Let’s start with a full disclosure. Up until playing the demo for Digimon Story: Time Stranger, I knew nearly nothing about Digimon. I knew it was a TV series from my youth and I knew there was a playful rivalry with Pokemon. The theme song for Digimon permeated pop culture with its simplistic lyrics “Di Di Di, Digimon Digital Monsters, Digimon are the Champions”. The cute little dinosaur looking creature seemed to become the mascot for the series. Don’t worry, now I know this adorable creature is named Agumon. Full transparency, it took me quite some time to be ready to digivolve it. All this to say, it was with no prior knowledge of the universe that I dove head first into Digimon Story: Time Stranger (DSTS) to explore what this JRPG would hold for a newbie like me.

If you’re a fan of Digimon, it does feel like Digimon is having a resurgence, or trying to. In 2025, Digimon has released this new JRPG, a new anime titled Digimon Beatbreak, and the card game continues to go strong. The franchise is also planning a mobile card game that has completed its beta test and released results earlier this year. So there were two questions that plagued me as I faced this review. First was is Digimon Story: Time Stranger really worth the time it’s asking you to invest? Second is will this be difficult to follow as someone new to the franchise?

Thankfully it’s fairly easy to answer the second question. Digimon Story: Time Stranger, from now on referred to as DSTS, is a great introduction into the universe. Perhaps this is why the game took so long to be released. DSTS was announced in 2017 and was being developed in parallel to it’s predecessor, Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth – Hacker’s Memory. However, DSTS was meant to be a completely new project. Just less than 8 years later, DSTS would be released into the world. So the question for longtime Digimon fans is, was the wait worth it? Time to dive right in, shall we?

Story

Welcome to Tokyo, where a time anomaly threatens to destroy the world. These things always seem to happen in big cities don’t they? It’s up to you to investigate the phenomena that is occurring. What is it? Well you’ll find out as you move forward. Don’t worry you won’t be on your own as your operator will walk you through having Digimon aid you in your journey. Unfortunately this isn’t enough to stop the creature wreaking havoc on the building or destroying the world. Try as you might, even with Agumon with you, a cataclysm occurs and you’re sent back eight years into the past. With all this time you can now work towards preventing the end of the world right? RIGHT?

The story at times takes a few twists and turns that seem confusing, but it’s all for a bigger purpose. Admittedly, there were a few times through my initial playthrough where I wondered how this would all tie back together. Bouncing between the human world and the physical world isn’t enough when it comes to Digimon Stories: Time Stranger. Travel through multiple timelines and universes to unveil the truth behind the destruction of the world. Why is our new friend Inori so familiar with us until she isn’t? Why is Aegiomon so central to everything that is happening? Also, why do they feel so bonded after such a short time together?

There are many hints as to why the two feel so close throughout the story. If you want some more answers, be sure to check out the prelude released for DSTS. We’ll include it below and if you watch before you begin playing, some of the pieces will fall into place rather quickly. Be sure that you also have some tissues nearby when you watch this prelude.

As the story progresses, so do your feelings for the characters. Interestingly enough, they all feel rather human considering the number of characters that are Digimon. Each Digimon that you encounter throughout the story has their own motivations, reasoning, and qualities that make them feel real. At times, some of the Digimon even feel a bit more human than Inori, our human companion on this quest to save the world. The Bearmon brothers are those two brothers always competing with each other but with a bond that brings them together despite it all. Shellmon is that friend who you know sometimes goes a bit too far to care for everyone else, no matter who they are, even at the cost of her own safety and sanity. By comparison Inori is just another teen girl who seems almost too positive after losing her family members a few years prior.

Fans of mythology may also see some parallels between Roman gods and those who make up the Olympus XII. These are the godlike Digimon who manage the Digital World and are part of the much larger story being told. Yet somehow, even these god like Digimon feel human and flawed. Drinking to distract from the struggles of leadership? Not saying this reviewer agrees with the coping method, but it feels real. It’s the realism of these digital characters that tugs at the player. It’s their personalities that make you want to help them and resolve this crisis. This remains true even when the story goes off the rails a bit.

What’s also amazing in the story is getting to see these characters evolve and grow. While at times it is mere hours for the player, it is years to the characters. Seeing the Bearmon brothers torn apart by circumstances only to find themselves reuniting years later is bittersweet. The story doubles down when you see the reasons why the older brother is where he is. Seeing Shellmon grow into Venusmon was also quite interesting as we see a moment of weakness in her decision making and the consequences of her actions. When she realizes she may be the reason someone has died, she falls apart, thankfully we are there to rectify the situation quickly.

It would be easy to discuss how the Titans are making life difficult for the Digimon in their respective areas, but there is so much more to this story. Without being too spoilery, as everyone should have the opportunity to experience this game, just know, legends are not always what they seem. Stories evolve throughout the years and sometimes (unfortunately) history can be rewritten by the victors.

Quite frankly, I am amazed how clever the story is at the end of it all. There were times during my play through where I wondered where the story was going. There were moments when I felt confused, unsure, but upon reflection, the hints were there all along. It’s this clever storytelling and nuance that I have to give the writers a lot of credit for. In fact, after completing the story once, it’s worth going back and playing again to see all the hints you may have missed along the way. The complexity of the story is what will have JRPG fans praising the game.

Side Quests

I have to give some of these side quests their deserved recognition. There are of course what feels like your basic fetch quests, others that will have you fighting, but the there are a few that are so silly and endearing. Within DSTS, there are times where you will have to change your characters outfit for the purpose of a side quests. While in the digital world, you’ll find that some Digimon are actually afraid of humans. So how do we resolve this? By switching into a Digimon costume and speaking with these little guys of course! Later when a Digimon wants to go swimming you’ll have to be in your best swim attire (which might be impractical for battle but don’t worry about that).

These outfits aren’t only for you but also for your companions. It felt like a good way to remind players that when your companions are there they do in fact matter. Your companions get a few different outfits to choose from during regular gameplay but in these moments they must dress appropriately.

Side quests also allow you the opportunity to raise your agent rank quite quickly. You’ll earn Anomaly points to unlock agent skills and at certain thresholds your agent level goes up. This is important as there will be certain Digimon locked behind your agent level. Want the most powerful Digimon? Complete your side quests agent! It will also give you an opportunity to explore the human world and the digital world in much more detail. Keep an eye out for all those story hints while you run through as well!

Without completing the side quests and leveling your agent rank, you may find as you progress through the story that the battles feel more difficult. This could be due to not having enough Digimon available to you as some of the best Digimon will be locked behind your agent rank. So proceed carefully and consider pausing the story for some side opportunities here and there.

Combat

As with many JRPGs, this is actually where the game can get slightly stale if you are just mindlessly grinding. There is a balance to this though. Leveling Digimon isn’t infinite. They do have level caps in certain forms. While there are some small ways around this, it does mean there is only so much grinding one can do for their favorite monsters.

It’s also somewhat important to keep an eye on how your monster attributes and their traits will impact their damage. The tutorial gives you a very quick reference sheet of how to figure out what will do the most damage. What was interesting is that even despite ignoring this for most of the game, I was able to get by fairly well on balanced mode. That is, for the story sections. When it comes to any extra combat such as the outer dungeons, paying attention to these stats made all the difference.

How you train and interact with your Digimon will also influence your combat. You can speak with your Digimon while they are out with you on the field. Your answers can help swing their personality traits which will tie back to how you allocate your agent points. Your agent points will allow monsters with certain traits additional buffs or percentage off using their skills in your fights. Build your teams in synergy with the skills you are adding to your agent for maximum efficiency.

The combat is fairly straightforward at first glance. It’s turn based combat and you will always know where you go in the turn order. During your turns, your agent can choose to use an item or swap out your Digimon without using an action. However, you can only do this once per Digimon turn. Once a Digimon guards, attacks, or uses a skill, their turn is up and it moves onto the next one.

Once enough points are accumulated during battle, the Agent will have the opportunity to use Cross Arts which also will not use the Digimon’s turn. These Cross Arts can be quite a few different abilities ranging from healing, reviving KO’d Digimon, buffing your team, and attacking your opponents with strong attacks.

If you’re someone who feels that this method of combat can get stale, I hear you. That’s where the second level of complexity comes in. You can focus on the attributes of your Digimon as well as the elements that Digimon will attack with. If it feels like a lot to manage, don’t worry, you’ll see the percentage of damage your attacks will do before committing to them as long as you’ve previously used these attacks. If for some reason you can’t be bothered to be strategic during your fights, you could also allow the autobattle to go forward. The AI won’t always make the best choices, but it could save you the brain power, especially if you’re just grinding for XP.

While the actions of the attacks are also fun to look at, after a bit seeing the same actions may grow old. Don’t worry, you can speed up the animation of the battle 2x, 3x, or 5x. For the majority of my gameplay I had the animations on 5x speed. The exceptions were when a new Digimon would enter the fight so I could see (and appreciate) the animation.

Digimon Commentary

I just have to give Digimon some credit for their naming conventions. While some Digimon clearly have very clever naming conventions, some just feel so silly. There are a handful that when you view their names, if you are new to the franchise like me, you wonder, did you even try? With names like Witchmon, Sunflowmon, and Sharkmon, the naming conventions do make it easy to remember some of these monsters. Perhaps that is part of what makes it inviting and welcoming. Or perhaps they just ran out of creativity after a bit and decided to keep it simple. Either way, I hope you have a laugh at some of these straightforward names the way I did.

What is also interesting when it comes to Digimon is their evolutions. The evolutions are not as straight forward in the way other games such as Pokemon are. In Digimon, you can both Digivolve or De-Digivolve if you have any reason to. The evolution aspect also works in both directions forward and back. However, it may be more fair to say that a Digimon’s evolution can be up down and sideways if you’d like it to be. Many Digimon have more than one evolutionary track to follow. Much of this will also be based on the stats of the Digimon as well as the players agent rank.

Each Digimon does have a max level that aligns with their current status. In the above screenshot you can see that Wanyamon maxes out at level 20. However, this will reset at a Digivolution and a new level cap will appear. It’s something to keep in mind when you are ready to evolve your monsters as it can have an impact on their stats. It may be best not to do this just before a big fight unless you feel super confident. There are also over 400 Digimon to see if you want to unlock all of them you may be here for a while getting all possible combinations.

If you can’t be bothered grinding in the game, feel free to send them to the Digifarm where you can set them on training regiments to increase some of their stats or even change their personality. They are digital afterall, a bit of coding will alter them, for better or worse. The farm is cute and a great place to store and level Digimon, but it does mean returning back time after time to make changes and update their training.

It Does Have Flaws

Digimon Story: Time Stranger has flaws that are fairly common in JRPGs. The silent protagonist sometimes breaks the flow of the story. While yes, the player has to choose options, it would be great if these lines were voiced as well. Being surrounded by such strong characters and being silent makes the protagonist pale by comparison.

As a note, this review was on PlayStation 5 so this next flaw may only be on consoles but it’s worth noting. There were also moments where there was no voice acting, despite other scenes having full voice work and part of the story, which felt odd. There have been updates that have come through since the start that may rectify these scenes where the voice work was missing. However, if this was just a choice, it feels like an odd one where there were so many great voice actors giving life to the characters.

The other reason to note that this was reviewed on PlayStation 5 is the frame rate. While we know the PS5 is capable of being quite powerful and providing amazing graphics, it maxes out at 30fps. For someone like me, this isn’t a huge deal but for many this could be a reason to purchase a PC version and not a console version.

There is also a side card game that while initially fun, feels like just a distraction at times. Is it cute? Yes. But in terms of card games that are part of JRPGs, this one seems to fall a bit flat. When Final Fantasy has delivered games like Queens Blood in recent memory, the Digibattles fall flat. It may also be that this reviewer didn’t fully understand but, more often than not it felt luck based. While the number and attribute seem to increase your chances, it still felt somewhat random. Please feel free to tell me if I’m wrong and what I missed. However, there’s no consequence for losing the card game. Beyond adding more cards to your collection (which you can also purchase) there isn’t a benefit to the card game in the short term.

Final Thoughts

Digimon Story: Time Stranger was a welcome surprise. I knew so little of the franchise I expected to be confused more often than not. Instead, I found myself enjoying my time with these monsters. If you aren’t a completionist, you can expect to give up about 40ish hours of game time to get through the entire story. With monsters this cute and personable though, you may find yourself wanting to spend more time with them as you go.

The story is more than enough to keep players invested, especially is you’re a fan of time travel. For those who find time travel to be a negative then this may not be the game for you. The strengths definitely outweigh the weaknesses and the game invites those new to the franchise to give it a shot. 2025 could be the year of Digimon and this is a great way to experience the franchise first hand. They won’t hold your hand, but they also won’t expect you to have all the answers diving in. Fans with combat that resembles games like Shin Megami Tensei will find joy in this and the story is more Persona-fied if you need some comparisons. Overall, JRPG fans, this one is for you.

Digimon Story: Time Stranger is available now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and Steam. Gamer Social Club would like to thank Bandai Namco for the review code. Digimon Story: Time Stranger was reviewed on PlayStation 5.