Digimon Story Time Stranger Review (Switch 2)

It's safe to say that, while they're often unfairly compared as franchises, Digimon and Pokémon have diverged in recent years. Game Freak has stuck to the same mechanical loop, taking the odd risk with its tried and true formula, while Digimon has pushed into story-driven adventures with darker themes and monster-collecting mechanics more akin to mature genre luminaries like Shin Megami Tensei.

Time Stranger is the latest in the Story cycle of the wider Digimon franchise. It follows the hugely popular Cyber Sleuth, but it's a standalone adventure that can be enjoyed by series faithfuls and, crucially, newcomers alike. It's a huge experience, with an engrossing story, an intoxicating world and accessible systems. Far from just being another entry in the other monster-battling series, Digimon Story Time Stranger emerges on Switch 2 as one of its very best RPGs.

The plot is complex without being convoluted. You are an agent of ADAMAS, tasked with investigating anomalies in near-future Tokyo. After a devastating event involving a newly discovered species your organisation dubs 'Digimon', you are flung eight years into the past. After befriending some locals and a humanoid Digimon named Aegiomon, you set about investigating anomalies in the past, hoping to prevent the disaster looming in your future.

Then there's the digital world of Illiad, a bustling alternate dimension where the Digimon are locked in a civil war, with your party caught smack dab in the middle. The plot shares elements with Cyber Sleuth and adds to the overarching story of the franchise, but it's deliberately tooled to be welcoming for the uninitiated. I am very much an amateur in the Digimon world, and I was enamoured with the characters and engrossed in the story throughout, never feeling lost in established lore.

The core loop of Story Time Stranger will be familiar to anyone who's picked up a Poké Ball. You carry out investigation missions in the field, amassing a menagerie of monsters to use in battle. Collecting and growing your Digimon takes zero effort, with collection (which takes the form of 'copying' monsters you battle frequently), evolution, and skill management all just a couple of menus away.

Aside from the In Between Space, an interdimensional hub for shopping and customising a free-range Digi-farm, there's no need to visit specific locations to manage your roster. With everything happening on the fly, progression feels smooth and backtracking is minimal. There are side quests aplenty, alongside a card-battling minigame and optional dungeons that offer repeatable challenges.

This is a big game, one that could easily take north of 100 hours for anyone willing to see everything through. Getting there means undertaking that old familiar grind. But I had so much fun with the combat that I didn't mind the odd bump in the road, and a wealth of quality-of-life features means there are plenty of ways to speed up the process.

Fights are turn-based and use a traditional rock-paper-scissors format, with 7 attribute types alongside 11 elemental variants to match up. The system isn't too deep, but it's enjoyable to build a well-rounded roster and stack up those multipliers. Your agent can also utilise Cross Arts, special abilities charged in battle and unleashed as a full party assault on the enemy. Combat is simple but exciting, thanks in no small part to the diversity of your monster collection.

The pull of Digimon has always been the goofy variety of its critters. These are fully vocalised companions of all shapes and sizes, ranging from metal dinosaurs and sword-wielding knights to samurai chickens and cute fuzzy dogs. Every monster has 16 personality types, each with its own subtypes, that can be manipulated by their owner to boost certain stats.

There’s a particular enjoyment in taking a breather mid-mission to shape your creature’s progress with a pep talk. Digivolutions leave plenty of room for experimentation, with each monster offering many possible paths that are locked behind specific stat spreads and agent levels. The game offers room to manoeuvre within all these systems, so you never feel stuck with a bad choice or misguided party setup.

The Switch 2 version of Story Time Stranger comes with a quality graphics mode that targets 4K/30fps when docked and 1080p/30fps undocked, with HDR available in both modes. The performance setting runs at 1080p both docked and undocked, killing the HDR in favour of a butter-smooth 60fps.

Both modes look great and leave other games of this type (you know the ones I'm talking about) in the dust. Performance mode was the undisputed champion of my playthrough, easily standing up against versions of the game on other consoles. Battles are effortlessly smooth, while environments like the Tokyo streets and the bustling Central Tower of Illiad are a vibrant treat to explore.

A Switch version is also available, which targets 30fps at 1080p docked and 720p handheld, and it's nice to have the option to play this if you don't own the newer console (save data can be transferred from Switch 1 to Switch 2, although there's no upgrade path).

Outside of the crisp visuals, the soundtrack is a healthy mix of chilled-out beats and energetic action music, accompanied by solid English and Japanese voice tracks. Voices include the occasional comedic chatter of the Digimon themselves, who manage to have a lot more personality than their ball-enslaved cousins. The whole game is full of personality and heaps of charm, with a satisfying combat loop and a compelling story you'll want to see through to the end.