Digimon has really been on a tear with their “Digimon Story” series lately, what with the release of Cyber Sleuth ten years ago and Hacker’s Memory soon after that. They’re fantastic if you’ve never played them, but if there’s one complaint I’d lob their way, it’s that the games tend to lean more into the visual novel territory than the monster-catching side; think of it as kind of a 60/40 split. Digimon Story: Time Stranger seems to rectify that to even things out from what I saw in my nearly four hours with the game.
A New Balance Between Story and Battles
The first chunk of my demo started me at what I assume is the literal start of the game, as I’m introduced to my player character, who’s an agent for ADAMAS, a secret organization in charge of keeping the public safe from rogue Digimon. After exploring the streets of Shinjuku for a bit, I made my way to an abandoned subway where I finally ran into some Digimon. Here, I was able to choose my first partner Digimon between Patamon, DemiDevimon, and Gomamon. I always loved DemiDevimon in the show, so I picked him and started making my way through the tunnel to find the source of a mysterious anomaly.
I slowly made my way through the subway, participating in turn-based battles against wandering Digimon like Impmon or Monodramon, before I was eventually attacked by a MetalGreymon Virus and promptly saved by Omnimon. I eventually made my way out of the subway and into some abandoned buildings filled with more Digimon. I figured now would be a good time to fill up my ranks with more creatures, so I started focusing on battling Digimon I wanted on my team. If you’re unfamiliar with how the Digimon Story series works, you can’t simply recruit whatever Digimon you see on the field; you need to battle them repeatedly to collect data on them. Once your scan rate on a Digimon has reached 100%, you can convert it to your team. Get that scan rate over 100%, however, and you’ll be able to convert an even stronger version of that Digimon with better stats.
It was a lot more of the same—running through hallways and battling Digimon—until I reached the top of the building and was confronted with a Kuwagamon that meant business, and I had no Omnimon to save me this time. To make sure I was maximizing my damage, I had to make sure I was using Digimon of the appropriate attribute type, in addition to the right elemental type. If you’ve played any monster collector game before, you’ll know what element types are here, but the attributes add an additional layer. Your Digimon can be a Vaccine, Virus, or Data type, but what’s interesting about Digimon is that your creature’s element isn’t necessarily set in stone.
The evolution system in Digimon is interesting because, sure, we all know Agumon digivolves into Greymon, but if certain conditions are met, then he could also digivolve into a variety of other Digimon as well. Additionally, you’re able to de-digivolve a creature to send them backwards on the evolution path. So while Agumon might be a fire-type on paper, if you lead him down a path of digivolving into a Digimon that uses ice-type moves, you can eventually get that creature back to Agumon and inherit some ice moves from that ice-type creature you digivolved him into previously. It’s a system that seems complex on the surface but is super simple once you sit down with it, opening a wide variety of combos to you.
Boss Fights That Test Strategy
So, back to the fight with Kuwagamon—because of the attribute and elemental type systems, you really want to make sure you’re running Digimon who can maximize the amount of damage towards a boss to take them down swiftly. Because Kuwagamon is a Virus type that’s weak to Vaccine types, and it’s also weak against fire-type moves, my Agumon was getting a 300x multiplier on its damage. After taking care of Kuwagamon, things began to escalate as a mysterious, shadowy creature attacked during a huge battle with dozens of Digimon, and an explosion occurred, sending us eight years into the past.
The second half of my demo was a tad shorter, but it threw me five-ish hours further into the game and opened up a bit more of the game’s mechanics to me. I was immediately greeted by a collection of a couple of dozen Champion-level Digimon to form my team around, and I swiftly added staples like Deputymon, Devimon, Kurisarimon, and more to my team. It’s here where I was also able to play a bit with the ability to digivolve—or, just as importantly, de-digivolve—my creatures. I was also given access to the In-Between Theater, which is where I could access the DigiFarm, a key part of the game, to set a Digimon down a specifically desired path of evolution.
You have this Earth-shaped sphere where you can place down pieces of land of different elements and drop Digimon onto them to train while you’re out adventuring. Here, you can feed them items to increase their bond or train them to boost stats and shift their personality. A Digimon’s personality is a key part of their evolution, as you can have two very different Agumon, for example, with different personalities that both digivolve into very different creatures.
Once I was done messing around with that stuff, I got back to the demo proper and saw I was finally in the Digital World in a place called Abyss Beach. Shellmon needed some help after a recent attack on their village, and I explored the area, fighting wandering Digimon and taking in the gorgeous vistas. I eventually needed to head underwater to deal with an antagonist group of Digimon, and with the help of Whamon, we were able to head down and breathe with no issues. After exploring the watery depths, we came across Sharkmon, the boss of the area, and basically a skill check to make sure you’re understanding the game’s mechanics thus far. I really had to make sure I was maximizing my Digimon’s attribute type and elemental type to deal as much damage to Sharkmon as possible; otherwise, I wouldn’t be making a dent in him.
A Promising Step Forward for the Series
After figuring out the ideal team setup, I was able to defeat him, which closed out the rest of my time with the game. Overall, I was pretty happy with the direction the game seems to be going compared to how the previous two Digimon Story games played. Even though my time in the Digital World was brief, the wait to jump back in won’t be too long, as Digimon Story: Time Stranger releases this October.
