Digimon have taken many different forms over the years, from literal digital monsters that sat inside Tamagotchi-like toys to trading cards to multiple anime runs. Now the little icons are finally getting what looks like the big-budget JRPG treatment with Digimon Story: Time Stranger, announced at last night's State of Play.
It's been about seven years since the last Digimon Story game and the sub-series has gotten a pretty major glow-up by the looks of the trailer below. I feel like every major games showcase has at least four trailers that just blend together thanks to their super-serious, generic, doomed anime settings. Time Stranger's first look would've fallen victim to the same problem, but it has the awesome benefit of Digimon popping up halfway through, suddenly making the whole ordeal a million times more interesting/hilarious.
While most other Digimon games are exclusively set in a Digital World, Time Stranger sets itself apart with a dual world, split between the regular human realm and an artificial cyberspace where "Digimon can be seen running their own shops, homes, and living their own full Digi-lives," according to a new blog post. "We've been working hard to bring the charm of Digimon to even more people."
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If you're unfamiliar with Digimon's deal, it's basically like Pokemon. You'll stumble upon iconic beasts, capture them in battle, customize and train them, evolve and devolve them, before sending them out in turn-based fights that largely come down to how well you take advantage of type affinities. Either way, it looks a lot more polished than Pokemon's last big open-world console outing, and I'm glad to see some competition in the space before Pokemon Legends Z-A comes out this year.
Digimon Story: Time Stranger is set to release sometime in 2025 on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5.
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