Digimon Story: Time Stranger – Everything You Need to Know

If you’re a fan of turn-based RPGs or Pokemon games, don’t overlook Digimon Story: Time Stranger. The previous entry, Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth, is something of a cult classic nowadays and the next big game promises added quality of life and a more engaging digital world to explore. While it doesn’t directly connect with Cyber Sleuth, Time Stranger encapsulates all of the sci-fi storytelling and monster taming gameplay Cyber Sleuth did and then ramps it up a notch. Time Stranger is a $69.99 game, so you’re going to want to know these 15 crucial details about it before you purchase.

Seventh Game in the Story Series

The Digimon Story sub-series began on the Nintendo DS in 2006. It’s better known as Digimon World DS in American markets. Interestingly, the World moniker is a bit of a misnomer, considering Digimon World is its own separate sub-series. Digimon Story would continue to stay in the handheld space with largely derivative and simple RPG mechanics up until Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth in 2015 where it reached a broader console and PC audience.

Where it fits in the Timeline

You might be asking, “Do I need to play the previous Story games to understand Time Stranger?” Thankfully, for new players, Time Stranger is a stand-alone story and not a sequel. The only games directly connected with each other are Cyber Sleuth and Hacker’s Memory, which took place concurrently with connective narrative threads. While Time Stranger takes place in the same Digimon universe, and will undoubtedly have call-backs and references to past games, the plot and characters are brand new and ideal for newcomers.

Setting

One shared element common to nearly all Digimon stories is its setting. Time Stranger continues the digital/human world dichotomy by letting players explore both worlds. Digimon reside in the digital realm, Illiad, which gets fully fleshed out in the game. As a secret agent, you must uncover how a catastrophe leveled Tokyo by getting sent eight years in the past. Exploring both human and digital realms will unveil how to prevent the disaster in the future.

Fully Fleshed Out Digital World

Unlike the Cyber Sleuth games, Time Stranger features a fully continuous digital world to explore. The demo shows off some of the variety and liveliness of the digital realm, Illiad. Gone are the generic cyber stream dungeons. Illiad is teeming with Digimon that take on various societal roles, making the whole setting feel more lived-in and alive. What’s really cool are the Digimon mounts used to traverse across Illiad. There’s a variety of different mounts and we wouldn’t be surprised to see some kind of TM system used to overcome obstacles like in the Pokemon games.

Largest Digimon Roster Yet

Another big selling point of Time Stranger is its large roster of digital monsters. In fact, it boasts the largest roster of any Digimon game yet with 450 Digimon that can be tamed and used in battle. This eclipses Hacker’s Memory, which featured 341 Digimon.

How Catching and Taming Works

Instead of throwing balls to catch these digital companions, Time Stranger employs a Conversion system. Every encounter has a scan percentage attached to it, with high numbers increasing the likelihood of Digimon joining your party. To increase your scan percentage with a particular Digimon, it’s necessary to battle them multiple times so that the scan rate gets close to 100%, resulting in a digital conversion being made of the creature. Players can gain the upper hand in these battles by initiating a first strike via a gun volley using the R2 button whilst on the field. What’s nice is that each particular Digimon is visible on the field to let you know what you’re getting into before a battle, something that was more randomized in previous games.

Digimon Customization

But you don’t just collect and battle with your digital monster friends, you can tailor them to fit your style as well. Besides naming your digital monster, you can digivolve them through a variety of non-linear paths and customize their personality between different traits.

Non-linear Evolution Paths

Each Digimon can branch out to half a dozen or so evolution forms. But the evolution possibilities are left a mystery thanks to the blank silhouette and absence of info on the digivolution menus. What is shown is what the personality type as well as the requirements to digivolve them. The menus themselves have been streamlined from the past game, consisting of simple rows showcasing the digivolution options. The icing on the cake is these adorable retro sprites representing each Digimon, a very classy touch to add in the menus.

Personality Traits

Time Stranger introduces a new personality system that further differentiates Digimon from one another. There are 16 personality traits in total. These traits make it possible to have two of the same Digimon with vastly different stats, preferences, and weaknesses. Personalities also influence digivolution prerequisites and what skills they can learn.

Turn-Based Battle System

Battles are your classic turn-based RPG affair with some monster taming mechanics. You have up to four Digimon in your party for any battle and can cycle between them as you fight. The opponent’s weakness can be known by using the Analyze ability, and you can guard attacks, perform normal attacks, and use items in battle. What really provides strategic depth, however, are the various skills and elemental attributes available to exploit and use. Just want to get fights over with quickly? No worries, you can speed up battles up to 5X speed and even auto-battle should you possess enough trust in the game’s AI.

Attributes and Elements

The core challenge and strategic depth comes in the form of the 7 attributes and a whopping 11 elements. Attributes are typically inherent in the Digimon type while elements are tied to skills. Facing off against a Vaccine type Digimon? Simply call forth your Data type Digimon for bonus damage. You can even purchase attachment skills for your Digimon through vendors should you want to stack up elemental buffs with that Digimon’s attributes.

New Agent Skill System

While Digimon skills are primarily used during battles, agent skills provide passive buffs and abilities. There’s an entire Agent skill tree menu with skills ranging from bonus experience gain to attribute buffs and Digimon bond affinities. These Agent Skills, new to this game by the way, can be improved and leveled up after they’re unlocked.

Progression

You gain Agent Skill points by completing missions while the Digimon level up through use in battle. Your Agent Rank goes up based on a variety of actions you take. For example, spending skill points raises your Agent Rank along with winning battles and completing quests.

English dub

One of the most exciting new features is the addition of an English voice dub, available for the first time in the series. As shown in the demo, not every single line of text is voiced, but the majority of the dialogue now features English voice acting. Previous Digimon titles only offered a Japanese dub with English subtitles, so this is a welcome improvement.

Release Date and Platforms

Digimon Story: Time Stranger launches on October 3 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. Interestingly, there’s no Switch 2 version planned yet, and no support for older consoles like PS4 or Xbox One. If you’re curious, try out the demo to see if this latest Digimon Story RPG is for you.