"Digimon Story: Time Stranger feels like a season of the monster-taming anime made playable. I don't just mean in the sense that it shows humans and digital monsters banding together to save their respective worlds of reality and a digital simulacra, but that it ebbs and flows from mundane slice-of-life to devastating melodrama. Sadly, those contrasts in tone are often matched by contrasts in quality, with the game's exceptional moments often sandwiched between less compelling ones."
"For almost 30 years now, I've consistently admired desire to make sure that the digital monsters are just as much people as the humans who tame them. That same inclination is woven into the mechanics of what, without it, could easily have been a rote turn-based RPG. Like a good friendship, Time Stranger is an investment you have to be willing to make, enduring its awkward early moments to get to the raw and sappy center. It's worth it."
"You are an agent of an organization called ADAMAS, which investigates strange digital anomalies in the human world, only for one mission to end up with far more dire consequences than you or your superiors could have anticipated. As Digimon begin to spill out into the human world, a giant, humanoid machine descends upon Japan. The ensuing conflict creates a cataclysmic explosion that wipes out everyone in its path...except for you, who miraculously survives but is thrown eight years in the past."
Time Stranger blends slice-of-life calm with devastating melodrama, alternating between slow-burning filler and intense tragedy centered on digital monsters. The game treats Digimon as people, integrating that perspective into mechanics that elevate turn-based combat. Players act as ADAMAS agents investigating digital anomalies that escalate into a catastrophe: a humanoid machine causes a cataclysm that kills everyone except the protagonist, who is sent eight years into the past. The narrative forces a mission to prevent an apocalyptic future, delivering exceptional emotional highs amid uneven pacing. Patient investment through awkward early sections leads to a raw, sappy, and ultimately rewarding center.
Read at Kotaku
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