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Ah Digimon. If you grew up in the 90’s, the word likely brings to mind a group of kids getting lost in a strange world and meeting up with an assortment of monsters including an adorable dinosaur. Digimon hasn’t had the same impact as other similar franchises, but it remains impressive how it stood the test of time and managed to maintain a healthy fanbase across the globe. Nowhere is this more evident, then with Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth.
The Digimon Story series actually isn’t new over here. It’s been around since 2006 when the first Digimon Story released on Nintendo DS. Westerners like myself however, will be more familiar with its other moniker: Digimon World DS. Yes, Digimon Story got localized to Digimon World despite being largely unrelated to that series, possibly to help sell copies since Digimon World had a following at the time. The series got another entry the next year in the form of Digimon World Dawn and Dusk, which tried to do the “two different versions” thing. Those games released to passable review scores and then the series subsequently disappeared as the next two - Lost Evolution and Super Xros Wars Red and Blue - remained Japan exclusive. Finally, thanks to fan demand, Bandai made the decision to localize Cyber Sleuth for the western audience and it became one of the best selling Digimon games ever, with over 2 million copies sold in the past decade. It was such a success that it received a midquel in the form of Hacker’s Memory that introduced new characters, several new Digimon and a few gameplay updates. Both were later bundled in a Complete Edition for Nintendo Switch and Steam, which is the version I’m going with.
Cyber Sleuth and Hacker’s Memory went for a more mature tone with their respective stories, something that I and many other fans can appreciate. In Cyber Sleuth, you step into the sneakers of Aiba. One day, Aiba goes to meet up with new hacker friends in the digital space known as EDEN when they are attacked by a mysterious program known as an Eater. Left half-digitized and with the unique ability to connect jump into digital spaces, Aiba is soon found by Kyoko Kuremi of the Kuremi Detective Agency and recruited to become her assistant. The duo work together to unravel the mysteries of EDEN and how it connects to the mysterious Digimon. All while solving various cases and helping Aibas new friends, Nokia Shiramine, Arata Sanada and Yuuko Kamishiro.
On the Hacker’s Memory side of things, players instead take on the role of Keisuke Amasawa, a former High School student who joins with hacker group Hudie with the goal of retrieving his stolen EDEN account. To that end, he works alongside the characters Ryuji Mishima, Ryuji’s sister Erika Mishima and Chitose Imai while occasionally crossing paths with important characters from Cyber Sleuth. It should be noted that Hacker’s Memory runs parallel to Cyber Sleuth and it’s generally recommended to complete that one first.
Regardless of which game you start with, the gameplay is mostly the same throughout both. In typical RPG fashion, you’ll explore a variety of areas and dungeons with your trusty Digimon by your side. Up to 3 Digimon can be active in battle at a time but you can also have up to 11 in reserve. That sounds absurd but a memory limit on your party keeps it pretty well balanced. Each Digimon takes up a certain amount of memory space, with higher stages taking up significantly more. That means that having stronger Digimon usually means having fewer Digimon and for much of the early game, I had to keep that in mind as I adjusted my party and digivolved my Digi-pals.
Speaking of digivolving, that’s where the Digilab comes in. Courtesy of Mirei Mikagura(Who is actually a returning character from Digimon World Re:Digitize), both Aiba and Keisuke get to make use of this interdimensional space. From within the lab, they can do everything from healing their party, to checking in on their digifarms, to even connecting online for battles with specific rules and of course, digivolving Digimon. The digifarm is the main attraction here: Digimon not in the party can chill and gradually gain experience while in a farm. Each farm can be assigned one of three tasks: Training, Developing and Investigating. Training raises stats, Developing gives the player a random item and Investigating opens up new mini-quests. Each farm also has a leader Digimon assigned whose personality impacts how effectively these tasks are completed. If this sounds interesting, I recommend doing some research as these mechanics are too intricate for me to explain here. I will say once I figured it out, it made a huge difference in how I approached raising my Digimon. 
Once your party is ready to fight other Digimon, the adventure can continue. Much like the DS games, when you encounter an enemy Digimon, you’ll get scan data which once it reaches 100%, can be converted into a Digimon of that species. This is how you’ll be acquiring new ‘mons to use. The Digimon themselves can be one of 4 different types, and one of 9 different attributes. I won’t list them here, but they are important to note as a Digimon may be more effective or less effective against a foe depending on its type and attribute. There are also a few different options in the battle menu including attacking, defending and using special techniques. Hacker skills, which are mostly used for puzzle solving and affecting encounter rates, are dependent on what types and stages of Digimon are present in your party as to which are accessible. I do want to note that Hacker’s Memory has a bigger assortment of Hacker Skills to use but both games get a lot of use out of them.
With both Aiba and Keisuke able to accept side quests via a quest board in between story beats, there should be a good amount of visual variety right? Kind of. Exploration and questing takes place in both the real world and cyberspace. The real world locations are inspired by real life Japan, with the game being set in Tokyo specifically. You’ll have the pleasure of visiting areas like Akihabara, Shibuya, Nakano and more. The city locations are varied enough that I never got tired of looking at them and the digital shift dungeons that happen in these places are fun to explore. I can’t say the same for cyberspace locations, which start to get monotonous after a while, especially as side quests keep using some of the same ones. Not as egregious in Hacker’s Memory but Cyber Sleuth certainly felt tedious at times.
The Digimon themselves are great to look at though. They’ve all been brought to life in complete 3D and are very nicely animated. Each Digimon has at least one exclusive skill, and the majority of these have really cool animations. Regular attacks and generic skills don’t look as good but they’re fast enough not to be a problem. With over 300 Digimon in the Complete Edition, there are a lot of cool pals to see from fan favorites like Agumon to more obscure ones like Dorumon, and they all look great. Sure it's not as many Digimon as some past games have included, but the quality makes up for it. As for the sound design, I find myself mostly mixed. The background music in places like the Digilab and the various dungeons is passable enough. In the case of the latter though, the music can get as tedious as the dungeons themselves. And yet, there are some solid tracks here. The Cyber Sleuth theme that plays for Kyoko is pretty catchy. I love the regal battle march vibe of the Royal Knight theme and a certain track related to Aiba and friends is a real tear-jerker. When the sound is on point, it’s ON POINT. When it misses the mark though, it misses hard. 
Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth has undoubtedly cemented its place in gaming history. Being a major success and an important part in revitalizing interest in the franchise for a western audience. Hacker’s Memory may not have had the same impact, but it adjusted the gameplay in important ways, brought with it new Digimon and a more personal story to tell while also filling in Cyber Sleuth’s gaps. It’s a Complete Edition in every sense of the words and the best way to experience it in my opinion. If Cyber Sleuth hadn’t solved the case of how to bring Digimon back to the west, then Time Stranger might not have existed. In any case, as long as there is danger in the Digital World, there will Digidestined to face it.
