Digimon Story Fans Are Going to Love Time Stranger, But Really Hate the Grind (Review)

After years of waiting, Digimon fans are finally getting a new installment in the Digimon Story franchise. Digimon Story: Time Stranger brings players back to the Digital World in a whole new way, with new characters and a new story to uncover. This latest installment features over 450 Digimon to collect and offers even more nuance to its battle system, giving fans plenty to sink into.

Time Stranger brings back much of what fans love about the Digimon Story series, and then some. There are more Digimon to collect, train, and Digivolve, and optimizing them for combat is even more complex than before. The graphics are a massive step up, and the story will grab you early on with a solid hook. But despite so many improvements on prior entries, the game is certainly not without its flaws. In many ways, Digimon Story: Time Stranger feels like the best Digimon game we’ve ever had. And yet, it still left me wishing for a little bit more.

Rating: 3.5/5

Pros	Cons
Beautiful graphics and battle animations	Leveling grind can be brutal at times and isn’t very intuitive to new players
In-depth Digimon training and evolution system	Camera angles and movement feel clunky in some areas
Human and Digital Worlds feel vibrant and alive	Doesn’t feel quite as polished as other games at a similar price point
Unique and engaging storyline that hooks you from the start

Digimon Story: Time Stranger Truly Pulls You Into the Digital World

When playing many prior Digimon games, I often yearned to feel a bit more truly immersed in the Digital World. And with Time Stranger, that feeling was finally realized. If there’s one thing this game has going for it above all else, it’s just how beautiful and lived-in the world feels. Illiad truly feels like a home for Digimon, and we see them at work and play as we explore.

The graphics bring the individual Digimon to life as you explore, and the battle animations further add to the personality of each Digimon you collect and train. Having a turn-based battle offer full animations for different moves really adds a layer that makes the battle feel more exciting, even as it offers you time to make your next move. And outside of battle, I just kept wanting to take screenshots from every angle, because Illiad is just stunning, and the Digimon feel so beautifully, carefully rendered.

Alas, it does take some time to get to the Digital World in Time Stranger. The game begins in the Human World, and we stay there a bit longer than I expected. This, too, is beautifully rendered, but it suffers from being a bit clunky to navigate. Some areas have a forced camera perspective that makes them awkward to traverse. In addition, most humans roaming around have no faces, which can be a bit eerie. Nevertheless, the detail and animation overall look good, and the game runs smoothly on PS5.

Although it’s beautiful to run around Illiad, the world exploration is fairly linear. An open-world game, it is not. There’s a brief load time between zones, and some areas can feel a bit janky to explore. The camera angles and character movement don’t always feel great, especially in certain areas. That said, the DigiRide feature is absolute peak. You can glide so smoothly on your Digimon, and it’s just plain satisfying to see all the different ride animations your team can offer. Exploring on your own, however, can feel slow at times, and the map can feel a bit cramped with obstacles, humans, and Digimon blocking your path at every turn.

InTime Stranger, The Story Hooks You From the Start

With “story” right in the title, you go into Time Stranger expecting big things. The overall narrative can be a bit slow to start, with all the time it takes to get to the Digital World. But not to worry, because the narrative starts off with a hook that will have you craving more. There’s the mystery of a strange girl your phone seems to know before you do, and something about a Digi-egg, and this has you wanting to piece it all together and find out more.

I won’t go into too many later game story specifics because of spoilers, but suffice it to say, the hook draws you in from the start. Even when I (mostly correctly) put a few things together, I still wanted to see where everyone would end up as the story progressed. There’s also a sense of urgency even with the time travel component, as your link to the future makes it very clear that everything you do in the past could have massive consequences. As far as time travel stories go, this one is put together pretty well, and at around 50/60 hours to complete, it doesn’t feel rushed.

What didn’t work so well for me were the side quests. I’m a big side quests collector in games, and I’ll spend hours ticking off those boxes before progressing the main story. But in Time Stranger, these side quests are often short to the point that they can feel like an afterthought. Characters sometimes just want you to put on a specific outfit and talk to them, or complete a very short sequence of tasks that simply don’t feel satisfying. Add the overall sense of urgency from the main story, and taking the time to do side quests feels like a piece that doesn’t fully fit.

The Leveling Grind in Time Stranger Might Be Too Punishing for Casual Players

Graphics aside, the combat in Time Stranger is a bit of a mixed bag. The turn-based battling system is relatively easy to grasp on a basic level. Things are well labeled, and the built-in tutorial is friendly enough, to a point. But truly mastering or even fully grasping what’s going on with your Digimon is another thing entirely. There, you get into the weeds with leveling and balancing strengths and weaknesses.

The extra complexity from the new Personalities feature is an additional layer that some fans will no doubt love. If you like a truly nuanced system for leveling and strengthening your team, Time Stranger will deliver. There’s so much depth here, giving you endless options for leaning into the strengths of your favorite Digimon and fine-tuning them in various ways. I just wish that fine-tuning felt a bit more, well… fun.

In many creature collectors like Pokemon and the like, bringing your team into battle is sufficient to level them up. In Time Stranger, it felt like no amount of battling alone could help me beat even early-game bosses on normal (balanced) mode. And though it may be intended as a feature, it sometimes feels like a bug. There are a ton of battles built into exploring certain areas in Time Stranger. Despite the constant battles, however, you’re still going to need the Digifarm to truly get your team up to snuff.

The Digifarm is where you go to feed and train your Digimon. This is similar to previous Digimon games, so it’s not a surprise for veterans. But it doesn’t feel integrated into the game in a way that flows. Training Digimon on the Digifarm requires idle time. This is great if you’re willing to abandon half of your team while you explore, as they’ll get stronger while you do other things. But if you need to get your team ready for battle ASAP, having to either pay up the quick training cost or watch that timer tick down in real time is frustrating, to say the least.

While the nuance of Digimon typing, personalities, and moves offers a ton for players who want to dig in, it’s not very beginner-friendly. It can feel alienating to try and figure it all out, and the game never really explains things like the Digifarm until you stumble upon them yourself. For that reason, the grind leans a bit more towards punishing and a bit away from being good old fun. That said, there’s still plenty of satisfaction to be found in collecting, training, and evolving your favorite Digimon. And there’s always the easiest Story setting to fall back on if you really can’t wrap your head around the grind.

Overall, Digimon Story: Time Stranger is the best Digimon game we’ve had. The graphics and nuance are absolutely stunning, and the game offers a solid turn-based JRPG experience. But with its pricetag, it feels like it’s missing just a bit of polish. For Digimon fans, though, Time Stranger is a must-play that will truly take you into the Digital World.

ComicBook received a PlayStation 5 copy of Digimon Story: Time Stranger for the purpose of this review.