7.5

Review: Digimon Story: Time Stranger

After the success of Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth (2015) and his successor Hacker’s Memory (2017) took Bandai Namco eight years to return to the world of Digimon in RPG form. Time Stranger is not a direct sequel, but rather a spiritual successor: One that tries to combine the best of the previous games with a new, time travel-driven story and a modern presentation on the PS5. 

The game opens with a young protagonist witnessing strange digital disturbances in the real world. Soon you will be sucked into the “Digital World”, where time is not always linear. That is the core of Time Stranger an RPG that plays with time jumps, parallel worlds and the bond between man and Digimon.

It sounds ambitious, the question is: does the game know to live up to that ambition?

The story of Time Stranger is surprisingly mature for a Digimon title. The theme of time travel is not only used as gimmick, but also to existentiëto ask questions: What happens if you lose your Digimon partner? Can you fix past mistakes? And how much control do you really have over the digital world?

The tone is more serious than in previous games. Dialogues are more extensive, with high quality voice-acting in both Japanese and English. The main characters are more elaborate than you would expect from a sample collection RPG. Some rivals have convincing motivations, and there are moments when the emotional charge really comes in.

However, the pacing can be slow. The first five à six hours are a mix of tutorials and quiet build-up. Only then will the story unfold éReally, and come the bigger theme’S around time and identity. Patience is rewarded, but not everyone will have that patience.

The core of Time Stranger naturally continues to collect, train and evolve Digimon.
There are over 450 Digimon available from classics like Agumon and Gabumon to newcomers from more recent seasons.

The digivolution system is impressively extensive. Each digimon has several paths of evolution, based on statistics, morality and the bond with the player. There are “reverse evolutions”, with which you can return to previous forms to explore alternative routes. This makes experimentation encouraging and addictive.

The fights are turn-based, as in previous titles, but more flexible and more modern. Animations are fluent and more attention is paid to strategy thanks to combinations of buffs, elemental resistances and team synergy.
A fine addition is the "Tactical Speed" option, which allows you to speed up the pace of battles ideal for grinding.

The only drawback: some encounters feel repetitive, especially during long side missions. The AI is rarely challenging, except for a handful of endeavors.

Visually Time Stranger takes a big step forward compared to Cyber Sleuth.
The environments from futuristic city zones to floating data islands are vibrant and colourful. The Digital World now has real scale and variety: forests full of shimmering code particles, glitch valleys where time literally stands still, and old serverruïnes where you can remember “download”.

The graphic style is typical Digimon: Half anime, half cyberpunk. On PS5 everything runs in 4K, but unfortunately only on 30 frames per second. Although the game looks nice, there are often small glitches when loading environments or during battle transitions.
It's not game-breaking, but it's too bad in 2025 for a game that doesn't seem extremely heavy technically.

The music deserves praise. The soundtrack balances electronic beats with melancholic piano melodyën, which perfectly matches the theme of time and memory. The Japanese voice actors also deliver excellent work.

Bandai Namco listened carefully to the feedback of fans. There are countless small improvements that make playing more pleasant:

• Faster charging times (thanks to PS5-SSD)
• Automatic storage on multiple slots
• Convenient filter options in the Digimon archive
• Better explanation of status effects and passive skills
• One “Friendship system” that also affects evolution outside combat

Yet there are some rougher edges. The menu system sometimes remains unclear, especially in the initial phase. Occasional bugs show up: Wrong mission indicators, stuck animations or temporarily disappearing digimon in the menu. Most are fixed by rebooting, but they show that the game néa little more polish.

The main storyline is well written, but the side missions are less so. It often comes down to “find this digimon”, “return this item” or “beat these glitch samples”. The lack of variation makes this optional content somewhat monotonous. Also some areas are linear you follow a clear path with little space for discovery.

However, there are some highlights: Special Time Anomalies missions where you can rewrite events from previous Digimon timelines, including cameo’s of old characters. Those moments are a party for Digimon fans.