.​

​Digimon Story Time Stranger is simultaneously the best game in the franchise at the same time that it manages to greatly divide opinions, especially when expectations were very high due to the development time the game went through. We finally got to see a game with a large number of Digimon, deeper and more strategic battle systems, and builds an epic story about time travel and sacrifice.

For Digimon fans who have waited patiently for eight years, Digimon Story Time Stranger will likely be satisfying despite its flaws because of the pleasure of collecting and training hundreds of Digimon, experimenting with personalities and abilities, and battling challenging bosses. However, for casual JRPG players or those without a nostalgic connection to the franchise, stumbles in executing ambitious elements can create insurmountable barriers.​