Digimon Story Time Stranger review: a breathtaking digivolution

Digimon Story Time Stranger encapsulates everything that makes the Digimon franchise so enduring. It’s incredibly ambitious, charting massive worlds and major bosses at a frantic pace. But it’s also packed with opportunities to stop and smell the roses, and to revel in a game that understands the magic and wonder of the Digital World so completely.

This is an experience that isn’t unlike the Cyber Sleuth adaptations, but it builds on these particular games for something much grander. It’s clear there’s been lessons learned from the criticisms of its predecessors, as Time Stranger is absolutely jam-packed with variety – colourful sights and sounds, and new realms with each twist and turn. No single hour in Time Stranger is like the next. You’re being shot through so many cool worlds at a breakneck pace that you’ll be dazzled with great frequency.

And while the game is plenty flashy and stylish, it also gets the core fundamentals right: it pairs beautiful, well-designed bubble worlds with strong combat, and a high degree of customisation.

Harmony in Digimon Story Time Stranger

Your journey through Digimon Story Time Stranger follows a relatively linear pathway. You are an agent of the mysterious organisation known as ADAMAS, who finds themselves in the past after the encroachment of a Digimon-related disaster. There, you team up with various allies in the real world, before a reality breakdown sends you on a quest through the Digital World. Quests are fetch-like, requiring you to travel through various locations, beating or helping certain Digimon, until a boss descends.

This structure is relatively tight, but variety in each level, and a genuinely impressive lineup of bosses (including franchise favourites) encourages you to explore at length. Developer Media.Vision has a keen eye for spectacle, and every part of this game shines with it. Whether you’re dispatching an angry Parrotmon or facing off with a horrifying Sharkmon, battles feel absolutely massive. Angry Digimon tower over you, and clever angles amplify a sense of underdog glory in victory.

Watch the story trailer for Digimon Story Time Stranger

It all builds around a sweeping, large scale plot that takes you from the real world all the way to the gilded halls of Digimon royalty. Unlike Cyber Sleuth, it goes for broke in its slowly unwinding tale of destruction and destiny in the Digital World. Your mission is not siloed; you become a lynchpin in the fate of both the Digital World and the real world fairly quickly, forcing you to adapt, and to focus on rearing your Digimon well.

Evolving your Digimon

With high stakes and a fast-moving plot, you need your Digimon team to evolve quickly. Thankfully, this game has the most satisfying battle and digivolution system of pretty much any modern Digimon game. As you explore, you get the option to actively attack wandering Digimon, and any smaller beasties will be dispatched immediately, with the EXP added automatically. In more intensive battles, you can take an activate role by deploying various skills and using your Agent abilities to buff your team.

You can also auto-battle and speed up gameplay, so that any menial fights are done away with. Simply activate auto and sit back, watching as your Digimon make the best decisions for survival. While there are some fights – particularly boss fights – where you’ll want to engage with more precision, the auto option means your journey can be streamlined, and you can speed things up to make the most of your time.

In choosing which Digimon to fight with, you can also make more thoughtful decisions. Each Digimon has its own specialty skill, although you can load up various high-powered attacks to ensure you’ve got the full spread of damage types. Once you’ve got your attacks sorted, you get to follow along the wonderful path of Digimon digivolution and de-digivolution that’ll ensure you wind up with the most powerful Digimon in your late-game arsenal.

Unlike nearest rival Pokemon, evolving your Digimon isn’t a linear path. You’ll need to ensure you have an ample bond with your Digimon to hit certain future evolutions, and that means spending time de-digivolving them, thus boost their overall skills. It does mean your power levels fluctuate as you roam, but if you focus on doing this for each of your Digimon with the right timing, you can eventually have a flock of hyper-powered heroes with max stats in all categories. (Plus, if you want the coolest character of all, Beelzemon Blast Mode, you have to work for it.)

This system has always been one of the more complex aspect for Digimon newcomers – it featured heavily in Cyber Sleuth, as well. But it creates a real sense of freedom and opportunity in your adventures. You’ll want to spend time getting to know each and every Digimon, including their strengths and weaknesses, to figure out the best team layout, and how best to conquer each challenge as it arrives.

A wild, creative world

When you’re not busying yourself with this team optimisation, Digimon Story Time Stranger presents plenty of other opportunities to lose yourself in its world. Beyond colourful visuals and well-designed, diverse terrains to roam, another twist is that Time Stranger isn’t afraid to get weird.

Entering a rift in space-time, you might find a pocket dream dimension where everything that surrounds you is checkered green, orange, black, and white. You might discover a strange dungeon where a giant first generation Digivice sucks you into a battle mini-game.

There’s even a seemingly Persona-inspired Velvet Room-type setting in this game – a go-between dimension where you can spend time raising Digimon on a farm, or spelunking into new virtual dungeons.

It all adds up to a game that feels incredibly ambitious, wild, and free. Media.Vision has created an adaptation of Digimon that grasps the core of the franchise, and stretches it in every direction. Any idea the team had, it was absorbed into Time Stranger – and the game is all the better for it. It’s constantly surprising, and incredibly creative.

For Digimon fans, it’s a rare treat.

_{A PlayStation 5 code for Digimon Story Time Stranger was provided by the publisher for the purposes of this review.}

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