Digimon Story: Time Stranger has been a long time coming. As somebody who has a real soft spot for Cyber Sleuth and its follow up, I have been watching this one with both excitement and trepidation. The Digimon Story series does not pump out games every year, so when one finally lands, it feels like an event. The question I had going in was simple: could Time Stranger capture the same spark that made Cyber Sleuth such a cult hit? The short answer is yes, but not quite in the same way, and not quite to the same degree. If Cyber Sleuth was a bold statement about what Digimon RPGs could be, Time Stranger is a polished reminder that they still matter. I had a blast with it, but if I am being honest, it never fully dethroned Cyber Sleuth in my heart.
From the very start, the premise is intriguing. An explosion in Shinjuku kicks off a time bending plot that hurls you eight years into the past, with the fate of both the human world and the Digital World hanging in the balance. You choose between Dan or Kanan as your protagonist, join the shadowy ADAMAS group, and set about unravelling the strange anomalies threatening existence. There is a lot of meat here for lore lovers, and if you grew up juggling VHS tapes of Digimon Adventure and Tamagotchi pets, you will find plenty of winks and nods that reward your nostalgia. The game swings big with its themes of parallel worlds and temporal paradoxes, and while it does not always stick the landing, I appreciate the ambition. The writing has that earnest, slightly melodramatic flavour that Digimon has always done well. Sometimes it feels like a Saturday morning anime marathon, sometimes like a light novel you might stumble across in a dingy bookshop, but it is never boring.
Combat is where the game really shines. The turn based system is fast, strategic, and bolstered by welcome quality of life touches. Being able to see enemies on the field rather than suffer random battles makes a huge difference in pacing, and the option to speed combat up to five times when you are grinding is a godsend. Battles still revolve around the rock paper scissors logic of types and resistances, but the sheer number of Digimon available, over 450 at launch, means team building never loses its charm. I loved experimenting with combinations, raising my squad, and trying out different digivolutions. It is an addicting loop, and it is probably the reason I kept putting in “just one more hour” sessions until it was suddenly two in the morning. The Digifarm system returns, letting you raise and train your partners in the background, and it feels smoother than ever. If Cyber Sleuth made you fall in love with the minutiae of scanning and evolving, you will feel right at home here.
That said, there are a few hiccups. Enemy AI can be a little too predictable, and once you figure out a reliable rotation for your team, regular encounters start feeling a touch too easy. Bosses, thankfully, are much better, with attack patterns and resistances that actually force you to rethink your lineup. Still, I did catch myself wishing for a bit more bite overall. Cyber Sleuth was not brutally difficult either, but it managed to keep tension high enough that I never felt like I was just going through the motions. Time Stranger flirts with that line more than once.
Presentation is a mixed bag. On the one hand, the art direction is fantastic. The Digital World feels alive and vibrant, with colourful environments and quirky Digimon wandering around doing their thing. The main city hub is especially fun to explore, and there is a great sense of personality baked into the world design. On the other hand, the technical polish leaves something to be desired. Frame rate drops are noticeable, textures can look a little fuzzy, and cutscene animations occasionally dip into awkward territory. It is not a dealbreaker by any means, but in 2025 I did expect a bit more sheen. Compare it to Cyber Sleuth, which ran smoother on less powerful hardware, and you will see why I am a touch disappointed.
Another area that did not quite hit the highs of Cyber Sleuth for me is the story’s pacing. While the premise is strong and the characters are likable enough, there is a tendency to drag in the middle chapters. You will spend a fair amount of time wandering through dungeons that feel like long hallways with different wallpaper, and although the combat keeps things interesting, the environments themselves do not do much to pull you in. Cyber Sleuth’s story might not have been flawless, but it had a tightness to its structure that kept me hooked. Here, I occasionally found myself zoning out, waiting for the next big reveal rather than staying invested in every beat along the way. When the story does finally ramp up near the end, it delivers, but it could have used some trimming and tightening earlier on.
Customisation is another sore spot. You can tweak your protagonist a little, a few costumes and outfits, but it is nothing compared to what I had hoped for. Digimon customisation, of course, is excellent, with branching evolution trees and stat tinkering that will keep the min maxers happy. But if you wanted to project more of yourself onto your character, you will be left wanting. It is a minor gripe, but in a game that sells itself on identity and choice, I expected a little more freedom.
Despite these issues, I do not want to undersell how much fun I had. Sitting down with Time Stranger feels comfortable, like slipping into a favourite hoodie. It is not rewriting the rulebook, but it is executing the formula with confidence. The Digimon themselves look great, the soundtrack is energetic and nostalgic, and the sense of raising your perfect team never gets old. It is exactly the kind of RPG you can lose weekends to, chipping away at side quests, raising new partners, and inching closer to uncovering the mystery at the heart of the story. Fans will eat it up, and newcomers who never touched Cyber Sleuth will still find plenty to love.
But for me, when I put the controller down, I could not help but compare the feeling to how I felt after finishing Cyber Sleuth. That game had a certain edge, a slickness in its presentation, a narrative pacing that gripped me a little tighter, and a sense of discovery that felt more impactful. Time Stranger is good, very good in fact, but it does not quite hit that same high. It is like listening to a new album from your favourite band. The riffs are tight, the lyrics resonate, and you are glad it exists, but deep down you still prefer the earlier record that hooked you in the first place.
So where does that leave Time Stranger? Squarely in the really solid category. It is a strong RPG, easily one of the better Digimon games ever made, and a must play for anyone who has ever dreamed of raising a team of digital monsters to save the world. It is an easy recommendation, with the caveat that if you loved Cyber Sleuth as much as I did, you may find yourself enjoying this one slightly less. And that is okay. Not every sequel or successor needs to surpass what came before. Sometimes it is enough to deliver a hearty adventure that proves Digimon is still relevant in the crowded RPG landscape.
For me, Digimon Story: Time Stranger earns a confident 8 out of 10. It is a game I will remember fondly, one I will likely revisit, but it is not the one I will cite when I talk about why I fell in love with the Digimon Story series in the first place. That honour still belongs to Cyber Sleuth. And maybe that is the point. Time Stranger does not have to replace Cyber Sleuth to be worthwhile. It just has to stand alongside it, as proof that Digimon RPGs still have plenty of fight left in them.