Eight whole years. That’s genuinely how long it took for us to get a new game in the Digimon Story series. That, to me, feels like an insane wait, and in the years I’ve been translating Japanese interviews, I’ve always heard a rumor crop up every now and then that hinted at the development of a new game, but only in February 2025 would we finally hear about the release of Digimon Story: Time Stranger. And now, a few months after its release, the title finally makes its way to Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2. So was this long wait worth it?
Back Into the Past
Our story begins with the protagonist of the story, who is, well, you! The game offers you a choice between a male and a female protagonist, and the opposite gender of who you pick will join your adventures as your Operator. You work for an organization called ADAMAS, which is tasked with investigating various weird phenomena that are being caused by… electron phase lifeforms, which the organization thankfully decided to call Digital Monsters, or Digimon for short.
During one of your missions, a portal opens up that causes you to go back eight years into the past. Upon managing to reconnect with your Operator, you learn that a huge incident titled the Shinjuku Inferno caused the world as you know it to be almost completely destroyed. Which means, your impromptu trip to the past is actually a good thing, because that means you might be able to prevent the Inferno from happening by changing things in the past.
The story is really good, although it does have its trope moments, especially in the beginning. I will admit that it took me until the second half of the game before I got invested, but it was worth it in the end. Now of course, I won’t get into specifics in order to avoid spoilers, but let’s just say that the plot twist that happens is something that I was not prepared for, and I was stunned at just how everything falls into place afterwards. Honestly, this is the type of game I wish I could erase my memory to experience again.
With that said, a major thing I disliked during the story was just how, at times, the characters felt the need to repeat themselves an annoying number of times. Once or twice is not bad, especially if this is an important fact the player has to keep in mind, but on the fourth and fifth time, it becomes irksome. I also think that the voice acting does feel a little inconsistent at times. There are many scenes where it feels like they wanted to have the characters voiced, but they aren’t, which is strange, especially during particularly tense cutscenes that would feel a lot more immersive with voiced dialogue.
It’s Your Time to Shine
Time Stranger’s combat system will feel very familiar just in general if you’ve played previous Digimon Story games. Each Digimon has an attribute, and you have a Fire Emblem-esque triangle: Virus is weak to Vaccine, and Vaccine is weak to Data, which itself is weak to Virus.
Unlike Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth, there are no random encounters. Instead, all of the Digimon appear in the overworld, and if they spot you, you’ll be dragged into a battle.
In the overworld, you can press ZR to make your partner Digimon perform a DigiAttack, which will make the game run the numbers and deal damage according to the type matchups I mentioned earlier. If your Digimon is strong enough, you skip that combat entirely. Furthermore, EXP is shared amongst all of your Digimon, including the ones stored in your Box, which helps a lot in reducing the amount of grinding.
When it comes to evolving your monsters. the process is pretty much unchanged from past Digimon Story games. You have a very complex evolution tree where each Evolution will require specific requirements in order for you to choose that path. In most cases, this involves upgrading a Digimon’s stat past a certain amount, but there are also items that you obtain from progressing the story that are required for certain evolutions.
Personally, I had no trouble raising sufficiently strong Digimon to get through the story, though I still think the developers could’ve added a better way to view the DigiEvolution tree. As an example, I wanted to get Beelzemon, who is my favorite Digimon to date. But there are multiple “Evolution paths” I can take, and keeping up with all those paths can be quite difficult at times, especially since you will eventually have to revert them back in order to increase their maximum level cap. Although I can’t really blame this on the game, but more on my own lack of skill.
Perhaps one of the best features that I found in the game was how you can set down your controller, and the game will automatically kick in a program that will fully restore the HP and SP of your Digimon, and that’s without using any items from your inventory at all! Some might argue that this makes the game too easy, but I can always get behind quality of life improvements like that. The DigiFarm also makes it so you can easily make your Digimon with stats at 9999 pretty effortlessly, if I do say so myself, which is key if you’re replaying this on the hardest difficulty.
The Nintendo Switch 2’s Performance
With the Nintendo Switch 2 only being out for a little over a year, we’ve seen various developers make their titles available on the Nintendo platform, and we were super glad that it seemed that many were embracing the new hardware. Unfortunately, there were some cases where a port of the game was done half-heartedly, like the recent Sonic Frontiers: Definitive Edition port, or the smeary SMAA mess that was the Switch 2 Edition of Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition. The original PC (Steam) release of Digimon Story: Time Stranger doesn’t require a very powerful PC to run, with the recommended page on Steam demanding an Nvidia GeForce GTX 980. So my initial expectations were that it would run rather well on the Switch 2’s hardware.
Upon first starting the game, you’ll be asked to choose between two graphics modes: Performance or Graphics. The former will allow the game to run at 60 FPS, with the caveat that it runs at a Full HD resolution (1080p), and the latter will allow the game to run at 4K resolution (2160p), while capped at 30 FPS. The game is also available on the first-gen Nintendo Switch, but there is no upgrade path to the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, or at least, not in the traditional sense. If you buy the Switch 1 version, you can play it on the Switch 2 with the same save data, and you can install a free update that will allow you to pick the modes, but if you get the Switch 2 version, you can’t launch it on the Switch 1. Why Bandai chose to go through all this instead of an upgrade pack is honestly beyond me.
But let’s answer the main question: Does the game run well? And the answer is yes, it runs spectacularly on both docked and handheld mode. Personally, I largely preferred the game’s Performance mode, and it’s so good to see the game run at a silky smooth 60 frames, as opposed to raw 4K graphics limited to 30. I did encounter some very minor hitches when there was too much happening on the screen, but I distinctly remember having these happen on PC as well; trust me when I say they’re so minor, you probably won’t notice them unless you do some pixel peeping.
Strange Parallel Worlds
Since its original release in October 2025, Digimon Story: Time Stranger added three DLC packages containing new Digimon and new stories. Thanks to Bandai Namco, we got our hands on the Ultimate Edition of the game, which contains all three DLC story packs: Alternate Dimension, GAKU-RAN, and Anti-ParadoX. Each of these DLC packages will take you about one or two hours to complete, and their stories are somewhat disconnected from the main story, but for a good reason.
I ended up doing all of them after I had completed the main story, and I can definitely say that they’re very mediocre for the price. For one, they’re so short that most of them feel like a convenient addition to get more Digimon added to the in-game roster. And it seems like the developers opted to recycle a bunch of elements, which shouldn’t be a bad thing per se, but it just leaves a sour taste in my mouth, especially when you consider their eye-watering price tag of $11.99, unless of course, you get the Deluxe or Ultimate Editions of the game. I wouldn’t say these DLCs are a must-have, especially considering the base game can keep you entertained for a good while.
A Well-Done Port
If you were thinking of finally getting Digimon Story: Time Stranger for yourself on Switch 2, then you will find that this port doesn’t compromise on the experience at all, and Bandai Namco has done a fantastic job in porting the game over to Nintendo’s new console. Playing this on the go was really good, especially during times when my neighborhood had some nasty power outages, and the Performance Mode maintaining a silky smooth frame rate is just the cherry on top of the sundae.
While I had my gripes with the story, and the DLCs can leave a bit to be desired… what matters is that this is still one of the best entries in the Digmon Story franchise we’ve gotten. It’s reassuring to know that both new players and those who plan on dipping their toes again in Illiad will find that their experience is just as it was on PC, PS5, and XBOX.
Disclaimer: Bandai Namco provided Final Weapon with a Nintendo Switch 2 copy of Digimon Story: Time Stranger for review purposes.
