Digimon Story Time Stranger preview: Digimon is actually good now

I have played every Digimon game released in English, and while I enjoyed each and every one of them, I’d struggle to say they’re actually good. Fun, sure, with good ideas and decent execution, but almost always lacking in polish. The Cyber Sleuth games came close to being good, but they still fell short, with abysmal localization, presentation issues in their English releases, and balancing issues that made them very frustrating to actually play. 

My short time with it suggests Digimon Story: Time Stranger will break the curse. In a three-hour hands-on session, what I saw was a game that was not only fun, but also sharply polished, well-balanced, and most of all very good. 

My playtime was split into two parts: the opening sequence of the game, and a story quest midway through. The opening is an absolute blast, setting an incredible tone for the rest of the game. It’s also very snappy, getting into the action much faster than just about any Digimon game to date. 

The story sees us taking the role of a member of ADAMAS, a secretive organization charged with investigating strange goings-on. From the criminal to the paranormal, ADAMAS is always first on the scene. As secretive as the organization is, its exploits have started to get it noticed by the public, so acting on the down-low is important. That’s difficult to do when strange digital creatures show up in the middle of an investigation, but that’s a problem for future ADAMAS. 

Quite literally, in fact, because a mishap with a giant robot somehow sees our protagonist sent back in time. How that happened is anyone’s guess, as that’s where my time with the game’s opening beats came to an end. I enjoyed what I played, and I think it’s a compelling setup to a story of this kind. The sudden, unexplained appearance of Digimon in the world is something that’s been done before in the series, but if it works then it doesn’t need fixing, and it definitely works. 

The second part of my time with the game takes place midway through. It’s hard to place exactly how much time had passed since the first part I played, but there were a bunch of new, unexplained characters and I was suddenly in the Digital World — home of all Digimon. I also had a party with a wide range of different Digimon to play around with. 

In the Digital World, I was tasked with delivering medicine to a sick Digimon. Except that Digimon wasn’t actually sick, they were covering up that they were helping a Titan – an evil Digimon – recover after a difficult battle. The Titan didn’t really want to do evil, and its impromptu caretaker saw the good in its heart and wanted to make a difference. It might sound very “Saturday morning cartoon,” but there is a level of depth there that’s not often seen in Digimon games. 

After tracking down a Submarimon – one of my favorite Digimon – to help traverse fast-moving currents, I was thrust into a battle with the Titan’s leader, and it’s here that I got to experience the breadth of Digimon Story: Time Stranger’s combat system. Like similar games in the turn-based RPG genre, Time Stranger uses a rock-paper-scissors system for strengths and weaknesses, but it’s really two different systems stacked on top of each other. 

There’s an inherent trait – Virus, Vaccine, and Data – which has its own triangle, and then multiple different types, like water, fire, light, and dark, which have their own strengths and weaknesses. Hitting a weakness on one side of the system deals extra damage, even if the other side of the system is restricted — but hitting two weaknesses, each on different sides of the system, deals massive damage. It encourages diverse team building across multiple axes, and given the sheer amount of Digimon on offer, there are essentially countless possibilities. 

None of that is particularly new, though — the same combat system was present in both Cyber Sleuth games. What is new is the addition of in-battle form changes, which let you change between different forms depending on which moves are used. A physical attacker can shift to a special attacker by using a specific move in battle, and some Digimon even have fusions that activate when certain moves are used. I’m very excited to see just how deep this part of the combat goes, because it seems like it could be a massive game changer. 

There’s also a new X-Arts system, which lets you combine the power of all three of your Digimon in combat to use a special move, which could heal, do AOE damage, or buff or debuff either yourself or your opponents, respectively. I’ll be honest, I don’t quite understand this part of the combat, or what changes what the move does, but X-Arts don’t take up a turn, so I’ll take it. A free attack is a free attack. 

Throughout my demo, I didn’t see a single poorly-localized line of dialogue. There were no janky menus, graphical issues, or overly difficult battles. It was even voiced entirely in English as well as Japanese, with fantastic performances across both languages. It looked great on PS5, and while the frame rate was a little dicey in places, it was still an early build of the game, and it never impacted my enjoyment. 

It’s clear that Digimon Story: Time Stranger is the biggest budget Digimon game to date. It’s plainly evident in every aspect, in both its ideas and its very well polished execution — Bandai Namco is pulling out all the stops, and it’s paying off handsomely. The Digimon series has never really had its big break, and I really feel like this could be it. After 30 long years, Digimon is finally ready for the big time. 

Digimon Story: Time Stranger is set to be released on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on October 3, 2025.