Here’s Hoping Digimon Story: Time Stranger Builds Up the Series With New Features

Ever since I was little, I have adored the Digimon series. I always found the various anime series to be far better than Pokemon’s anime, but the games were always severely lacking to me. That was, at least, until the Cyber Sleuth games. The turn-based combat and in-depth Digimon evolution system reeled me in for hundreds of hours. With Digimon Story: Time Stranger on the horizon, there are a few features and improvements I want to see. For starters, bigger isn’t always better in terms of the amount of Digimon that will be available in Digimon Story: Time Stranger. The last game in this JRPG sub-series had nearly 350 different ones to choose from. While more is welcome, such as around 400 Digimon in total, I want to see more of a focus on quality than quantity. Image via Bandai Namco There were only a couple of brand new, original Digimon featured in Hacker’s Memory. Almost every single Digimon in that game already existed in some form or another. And the totally new ones? Well, you’d have to get pretty deep into the experience to check them out. That needs to change for this upcoming title. I’d like to see more original Digimon, especially early on. It doesn’t have to be a lot — maybe 15-20 — but it’d be nice if the three starters you can pick from were all brand new monsters. This would immediately surprise players and provide tons of replayability since players would want to know what the others turn into. Another feature that would be great would be player customization. The protagonists of the previous two titles were pretty much set in stone in design. It appears this may be a similar situation in the upcoming title, but it would at least be nice to have clothing options. This would give you more stores to buy from, which would be neat in a fashion-forward location like Tokyo where places like Shibuya and Harajuku exist. From there, it would be nice to have an expansion of the Digimon systems. The Digi Farm is a great part of the previous games. You could leave Digimon behind to level up and the like. I’d love to see an expansion of this, such as the ability to farm for special evolution materials that are otherwise a challenge to get. It would also be nice to have a breeding system of sorts. It is a grind to find certain Digimon and it is annoying having to constantly devolve and Digivolve rarer ones to see the other evolutions. Image via Bandai Namco Finally, there is the element of Digimon Story: Time Stranger multiplayer. There were light multiplayer options available in the previous titles, such as battling online. I would like to see a full expansion of this aspect. Let there be rooms or hub areas you can explore online alongside others. Having a more co-op focus would be thrilling and encourage playing more. In addition, maybe these hub areas could act as places to challenge other players to battles or, dare I say, trade. Trading would be an intriguing feature. It isn’t a requirement, but it would help with some of the grind to obtain fan-favorite Digimon. Digimon Story: Time Stranger is suddenly one of my most anticipated games of 2025. I spent over 100 hours with both Cyber Sleuth games in the past and I fully expect to do the same here. While more of the same is better in this experience, there is room for improvements and changes. If Digimon Story: Time Stranger can bring more original Digimon, improve online, and bring player customization, it could be a must-play monster-collector and JRPG in 2025. Digimon Story: Time Stranger will release for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC sometime in 2025. The post Here’s Hoping Digimon Story: Time Stranger Builds Up the Series With New Features appeared first on Siliconera.

Mar 1, 2025 - 16:13

Here’s Hoping Digimon Story: Time Stranger Builds Up the Series With New Features

Ever since I was little, I have adored the Digimon series. I always found the various anime series to be far better than Pokemon’s anime, but the games were always severely lacking to me. That was, at least, until the Cyber Sleuth games. The turn-based combat and in-depth Digimon evolution system reeled me in for hundreds of hours. With Digimon Story: Time Stranger on the horizon, there are a few features and improvements I want to see.

For starters, bigger isn’t always better in terms of the amount of Digimon that will be available in Digimon Story: Time Stranger. The last game in this JRPG sub-series had nearly 350 different ones to choose from. While more is welcome, such as around 400 Digimon in total, I want to see more of a focus on quality than quantity.

All Digimon Story games Digimon Story Time Stranger — Image via Bandai Namco

There were only a couple of brand new, original Digimon featured in Hacker’s Memory. Almost every single Digimon in that game already existed in some form or another. And the totally new ones? Well, you’d have to get pretty deep into the experience to check them out. That needs to change for this upcoming title.

I’d like to see more original Digimon, especially early on. It doesn’t have to be a lot — maybe 15-20 — but it’d be nice if the three starters you can pick from were all brand new monsters. This would immediately surprise players and provide tons of replayability since players would want to know what the others turn into.

Another feature that would be great would be player customization. The protagonists of the previous two titles were pretty much set in stone in design. It appears this may be a similar situation in the upcoming title, but it would at least be nice to have clothing options. This would give you more stores to buy from, which would be neat in a fashion-forward location like Tokyo where places like Shibuya and Harajuku exist.

From there, it would be nice to have an expansion of the Digimon systems. The Digi Farm is a great part of the previous games. You could leave Digimon behind to level up and the like. I’d love to see an expansion of this, such as the ability to farm for special evolution materials that are otherwise a challenge to get. It would also be nice to have a breeding system of sorts. It is a grind to find certain Digimon and it is annoying having to constantly devolve and Digivolve rarer ones to see the other evolutions.

Finally, there is the element of Digimon Story: Time Stranger multiplayer. There were light multiplayer options available in the previous titles, such as battling online. I would like to see a full expansion of this aspect. Let there be rooms or hub areas you can explore online alongside others. Having a more co-op focus would be thrilling and encourage playing more.

In addition, maybe these hub areas could act as places to challenge other players to battles or, dare I say, trade. Trading would be an intriguing feature. It isn’t a requirement, but it would help with some of the grind to obtain fan-favorite Digimon.

Digimon Story: Time Stranger is suddenly one of my most anticipated games of 2025. I spent over 100 hours with both Cyber Sleuth games in the past and I fully expect to do the same here. While more of the same is better in this experience, there is room for improvements and changes. If Digimon Story: Time Stranger can bring more original Digimon, improve online, and bring player customization, it could be a must-play monster-collector and JRPG in 2025.

Digimon Story: Time Stranger will release for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC sometime in 2025.

The post Here’s Hoping Digimon Story: Time Stranger Builds Up the Series With New Features appeared first on Siliconera.