Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
Digimon Story: Time Stranger
2025 video game From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
Digimon Story: Time Stranger[a] is a role-playing video game developed by Media.Vision and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It is the seventh game in the Story subseries of Digimon games, releasing eight years after Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth – Hacker's Memory.[1][2] It was released worldwide for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows on October 3, 2025.[3][b]
Remove ads
Development
Summarize
Perspective
Digimon Story: Time Stranger was announced on December 8, 2017, just before the release of Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth – Hacker's Memory.[2] Producer Kazumasa Habu, who referred to Time Stranger only as "a completely new Digimon Story project", stated that Hacker's Memory was developed in parallel with Time Stranger as not to "dampen the fans' enthusiasm" with a long wait between releases.[2] A year later, on September 12, 2018, Habu reconfirmed the game's development and announced Digimon Survive – scheduled for release in 2019 and made because Time Stranger's development "still [had] some time to go."[5][c]
On February 27, 2022, Habu once again confirmed that the Digimon Story game was being worked on.[7] He revealed that the game would take place in the Digital World and would feature the Olympos XII as the main characters.[7] On February 20, 2024, Habu revealed he had no longer been working on Digimon games since April 2023.[8] He stated Time Stranger, still referring to it as "the new Digimon Story", was still being worked on but that someone else had taken over his role.[8]
On February 12, 2025, Time Stranger's first trailer was shown on the PlayStation 5 in a State of Play stream.[9][10] Earlier that day, the game had been leaked via retailer GameStop when outlet Gematsu found preorder pages on their site for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X versions.[10] On June 4, 2025, Bandai Namco announced a worldwide launch date of October 3, 2025, and detailed the game's various editions.[3][11] A March 19 trailer at Digimon Con 2025, a July 2 trailer presented by producer Ryosuke Hara, and another released on August 27 provided an overview of the game's story, characters, and setting.[12][13][14] On September 10 and September 11, 2025, the game's demo released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows.[15]
Soundtrack
The game’s soundtrack is composed by Masafumi Takada, marking his return to the series following his work on earlier entries.[16]The main theme song is titled “Wherever You Are” and is performed by Reche.[17] A themed song video was released showcasing gameplay and voiced scenes over the song[18]Additionally, the game offers a DLC pack titled “Digimon Anime Song Pack” which includes 16 classic tracks from the Digimon anime series[19]
Remove ads
Plot
Summarize
Perspective
Digimon Story: Time Stranger follows an agent of the organization ADAMAS, a covert group investigating digital anomalies in Tokyo. During an operation in Shinjuku, the agent witnesses a catastrophic event known as the Shinjuku Inferno, in which a powerful Digimon appears and devastates the area. The incident propels the protagonist eight years into the past, where they must uncover the cause of the disaster and prevent the collapse of both the human and Digital Worlds.[20] In the past, players can choose a male or female protagonist Dan or Kanan Yūki who interact with new characters such as Inori Misono and her father Kosuke Misono.
The story takes place across both modern-day Tokyo and the newly introduced Digital World: Iliad, a distinct realm ruled by the divine group known as the Olympus XII.[21] Throughout the game, the protagonist works to discover the origin of the Shinjuku catastrophe while forging bonds with both human allies and Digimon partners. Communication with their counterpart in the future In the final chapters, it is revealed that the Shinjuku Inferno was triggered by a corrupted Digimon tied to the experiments of Kosuke Misono, who sought to merge digital and human realities to prevent data decay.
The protagonist learns that preventing the disaster requires accepting a time paradox sacrificing their own existence in the timeline they came from. After confronting the source of the anomaly in the Digital World: Iliad, the player restores balance between the two worlds, erasing the future catastrophe. In the epilogue, traces of the protagonist remain within the Digital Network, hinting that their consciousness still exists beyond time. whichever protagonist the player did not select provides critical updates on the world’s impending collapse. The narrative centers on themes of time, fate, and connection, culminating in an effort to alter destiny and save both worlds. [22]
In the final chapters, it is revealed that the Shinjuku Inferno was triggered by a corrupted Digimon tied to the experiments of Kosuke Misono, who sought to merge digital and human realities to prevent data decay. The protagonist learns that preventing the disaster requires accepting a time paradox sacrificing their own existence in the timeline they came from. After confronting the source of the anomaly in the Digital World: Iliad, the player restores balance between the two worlds, erasing the future catastrophe. In the epilogue, traces of the protagonist remain within the Digital Network, hinting that their consciousness still exists beyond time.[23]
Remove ads
Reception
Summarize
Perspective
Pre-release
Reviewing a three-hour preview session of Time Stranger, Jess Reyes of GameSpot called it "a promising comeback that I didn't want to stop playing" and cited "older fans who watched Digimon Adventure" as a major target audience.[1] Reyes called collecting Digimon the best part of the game, praised the battle system as "possibly the most comprehensive the series has seen yet", and stated that the narrative "took a backseat to the enjoyable battles and creature collecting".[1]
David Lumb of CNET, also reviewing the preview session, called the "expansive possibilities" of Digimon team building "exactly what [hardcore roleplaying game fans] have been waiting for" and called the combat rich and deep with "quality-of-life considerations that remove some tedium from the level-up grind."[24] He recommended it to "Pokémon diehards" due to its complexity.[24]
Ethan Gach of Kotaku, who played a preview for 90 minutes, called the soundtrack "unusually stellar", the cinematics "more polished" than Cyber Sleuth's, and the gameplay systems "a great foundation to work with."[25] He concluded in the review's title: "I don't care about Digimon, and I'm still hyped for Digimon Story: Time Stranger" and said that the game "doesn't deserve to be overshadowed" by Pokémon Legends: Z-A.[25]
Post-release
The PlayStation 5 and PC versions of Digimon Story: Time Stranger both received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[26][27] In Japan, four critics from Famitsu gave the game a total score of 34 out of 40.[28]
Notes
References
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads