Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth
Play it on: PS5, Switch, Windows PCs (Steam Deck: “Unsupported”)
Current goal: Collect my faves again
We love a hyperfixation moment. After playing Digimon Story: Time Stranger at Summer Game Fest earlier this month, I’ve been on a Digimon kick. I made my friends start watching the original anime, finally watched the latest movie I had never gotten around to, and when I went to reinstall Cyber Sleuth—the turn-based RPG that was one of my favorites from 2016—I saw that the game had been delisted from the PlayStation Network. While I could have done nothing and let this just be a devastating blow to Pride Month, instead I bought a copy of it and the Hacker’s Memory sequel bundled together on Switch.
I’m not thrilled that I spent half a grand on my Switch 2 just to be playing old shit on it, but it is what it is, and I’d rather be playing Cyber Sleuth than most other things right now. I’ve spent much of the opening hours grinding to collect my favorite Digimon right out the gate: Guilmon. My fire-breathing doofus, despite being the face of the series’ third season, is not as prominent throughout the franchise as the original cast from season one. So any time I can have him on my team right near the start of the game immediately puts the wind in my sails. I stayed up later than usual last night grinding to get my other favorites, Gabumon and Salamon, and now that my trio has been reunited I can actually move forward with the plot.
Cyber Sleuth has an almost Persona-like vibe, with you playing as a teenager secretly fighting evil in another world while also living a more mundane real-world life in modern-day Japan. It’s been long enough since I played the RPG that a lot of its mysteries have become foggy, and I’m looking forward to re-discovering all the answers on my heavy-ass bulky Switch 2. If you’ve bounced off Digimon, or just never got around to it, I can’t recommend Cyber Sleuth enough. Its turn-based battles are pretty meh, but its monster collection, elaborate mysteries, and all-round cool vibes are still great, and make for an incredibly special, underrated RPG. — Kenneth Shepard
And that wraps our picks for the weekend. Happy gaming!
