Digimon Story: Time Stranger is a welcome return to the series' more standard mechanics after the long-awaited Digimon Survive back in 2022 was a bit of a miss. Time Stranger focuses on developing the already strong monster-raising and battling mechanics of its predecessors, but while telling a new standalone story that doesn't tie into the Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth games with which this shares half a title. It feels like a big leap forward, especially in how Time Stranger can feel quite close to the anime series – something Pokemon often struggles with. It might end up uneven, but this is a promising evolution for Digimon.
You play as an agent of ADAMAS, an organization who investigate strange happenings such as cryptid sightings. While following up leads in one such case, you discover an influx of phase electron lifeforms (Digimon) appearing throughout Tokyo and get caught up in a terrifying, destructive mess of events that threatens to bring about the end of the world. It's a high stakes anime-style plot that appeals to fans of the series like me, and may be one reason Digimon Story: Time Stranger player counts have already blasted past the likes of Persona and Final Fantasy on PC.
