Digimon Story Time Stranger Review – Digimon has become a very popular franchise among various groups, both anime hobbyists and gamers. From the past until now, there have been lots of Digimon games that have been released with various genres and their own uniqueness.
And now the new Digimon game entitled Digimon Story: Time Stranger will soon be released on October 3, 2025, on the PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC platforms. This game, which is a sub-series of Digimon Story, will present an exciting adventure with your favorite Digimon in uncovering a mystery that could threaten the safety of the human world and also the Digimon world.
Welcoming the release of Digimon Story Time Stranger, we had the opportunity to try playing it early on the PS5 console and will provide readers with review information about this new Digimon game based on their playing experience.
While playing it, there are many interesting and fun playing experiences that might make you interested in trying to play this game. Moreover, this game can be a love letter to Digimon fans around the world. What is the Digimon Story Time Stranger game like?
OK, let's start discussing the Digimon Story Time Stranger Review.
Story
Digimon Story Time Stranger tells the adventures of a Protagonist who is a special Agent from a secret organization called ADAMAS. This organization focuses on investigating and resolving the problem of anomalous phenomena that occur in Tokyo, Japan.
This anomaly gives rise to various phenomena, such as the emergence of mysterious creatures called Digimon, and has caused many problems in Shinjuku and portals to other worlds. As an Agent, the Player will be tasked with trying to find out and solve the mystery together with the Digimon in the fight.
What kind of mysteries you will face as an ADAMAS Agent will all be answered in the Digimon Story Time Stranger game.
Feel Young Again as a Chosen Child
The Digimon Story Time Stranger story presents an interesting formula for you to follow from the start to the end of the game. Every storyline presented in this game has an execution like a Digimon anime project.
At the start of the game, you will find lots of mysteries that will make you curious. Like the mysterious anomaly that occurred in Shinjuku, which involved the existence of living electron creatures (read Digimon) that appeared in the human world. The Player's task as a special ADAMAS Agent is to solve the mysterious anomaly problem.
As the story progresses, the Player will not only have to save the human world, but also the Digimon world, where the world is also facing serious problems in dealing with groups of evil Digimon.
Not to mention, there is important lore from the Digimon angle where they have a long history of protecting their world by involving a special group similar to the Royal Knights, but with a higher entity. Of course, there are new Digimon, and those that are rarely or have never been discussed much in video game media become important figures in the Digimon Story Time Stranger game in terms of the story.
Overall, the Digimon Story Time Stranger story has a composition similar to the method of execution of how the Digimon anime story project was made, with 40-50 episodes.
At the beginning of the Arc, you will be introduced to the premise of the story, the mystery faced, and the important characters involved in the game. Then, in the middle of the story, you will face a plot that starts to get serious by facing complicated problems threatening the safety of the human and Digimon world.
Then, at the end of the story, a conclusion is presented where all the mysteries that have been built from the start of the game are all revealed, and the Player will face the final enemy in order to save the human world and also the Digimon world.
For Digimon fans who are over 25 years old, you will feel like you are young again as the Chosen Child when playing the Digimon Story Time Stranger game.
Gameplay
Digimon Story Time Stranger's gameplay features a Battle Turn-Based RPG system and focuses on exploration to find people, objects, and get to certain locations. Don't forget the Digimon system, where players can get and evolve them into stronger Digimon.
Battle System
In terms of the Battle system, the Digimon Story Time Stranger game still has the same features as its predecessor, the Digimon Story game, but with many improvements. Players can bring 3 Digimon into battle, where each Digimon has its own abilities, advantages, and weaknesses.
The battle system in this game is not too complicated at the start of the game because most players will be given easy enemies or have certain gimmicks following the storyline. This seems to give players the opportunity to adapt to the battle system and try out what kind of party combination they want to use.
Then, in the middle, little by little, players will face enemies who begin to focus on the system of weaknesses and advantages they have. Therefore, players are required to bring Digimon that are stronger and have the advantages needed to face enemies that are increasingly difficult to deal with compared to the start of the game.
Digimon System
So, from here, the Player will focus more on finding new Digimon and making them evolve into stronger forms. To get new Digimon, you only need to face enemy Digimon and defeat them to retrieve their data.
When the related Digimon data is 100%, the player can convert a new Digimon and add it to the collection. If a Digimon's data reaches 200%, it will get bonuses such as getting additional stats.
Just like Digimon games in general, to be able to evolve Digimon, you need to increase their stats, specifically by following certain conditions. For example, if a Digimon requires Level 5 with Attack Stats above 150, you can immediately evolve it at any time in the in-game menu. You can also de-evolution Digimon back to their previous form.
The system for caring for Digimon in evolution is actually not too complicated when compared to the Digimon World series considering that Digimon Story Time Stranger emphasizes story elements and the Battle system.
There are many solutions that you can use in this game so that you can get Digimon to become your favorite Digimon. Be it normal evolution, DigiEgg evolution, or Jogress evolution. With the features provided, you can focus on getting your favorite Digimon or collecting all the Digimon in this game.
QoL Features for Players
This game has many QoL (Quality of Life) features that make it easier and speed up your game progress, whether in the Battle system, Digimon, or exploration.
In Battle, you can speed up the animation speed in battle up to 5x. Apart from that, it is also felt that the Auto Battle system is enough to help players when facing enemies that are easy to defeat. Because the Auto Battle system in this game prioritizes attacking Digimon using their strong attacks, such as Skills, and knowing when to use these attacks so as not to waste a lot of their SP or Skill Points.
Then, when exploring, players can defeat weak enemies directly with the DigiAttack button, where this feature also functions so that players can get the opportunity to attack first.
Don't forget the QoL feature where you can fully cure Digimon's HP and SP condition without using items. You only need to stay silent for a few seconds, depending on the condition of their HP and SP.
Those are some examples of QoL that you can find in this game, which really help speed up game progress.
Graphics
The graphics presented in the Digimon Story Time Stranger game have 3D Cell Shade graphics and anime style, the same as previous Digimon Story games. The difference in the level of detail for each world environment, characters, and Digimon is much more detailed.
Each human character design in this game has an attractive appearance and is not too flashy like previous Digimon Story games. Not to mention that the appearance of the Digimon is made in such a way that it matches the original design from the Digimon franchise.
Graphic displays for locations such as Shibuya in the human world and also cities in the Digimon world are comfortable to look at when exploring them. The visual effects are enough to give a cool impression in the game and are not too excessive, nor can they disturb the player when playing. So the atmosphere in terms of graphics in this game is more immersive and also provides a feeling of comfort for players.
Sound
The sounds or music in the Digimon Story Time Stranger game have various genres presented. Most of the music in this game includes orchestral elements with an electronic touch to give a dramatic feel to every moment when playing.
Considering that the composer for Digimon Story Time Stranger is Masafumi Takada, who is the same composer as Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth and Hacker Memory, he understands what kind of music needs to be presented in the game. Moreover, it gives the impression that this is a Digimon game.
Conclusion
After explaining the Digimon Story Time Stranger review at length, you are definitely curious and wondering, "Is this game worth playing or not?" The answer is yes, this game is worth playing. Especially for you, Digimon fans, this game is highly recommended to play.
The Digimon Story Time Stranger game presents an interesting story and gameplay that is easy for all players to understand. Moreover, the gameplay system in the Digimon feature can make you want to get all the Digimon and evolve them into your favorite Digimon. Plus several QoL features which really help speed up game progress.
Everything you expect from a Digimon game, with an interesting story full of mystery and Digimon features that aren't too complicated, like the Digimon World series, is in Digimon Story: Time Stranger.
Even though my explanation contains many positive things in the game, Digimon Story: Time Stranger is not free from several shortcomings that I don't like.
The first is the Prologue story, which feels slow and long for a Digimon game. From my experience playing, it takes at least around 2-4 hours for this game to display the game title as a sign that the Prologue of the story has ended. This calculation is based on playing without skipping the story, exploring its features, completing initial Side Quests, and more.
Second, the location you will visit is called the Outer Dungeon, where some of them have environmental designs that can make you epileptic or dizzy when you look at them. That's because the environmental background has a strange color combination pattern with repetitive animated movements that can make the eyes uncomfortable.
Third, the writing on the UI menu in this game feels small and not big enough, especially the writing explaining Digimon's stats. This can be a little annoying when playing, especially when you play on a small TV or monitor screen.
Some of the shortcomings that I explained above might bother some players. However, because this game is fun to play, I sometimes forget about the problem because I get so caught up in playing.
That's my explanation regarding the Digimon Story Time Stranger Review based on playing experience, starting from the positive points to the things that I feel are not good about this game. Are you interested in playing this new Digimon game?