Technologies

Digimon Story Time Stranger Preview: Can It Beat Pokemon at Its Own Game?

The next Digimon roleplaying game is shaping up to be its own blend of complex turn-based combat and monster growth.

I’m halfway through my three-hour demo playing Digimon Story Time Stranger when I finally muster the courage to de-evolve one of my most powerful monsters. Why? So I can build them back up from level 1 to be even stronger — and grow them along a different evolutionary path. For casual players, this may sound excessive. For hardcore roleplaying game fans keen on building their fighters to the peak of performance, these expansive possibilities are exactly what they’ve been waiting for.

Digimon Story Time Stranger, from publisher Bandai Namco due out Oct. 3, is the next game to explore the Digimon franchise. While Digimon’s digital world and quirky monster design have always given it a unique flavor, it’s always been in the shadow of Nintendo’s cultural colossus Pokemon, which reigns supreme in the monster-collecting RPG subgenre.

But Digimon Story Time Stranger introduces enough ways to alter and grow its monsters that it could step out on its own as a robust alternative to Pokemon. There’s a complex battle system for calculating weaknesses, myriad items to equip that give different attacks and a host of ways to build stats. All of that combines for a rich depth of combat with quality-of-life considerations that remove some tedium from the level-up grind.

Digimon Story Time Stranger’s plot feels like anime

Players will have plenty of time to dig into those complexities when playing through Digimon Story Time Stranger, which is set in modern-day Japan. Players take on the role of an agent of ADAMAS, an organization exploring anomalies, which generally means the appearances of digital lifeforms wandering into our world — the eponymous Digimon.

In my demo, I played through the first hour of the game in which my agent fought enemy monsters while exploring a walled-off section of the Shinjuku district of Tokyo. In the chaos of meeting a mysterious girl and being saved from a giant rampaging Digimon, my agent got sucked into the digital realm. That’s where you’ll find the game’s main conflict: a war between more benign monsters living in harmony and a bellicose faction of Digimon called the Titans.

In the full game, players will have to tour the digital realm and quell conflicts between the two sides in around a dozen areas, all while growing a fighting team. I got a tease of the machinations happening in the background as a cutscene revealed a few posh children (who may be more powerful than they appear) speaking about the war, suggesting they could be manipulating the greater conflict from afar.

Based on what I saw, the game’s story feels like an anime plot, and likely lasts dozens of hours. I didn’t play enough to speculate on where it’ll go, aside from leaning on familiar tropes like building friendships and turning enemies to allies, but I dug deeply into the gameplay enough to seriously recommend Pokemon players give Digimon Story Time Stranger a solid look.

Digimon Story Time Stranger’s deep systems should appeal to Pokemon diehards

While I’m more of a casual Pokemon fan, I know the fanbase has a core population of players who strive to breed, raise and train their monsters to their absolute limits of stats and power. They’re the fans I’m talking to when I say that Digimon Story Time Stranger has the complexity to give Pokemon a run for its money among the hardcore monster-training demographic.

First, there’s the turn-based combat. Digimon have a series of moves keyed to 11 elemental types — fire, water, earth, dark, light and so on. Use the right attack and it’ll get a damage boost, perhaps to 200%. Each Digimon also has a digital identity, mainly split along three types: data, which are weak to viruses, which are weak to vaccines, which are weak to data, in a rock-paper-scissors sort of cycle. If you combine these with the right attack from the right kind of Digimon type, you can boost damage up to 300% — and beyond.

Thankfully, the game has several ways it eases the rougher parts of this complexity. You can use items or switch Digimon without using a turn. Your agent character also has powerful Cross Arts with varying effects like dealing damage or boosting your monsters’ defense and attack. When you’re out of battles, you can just stand still for a moment to recover your Digimon team’s health and special attack energy, with no need to waste items. And you can even ride some Digimon to travel faster.

But growing your Digimon is a whole other level of complexity that gives hardcore players a lot of options. First and foremost are the evolutions (“digivolutions” in the game’s parlance): When your Digimon satisfies certain requirements, like having high enough stats, you can transform them into a more powerful monster. While Digimon’s eclectic creature design means you could be evolving, say, a fluffy mammal into a battle tank, there’s no denying how much more effective that stronger monster will be.

You can also go the other way, de-evolving them back to their base form in order to transform them during a second evolution that may learn different attacks or have other advantages. With four tiers of forms and multiple options at each, there’s a lot of ways to transition the same monster up and down the evolutionary tree.

You’ll want to stick with the same monsters, too. The more they fight for you, the stronger their bond will be, allowing them to keep stat bonuses even when evolving or de-evolving. This is complicated by the way you get Digimon in the first place: Defeat enough of the same monster in the field and you’ll be able to generate one of your own. But you may want to hold off, as defeating twice as many means you’ll be able to produce one with an even higher level cap (from 20 to 25, say) and more maximum stats. You may be torn between a monster you caught earlier and one you can generate later that’s more powerful.

Complicating this even further are personalities, affecting which stats grow faster when leveling up. These can be viewed on a 4×4 grid on a Digimon’s status screen, and certain items can shift their personality.

The consequence of de-evolving your favorite monsters is that they’ll drop to level one, keeping only the stats bonuses from your bond with them. But you can stow them in a Digifarm to have them passively level up as you go about your adventures, returning them to fighting potency over time.

These are just the basics of Digimon Story Time Stranger that I got to see in a few hours of playtime, and while the game’s differences from Pokemon may be a bit jarring to fans of that franchise, its depth should be tantalizing to the monster trainers out there. Since the next Digimon comes out Oct. 3, that gives folks two weeks to try it out before the upcoming Pokemon Legends: Z-A is released on Oct. 16.

Digimon Story Time Stranger will be released on Oct. 3 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X and S.

Technologies

Trump Maintains US‑Iran Negotiations Continue Amid Tehran’s Denials of Duplicity

President Trump insists that US‑Iran talks are ongoing despite Tehran’s denial of any negotiation plans, while warning that only a deal or total surrender will allow passage through the Strait of Hormuz. Conflicting statements from both sides have heightened uncertainty as the conflict enters its sixth month.

On Monday, President Donald Trump asserted that negotiations between the United States and Iran are still taking place, even after Tehran stated it has no intention of engaging in direct talks with Washington.

In a fiery Truth Social post, Trump labeled Iran’s leaders “unbelievably duplicitous,” claiming they are lying about ongoing peace talks “whether Iran wants to admit it or not.” He repeated his assertion that the United States completely controls the Strait of Hormuz, despite maritime traffic through the crucial route lingering at only a small fraction of pre‑conflict levels.

He wrote, “Nothing reaches Iran unless we allow it, and nothing will pass unless a deal—or total surrender—is achieved.”

Earlier that day, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told reporters there is no imminent plan for U.S.–Iran negotiations, contradicting Trump’s earlier comment that talks would resume Monday afternoon. Baghaei added that Iran’s only current discussions are with Oman concerning the Strait of Hormuz.

The conflicting statements have heightened uncertainty over the peace‑talk process and the broader conflict, now in its sixth month.

Trump’s assertion about new negotiations came a day after he said on Truth Social that he had agreed to cancel a massive strike against Iran “subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL.” He said in the same post that Iran and other Middle Eastern countries had asked him to hold off on that attack because “the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to.”

Trump has claimed dozens of times throughout the more‑than‑five‑month‑long war that a deal is at hand. No permanent deal has been signed, and a temporary ceasefire reached in June has fallen apart.

Trump has also repeatedly threatened to launch devastating strikes against Iran before backing off. After the latest example, oil prices on Monday fell and stocks surged.

BMI, a research unit of Fitch Solutions, said in a note Monday that a broader diplomatic understanding on reopening the Strait of Hormuz is still achievable this quarter, while raising the probability of its escalation scenario to 35% from 25%, citing mounting military, diplomatic and economic signs of rising U.S.-Iran tensions.

“Diplomatic progress is likely to be punctuated by periodic military flare-ups, while miscalculation by either side could trigger a renewed escalation,” BMI analysts wrote in a note. The firm said the key issue to watch is the future governance of the strait, as the Iran-Oman talks — potentially backed by Gulf states, China and the U.S. — point to efforts to build a post-conflict shipping framework.

Shipping risks persist even as diplomacy appears to be advancing. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre said it received a report of an incident 20 nautical miles (23 miles) northeast of Khasab, Oman — at the mouth of the strait — with a tanker’s master reporting an explosion in close proximity to the vessel at about 20:37 UTC Sunday (4:37 pm ET). The vessel and crew were safe and authorities are investigating, UKMTO said, advising ships to transit with caution.

The proposal Trump announced over the weekend calls for the U.S. and Iran to return to negotiations and continue ironing out some of the thorny issues that had derailed diplomatic efforts, according to The Associated Press, citing a regional official involved in the mediation efforts.

The official said the proposal also includes a reopening of the Hormuz Strait and halting attacks across the region, including by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq on the Arab Gulf countries and Jordan.

The U.S., for its part, will end its naval blockade on Iran and allow Tehran to export its oil, the official said, adding that no deal has been reached, although the mediation efforts remained underway.

Trump’s weekend reversal has lowered the temperature after days of escalating attacks across the Gulf. Kuwait said Saturday that Iranian forces launched a wave of drones within its airspace, with its military destroying multiple aircraft after Iran targeted critical infrastructure in the country’s north.

A parallel track with Muscat is also advancing. Iranian diplomats said Tehran was close to reaching a new arrangement with Oman to manage shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a deal critical to preventing the war from escalating further, according to the Financial Times.

Iranian officials said negotiations over future management of the Hormuz Strait with Oman, which sits on the opposite shore of the waterway, are in their final stages. The agreed shipping route would be different from those used before, according to Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Baghaei, adding that the new route was separate from the issue of the strait’s reopening or continued closure.

Technologies

Oil Prices Slide as Trump Halts Planned Iran Strike

Oil prices dropped after Trump cancelled a planned strike on Iran, with WTI down about 5% and Brent near 5% lower. He said the move followed requests from Tehran and regional allies for a pause while a deal shaping the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s nuclear program is negotiated.

Oil prices fell on Monday after President Donald Trump announced he had cancelled a planned strike on Iran. WTI futures dropped roughly 5% to $80.34 a barrel, while Brent slipped about 4.7% to $83.77 a barrel.

Trump said early Sunday he called off the strike after Iran and several Middle Eastern nations asked him to hold off, noting that the outlines of a deal had been agreed upon. He added that the prospective accord would entail the immediate, full opening of the Strait of Hormuz and an end to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, according to his Truth Social post.

The president had been considering another round of strikes as diplomatic hopes waned since the conflict began on February 28. He said the U.S. and Iran would meet for talks on Monday, but Iran denied any scheduled negotiations with Washington, citing PressTV. Iran’s foreign‑ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei clarified that Tehran was only discussing shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz with Oman. In a follow‑up Truth Social message, Trump insisted that, regardless of Iran’s acknowledgment, the United States is indeed discussing a solution to a long‑standing problem created by Iran.

Technologies

Oil Prices Drop as Trump Cancels Planned Attack on Iran

Oil prices fell sharply after President Trump announced the cancellation of a planned strike on Iran, citing a new deal that would open the Hormuz Strait and end Iran’s nuclear threat.

Oil prices fell sharply on Monday after President Donald Trump announced that he had called off a planned strike on Iran.

West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. benchmark, slipped roughly 5% to close at $80.34 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international benchmark, declined 4.7% to settle at $83.77 a barrel.

Trump made the announcement early Sunday, saying he had canceled the strike following requests from Tehran and other Middle Eastern countries.

In a Truth Social post, he wrote: “We have just been asked by Iran, and other Middle Eastern Countries, to hold off any attack in that the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to.”

The president indicated that the proposed agreement would include the immediate, complete, and total opening of the Hormuz Strait, as well as an end to Iran’s nuclear threat.

Trump had been weighing additional strikes amid diminishing prospects for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict that began on Feb. 28. He stated that the U.S. and Iran would hold negotiations on Monday.

Tehran denied that talks were planned with Washington, according to state news outlet PressTV.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran was only holding talks with Oman regarding the routes ships can use through the Strait of Hormuz.

In a subsequent Truth Social post, Trump added that whether “Iran wants to admit it or not, we are, in fact, talking of a solution to a problem that they have caused for decades.”