I'm 24-years-old and have been playing Pokemon for most of my life. I had a Game Boy Advance and a copy of Pokemon Emerald glued to my hand as soon as I learned how to read. I even met my longtime partner through our shared love of Pokemon Go. Nintendo's pocket monsters are near and dear to my heart.
But recent entries into the Pokemon series haven't connected with me in the same way as their predecessors. I still love indulging in a good turn-based RPG -- especially one focused on catching and battling wild monsters -- but I fear I'm outgrowing one of my favorite series.
While I never focused on Digimon, it was always in my periphery -- the menagerie of mechas, dragons and strangely humanoid creatures were appealing, but didn't hold a candle to Pokemon in my eyes. What Digimon does have going for it right now is that it's a series that seems to grow alongside its fans -- and Digimon Story: Time Stranger feels like a more mature turn-based competitor to Pokemon Legends: Z-A.
Stepping into the world of Digimon wasn't easy; it took some effort to learn the monster evolution trees, type matchups and battle strategies that work for me. Pokemon is so ingrained in my brain that I had to unlearn certain habits to succeed in Time Stranger. It's well worth doing, though: After a couple dozen hours with the game, I feel it more than fills the monster-battling hole in my heart.
Your adventure will take you from the streets of Shinjuku to the digital world in pursuit of anomalies. Bandai Namco
It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine
I wouldn't usually describe monster-catching RPGs as stressful, but Digimon Story: Time Stranger immediately drops players into a world plagued by dangerous creatures, shadowy government suits and social unrest.
I played as an ADAMAS agent -- part of an SCP Foundation-like organization created to shield the public from anomalous phenomena -- tasked with stopping a massive monster from attacking Shinjuku, Japan.
Upon arriving on the scene, however, everything quickly fell apart. The massive beast rose above the nearby skyscrapers, a wormhole let even more Digimon invade the world and dangerous battles broke out above the civilian population. These are the end times, where digital monsters and human beings are destined to destroy one another.
As the worst-case scenario unfolded, I was caught in an explosion that engulfed the entire screen in blinding white light. That would've been the curtain call for a normal person, but our hero has a bigger role -- mysteriously hurled back nearly a decade into the past.
Becoming the titular "time stranger" is when the story really hits the ground running, and there's enjoyable tension between the narrative and the moment-to-moment gameplay.
Exploring the Shinjuku of the past, training up Digimon partners, helping ordinary people with their problems and even collecting trading cards are quaint diversions from the apocalypse. But the doomsday clock is ever-present and always ticking away, motivating me to return to the case as soon as possible.
There have been mature Pokemon narratives in the past. A particular standout is Pokemon Black and White's story, in which the player is tasked with defeating an evil organization that pretends to advance Pokemon rights to subjugate people and pocket monsters alike.
But recent Pokemon games are -- for better or worse -- less focused on high-stakes narratives. Sword and Shield was all about the Galar region gym challenge and Scarlet and Violet offered three slice-of-life stories that represented a more average lifestyle in the Paldea region.
Time Stranger's high-stakes story feels like a grown-up anime adventure, and I'm invested in how the many mysteries of Digimon in Shinjuku will unfold.
Having three Digimon on your team doesn't make these Titan boss fights any less intimidating. Bandai Namco/Screenshot by CNET
The standard triple battles add depth to combat
Like in the mainline Pokemon games, Time Stranger allows you to enter any fight with a team of six monsters, raring to battle. While pocket monsters brawl it out mano a mano, digital monsters are essentially embroiled in larger conflicts.
Every battle in Time Stranger starts with three of your Digimon spearheading the attack (with the other three on standby in case one of your main monsters gets knocked out). Your opponents aren't playing by the same rules, though. While some fights will pit you against a single enemy monster or another team of three, there are times when you'll be overwhelmed by four or five Digimon at once.
Spamming a single high-damage attack is an easy way to blast through a Pokemon gym, but that's not a winning strategy for Time Stranger's horde battles. To win these fights, I frequently had to utilize every trick I had up my sleeve.
Success hinges upon having varied Digimon with different skills. Early in the game, my main lineup included the reptilian Agumon as a heavy damage dealer, while the vulpine Kudamon supported him with healing spells and stat-buffing moves. The flow of combat feels more like a classic JRPG with fighters, mages and clerics, where building strong and synergetic combat archetypes is key to victory.
Every time your Digimon gets a turn in a battle, you can use items. This means you have ample time to heal up, regenerate skill points, cleanse status effects and buff your monsters. It also means the game is designed to be a little tougher than any Pokemon game. Enemies hit hard, and some bosses could wipe out my entire front line of three Digimon in a single move if I didn't exploit their weaknesses and use items to buff my team's stats.
I like that putting the four moves with the highest attack power on a single Digimon isn't a winning strategy. Spamming the most damaging moves to sleepwalk my way through the Pokemon Elite Four is in the past -- getting absolutely hammered by a massive Digimon boss is the new wave.
The reptilian Agumon is cute, but I just can't get attached to him the same way I get attached to Pokemon. Bandai Namco
A little bit of love is lost in the shuffle
Digimon Story: Time Stranger is refreshing, and it's one of the few games that has really rekindled my love of monster-taming RPGs. But that doesn't mean it does everything better than its pocket-monster competitor.
While interacting with my Digimon and shaping their personalities was a core part of the Time Stranger experience, I couldn't help but feel broadly detached from my team members. This feeling stems in part from the Digimon formula itself: The creatures evolve and change form so often that it's hard to see any one as a lasting partner -- especially when their digivolutions often look radically different from their earlier forms.
While evolution is a core part of the Pokemon gameplay loop, it happens less frequently. Pokemon also tend to carry over design features from their base forms -- it's easy to look at a fully-grown Charizard, for example, and see the Charmander you started your adventure with.
But what Time Stranger really lacks are charming little moments of personal connection. Downtime with the digital monsters doesn't feel like real bonding because it's completely goal-oriented. I'm just chatting with them to make them grow and develop in optimal ways.
When I stick a Pokemon in a beauty pageant or feed it a snack, I'm doing so because I like watching that Pokemon have fun and react, much like a pet would. When one of my Pokemon gets hit with an overwhelming attack and toughs it out with one hit point left because it "doesn't want me to feel sad," I get a real dopamine hit that Time Stranger hasn't been able to replicate.
Regardless of these shortcomings, Digimon Story: Time Stranger is a monster-battling RPG with a stellar story hook and difficulty options that I've been yearning for Pokemon to implement for years. I like that I need to think about what moves to make and how my team members interact with one another in the midst of battle, rather than button-mashing my way through super-effective attacks.
In recent years, Pokemon games have shifted their toughest battles from single-player to multiplayer, and with that shift, my favorite parts of the series have withered. Time Stranger gently draws me in instead, with the promise of deep monster training and a compelling time-travel mystery.