It’s been around 10 years since the last Digimon Story game was released, and after Cyber Sleuth, fans have been eagerly awaiting the next entry in this turn-based series. Digimon Story Time Stranger is highly anticipated for several reasons, but sometimes, it’s as simple as the fact that we’re getting a new Digimon game soon.

During a recent hands-on preview, we got the opportunity to play nearly 3 hours of Digimon Story Time Stranger, taking us through 2 parts of the game that involved early-level combat and exploration, as well as a glimpse of high-level combat later in the game against Sharkmon. Based on what we’ve played, it looks like fans have a reason to get excited for it, but also a title that newcomers can easily get into and enjoy.

Digimon Story Time Stranger Hands-on Preview

As mentioned, our playthrough of Digimon Story Time Stranger was divided into two sessions, with the first being the start of the game that took us through the basics of combat, evolution, and recruiting monsters to fight by your side. Fans of the series will find that the familiar turn-based combat makes a welcome return, but for the uninitiated, let’s run by it.

As mentioned, Digimon Story Time Stranger employs a turn-based combat system where players can field 3 Digimon to fight against other Digimon encountered during exploration. Players can have up to 3 reserve Digimon to swap in at any time, depending on their needs. Combat is governed by a Rock-Paper-Scissors mechanic based on the types (Data, Vaccine, Virus) and elements in the game (Fire, Water, Plant, etc). You can see the effectiveness of your attacks through the user interface, which is denoted by a x50% x100%, etc indicator.

While typical turn-based rules apply, several quality-of-life upgrades make the game both approachable and easy to play.

First, Digimon Story Time Stranger has an auto-battle system that can be toggled by simply pressing R3, along with a speed-up mechanic that can go up to x5 speed, which is helpful for grinding purposes. It also has a way to damage or kill enemies during exploration (pressing R2 launches a DigiAttack) before even engaging them in battle, and also a system that allows players to use items but not take up a turn while doing so. The last bit, in particular, is extremely useful, as it eliminates the hesitation to use items during combat.

Quality of life might be an understatement here, as you can even recover HP/SP just by standing still for a duration of time while exploring, meaning you can go into the next battle fully healed and ready to fight. All combined, this makes Digimon Story Time Stranger an extremely approachable title for newcomers to the series, but also takes a lot of the busywork out for veterans who want to focus on getting the most out of Digimon’s complex systems.

Exploration in Digimon Story Time Stranger is your typical fare, where players can see enemies on the map and choose to engage with them or not. You’ll want to fight every enemy, though, as this is one way to actually “collect” and recruit them to do battle for you.

Encountering a Digimon in battle and defeating it will result in its scan data increasing, which can reach a maximum of 200%. Every time you face them and after the battle, that percentage will increase by a certain amount, and once it reaches 100%, you can use them in battle. That said, you’ll want to take full advantage of the max scan level of 200% since it’ll provide better stats to the said Digimon.

The system goes even deeper, as Digimon can Digivolve into various other Digimon based on specific requirements (ATK is above 200, INT is above 300, etc). They can also De-Digivolve for more min-maxing purposes. Additionally, Digimon in Digimon Story Time Stranger will also have personalities that can shape the way they Digivolve, and players can talk/interact with them throughout the game, where their answers will dictate what type of personality they will have. Think Shin Megami Tensei, but with some twists here and there!

During this point of the playthrough, Digimon designs are still relatively tame, since we’re mainly dealing with starter Digimon. Visually, the game resembles what you would expect from an anime-style game, featuring vibrant colors and eye-catching character and monster designs. The English voice acting is serviceable, but the Japanese voice cast is leagues above. Visual Effects during combat are striking and really add flair to fights.

The second session of Digimon Story Time Stranger was where things started to heat up a bit, as we were thrust into a high-level battle against Sharkmon. The Digimon that were made available to us had visually impressive designs, spanning the likes of Sorcermon, BlackGatomon, Leomon, Aegiomon, Deputymon, and many more.

This session further emphasized the importance of the Rock-Paper-Scissors system of vulnerabilities, as even regular enemies can take advantage of you if you do not exploit their weaknesses. Item usage during turns is also emphasized as a crucial tactic, especially during times when you find yourself lacking enough SP to cast your next skill.

In the heat of combat, players can also unleash a “Cross Art” once their CP gauge is full, which is essentially an extremely damaging attack that targets all enemies on the screen. Your CP gauge is filled up by using attacks and skills, more if they are effective against the enemies, which is another reason to take advantage of attacks that are highly effective against opposing Digimon.

Digimon Story Time Stranger was quite a surprise, especially to someone who has not really been immersed in the world of the anime and its games. Featuring decent anime-style graphics, an engaging turn-based combat system, and a shockingly deep taming system, Digimon Story Time Stranger is something to keep an eye out for as it launches next month.

Digimon Story Time Stranger will launch on October 2 for PS5 and Xbox Series and on October 3 for PC via Steam.