I've been a Digimon fan for a very long time. One of my earliest memories is getting a replica D3 Digivice as a birthday gift and then spending the rest of the day staring at an empty wall in our house, pointing the thing forward in hopes that it would transport me to the Digital World. It's probably for the best that it didn't work. Digimon Story Time Stranger is a game that makes good on that dream, and arrives almost a decade after the last fully new entry into the longtime Digimon Story series, Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth , a game I put nearly 300 hours into, with most of it spent trying to get all of the gashapon toys. And while it might not rival the depth and polish of the latest Final Fantasy or Persona games, it's a really good Digimon game, and I'm just so happy that it exists. A Digi-dream come true RELATED: Digimon Adventure Felt a Lot Like Making Friends on the Internet While Cyber Sleuth spent a lot of its runtime having you run around the real world, picking up side quests, conducting investigations and bouncing into the Digital World for dungeon-crawling reminiscent of the cyberscapes of Mega Man Battle Network , Time Stranger almost immediately wants you to know it's not bringing you more of the same. A few hours into my playthrough brought me to the first new hub area in the Digital World, a truly lived-in city packed with references to the original Digimon anime series and video games, like seeing Veemon, Wormmon, Armadillomon, and Hawkmon from Adventure 02 gabbing about as you set off to meet the de facto government leader, Merukimon. Color me surprised when that quest led me to the Digimon-equivalent of Mos Eisley Cantina from Star Wars , a literal tavern packed with Digital Monsters. I didn't know that was something I wanted, but I'm sure glad it's there. These little communities of Digimon in their day-to-day lives set the stage for a story focused on not just mystery and intrigue as it relates to the real world, but also the emotion and existence of the series' colorful companions, a layer that longtime fans of the series will welcome with open arms. Split decisions RELATED: Welcome to Jurassic Park: Anime Style Another focus of Time Stranger is its conversation options for the protagonist, an agent of AMADAS, an organization focused on solving a present-day apocalypse through investigation of the past. While it's yet to be seen if these options have long-tail consequences, they add a lovely layer of individuality to the game, and it's fun seeing NPC characters react differently based on how you approach a situation. But it's totally natural for a game focused on split decisions, from the branching nature of Digivolution to choosing your "starter" Digimon (if you don't pick Patamon, we can't be friends), to how you kit out your agent with special skills (like… imbuing your laser pistol with the power of friendship). This game makes choice a core conceit and adds some weight to hours of grinding in dungeons, managing your Digimon's stat values, and even selecting cards in its simple yet addictive rock-paper-scissors-style card game (which also pays homage to the original virtual pet device). Let's kick it up RELATED: Toei Animation Producer Hiromi Seki on the Difference Between Making Digimon Series and Films I'm not yet finished with Digimon Story: Time Stranger , but I don't want to rush it, either. As I continue my adventure, I find myself smirking at those little details, and beaming at the care put into each of the Digimon's maneurisms, from their special moves (that I keep repeating lines from the anime during) to the fact that you can just sit on the shoulders of a Growlmon as they stumble around the Digital World. At the end of the day, we Digimon fans have simple needs… more Digimon. Thankfully, the Digimon Beatbreak anime is right on the horizon, and after decades of dreaming about the perfect way to dive into the Digital World ourselves, it feels like we finally have a definitive Digimon game. And that feels really good to say. Digimon Story: Time Stranger is now available for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC via Steam. A review copy of the game was provided by BANDAI NAMCO.
