Digimon Story Time Stranger review: Brilliant RPG held back by the maps

Digimon Story Time Stranger is a game that constantly surprises you – just when you think you’ve figured it out, it throws a curveball. It’s a very ambitious project, featuring 450 Digimon that you can raise and evolve, and it tells a story that isn’t afraid to take risks. It rarely sticks to predictable paths.

This game feels similar to classic monster-catching RPGs such as Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. It’s an ambitious effort to create the best Digimon experience so far-one that goes beyond simply relying on fond memories and strives to be a strong, contemporary RPG on its own merits. It’s a truly bold attempt.

As a big fan, I’ve been following this series for a while, and it’s amazing when it really hits its stride. When it’s good, it finally feels like it’s on the same level as the RPGs everyone always compares it to – things like Pokémon. But honestly, sometimes it’s a bit disappointing. You can end up trudging through tight corridors and just wishing the game world felt bigger and more open.

Digimon Story Time Stranger screenshots

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What is Digimon Story Time Stranger about?

You take on the role of an agent tasked with looking into bizarre distortions that are drawing Tokyo into a realm known as the Digital World.

Together with your Digimon, you’ll journey through ever-changing areas, fight dangerous enemies, and discover the reason why the connection between worlds is falling apart. You’ll explore these shifting zones, battle hostile creatures, and uncover the mystery behind the world’s imbalance.

A story that keeps you on your toes

Digimon Story Time Stranger is an easy-to-enjoy game where you gather creatures, explore dungeons, and fight monsters. Even though the core gameplay is straightforward, the surprising story developments will keep you engaged for over 45 hours.

The game features a fully voiced narrative, with each Digimon frequently contributing to the dialogue. While some voice performances are excellent, others… could have perhaps benefited from being left silent. Nevertheless, the extensive voice work gives the game a grand, cinematic feel that previous titles lacked.

A problem with the story is the way it starts – it overwhelms you with cutscenes and constant communication from your companion. These interruptions could easily have been handled through emails or log entries, but instead, they significantly slow down the game, creating a frustrating experience of many small pauses.

I have to say, once this game finally found its footing, it really clicked. Everything just opened up – the cast of characters became more engaging, the Digital World felt huge, and that satisfying loop of grinding, evolving your Digimon, and battling finally took hold. As I played, the story kept unfolding, the game mechanics kept getting deeper, and honestly, by the end, it felt like I’d really grown alongside my digital partners. It was a great feeling!

A deep evolution system worth the grind

The sense of getting stronger is also built into how the game lets you progress, offering different ways to improve that encourage you to keep playing.

At its core, Time Stranger centers around catching and evolving creatures. The gameplay actively encourages you to continue training them, trying out different strategies, and putting in the effort to become stronger.

When you defeat monsters, you learn more about them, which improves their stats and gives you even more reason to keep battling to unlock their more powerful forms later on.

The personality system also adds a lot of depth, making the way Digimon evolve more intricate. It also makes finding the same Digimon multiple times worthwhile, as it opens up different evolutionary paths.

Digimon evolving isn’t simple, that’s for sure. When you’ve got a Digimon that’s still In-Training, it can turn into not just one, but three, four, or even *more* different Champions! And it just keeps splitting from there as they get stronger. It’s a lot to keep track of, honestly!

Honestly, the training can be a bit of a pain. Like, I can change my character’s name right from the pause menu, which is cool, but if I want to boost my Digimon’s stats in the Digifarm, I have to go to a whole different place. It’s a bit of a hassle, I won’t lie, but the game does reward you for sticking with it and putting in the effort. It still feels good to see those stats go up!

Combat that rewards preparation

Time Stranger plays a lot like a PG-rated Shin Megami Tensei. You build teams of three Digimon, and can add a guest character, to fight in turn-based battles.

You direct your team to attack, defend, or use elemental abilities, and you, as the player, can support them with Cross Arts – either by boosting allies or dealing damage directly. The gameplay is easy to understand, focusing on exploiting enemy weaknesses and resistances, but it requires careful preparation, which creates a sense of challenge.

Fortunately, the game offers features to make repetitive battles easier. The autobattle system, combined with a x5 speed mode, is ideal for quickly completing the numerous Solarmon encounters in the Factory. However, it doesn’t completely eliminate the need for strategy. I found it helpful for handling simpler tasks, but it doesn’t make difficult battles easy. It’s a feature that many Pokémon fans would appreciate, and it makes you wonder if Game Freak will add something similar in the future.

It’s best to handle boss fights yourself instead of relying on AI, which can be unreliable. Letting the autobattle system run also means you’ll miss out on exciting moments, like activating a Cross Art or successfully completing a QTE for an extra attack.

Ultimately, you’ll dominate in crucial battles, as that’s the key to winning, and it’s a really clever aspect of the fighting system. Autobattle won’t solve your toughest challenges, but it will allow you to relax and autopilot through the more repetitive parts.

A beautiful but narrow world

It’s disappointing that the attention to detail doesn’t carry over to exploring the world. Although the Digital World looks beautifully crafted, almost like a photographer designed it, you’re often forced along uninteresting and restrictive paths. It feels limiting despite the visual appeal.

I was always expecting Story Time Stranger to suddenly release me into a vast, open area – like a dog finally unleashed – but that moment never arrived. Even in environments that *appear* to offer expansive space, you only encounter more twisting corridors and branching hallways.

The Digi-Ride system is a prime example of this. It sounds great in theory – who wouldn’t want to ride their favorite Digimon? – but unfortunately, it’s just a visual upgrade. Unlike in Pokemon, where mounts actually help you move faster and explore more easily, the Digi-Ride system in Story Time Strager feels empty. It doesn’t significantly increase your speed, and it doesn’t open up new areas – you simply walk through the same hallways, but on a different creature. It’s a missed opportunity and feels ultimately hollow.

Luckily, chatting with the non-player characters (NPCs) is actually enjoyable. The Digimon found throughout the city each have unique traits, minor problems, or personal histories that really bring the world to life.

You’ll encounter Digimon with all sorts of attitudes – some might be moping over a competitor, others boasting about how powerful they’ll become, and still others simply pleading for assistance. These unique personalities are what truly bring the Digital World to life.

However, when these conversations lead to repetitive side tasks, the enjoyment diminishes. Most tasks follow the same pattern: go to a location, fight battles until you obtain a specific item, and then return to the person who gave you the quest.

The problem is a lack of genuine puzzles or challenges. These side quests don’t require any thought; they simply involve collecting items. The game even gives you a “follow quest” indicator in the log after talking to a character, as if you might have started it unintentionally. This is illogical and quite frustrating, especially since the game worlds are so compact that it’s impossible to get lost. If you accepted a quest, you always knew precisely what to do.

I have to say, the writing is what really makes these quests appealing! But if I’m honest, underneath it all, they feel a bit like simple tasks disguised as exciting adventures. I find myself completing them mostly because the rewards are useful, and not because the quests themselves are cleverly designed or offer any real surprises. It’s not that they’re *bad*, just that they don’t really challenge me to think or offer anything unexpected. I just go through the motions for the loot, you know?

Verdict

Digimon Story Time Stranger has the potential to be the best RPG in the Digimon series so far. It features a highly replayable evolution system, a story full of surprising turns, and a generally polished presentation. However, it falls just short of being truly top-tier due to its limited map size, repetitive training sequences, and gameplay mechanics that don’t quite deliver on their initial promise. It’s a strong entry, but not quite perfect.

At its heart, this is a truly great game about catching monsters. However, the game world feels somewhat limited, and the optional things to do aren’t as developed as the core monster-catching gameplay, preventing it from reaching its full potential.

2025-10-01 17:24