Digimon Survive had an announcement trailer back in 2018 that had a lot of positive feedback, especially from Digimon fans. Now that it is out, it seems to have a lot more division in the gaming community. Lets find out if the review bombs are warranted or not!
Game Name: Digimon Survive
Platform(s): PlayStation 4, Xbox One(Reviewed), Nintendo Switch, PC
Publisher(s): Bandai Namco
Developer(s): Hyde
Release Date: July 29th 2022
Price: $59.99
Just from the get-go, I think you need to know that this game is mainly a Visual Novel. You can have more tactic-based gameplay if you want to grind for new Digimon or just grind levels in general but just note this game is mainly focused on the story. The tactic-based gameplay is important to also introduce difficulty in strategy, but it doesn’t affect the story nearly as much as the Visual Novel elements.
That said, this story is really well thought out and articulate. The dialogue and characterization are also extremely well written. Each character has much different personality traits based on their dialogue, and it shows. This game is a must-get if you really love stories with lore and depth. Basically, the story is about Takuma attending a summer school camp with his classmates. While there, they discover a shrine and end up getting transported to a different dimension; The dimension of Digimon. You have to work together to find a way out of this dimension and back to yours.
Digital Shine
If there is one thing I am really happy with, it’s the variety that Digimon games have given us. We don’t only get one type of game every so often, and we have a lot of different types of games to choose from. Digimon Survive is no different. This is a very polished and well-written Visual Novel. Does that mean you just read text all day? No, but a lot of it is just text. Other than the story and dialogue, you can choose to move your screen around and look at the variety of areas you will be introduced to.
Throughout the story, you will have exploration and free moments. These are moments where you need to choose how you go about the area with character affinities as well as finding secrets throughout the world you are in. Building affinity with characters helps you understand them and helps make them more perceptive of your thoughts and desires. Even if you make the right choice but the character affected doesn’t have an affinity level high enough to care, they might make their own choice that can be positive or negative on the situation.
Digital Beauty
The absolute best thing about this game is the art. There are 3D CGI backgrounds for areas that actually look like they belong with the 2D characters and the art this world has. It’s not just the art that has me in love with the look of this game, but also the art direction and the game direction based on Digimon Survive.
It is very interesting to see just how well they use spatial awareness in the backgrounds. When characters are in locations, they are in specific places for a purpose. When you move around the background and engage in a conversation with someone, you will notice that other people in the location will also speak around you and will listen in on your conversations.
In story moments where everyone is grouped together, Digimon Survive focuses on the location of each person, and whenever a person speaks, it zooms the camera around the area to where the person is located. I have not played a visual novel that goes into such great detail on making location that important. I honestly have now started focusing on spatial awareness of even not visual novel games, and it really shows how often games don’t care about being consistent with placement.
Darkness
Digimon Survive is a really, really dark game. The story and themes in this narrative are incredibly dark, as it revolves around abuse, death, moral ambiguity, and most of all, what happens when we get creatures who abuse their power and can kill whole facilities of people. You also get to see the consequences of making the wrong decision affect the characters in this story and will put them in extremely vulnerable states. This game handles grief extremely well. An entire chapter of the story is devoted to processing grief if you make the wrong choice. I absolutely loved a story that didn’t treat the player as a child. That said, this is not a game you should play around children, nor should children play this.
The combat is not too deep, but it is still very strategic. You are given the Digimon your party has as the digi-destined people they are, but you can also befriend and bring along stray Digimon who are friends to your cause. In most battles, you will be able to choose up to 6 Digimon in your party to be in combat. Some missions are defeating a single opponent with respawning Digimon every few turns, but most are “defeat every Digimon on the battlefield” style of battles. You have multiple classes of Digimon. Mobility, Tank, Damage, and All Rounders. Mobility Digimon can move far and can have special perks with movement, such as moving twice a turn. Tanks take decreased damage. Damage deals increased damage. All Rounders don’t have any special perks but usually have very high stats.
Overall
Digimon Survive as a Visual Novel is everything I wanted from this game. Your choices affect the story, your relationship with people and Digimon, how the final encounter in the game goes, and how the ending happens. If you are looking for this game to be the tactical JRPG that makes Fire Emblem run for its money, you will be disappointed. If you don’t think Visual Novels are a video game worth your time, then you will be disappointed.
The Developers said this game was a 70/30 split between Visual Novel and Tactical JRPG, and they weren’t lying. The most important part of this game is the narrative and the emotion surrounding the atmosphere. The combat is tough and will make you rethink your strategy at times, and which Digimon you will need to bring offers you a challenge, but it is only a small portion of the game.
Digimon Survive is available on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
Review Disclosure Statement: Digimon Survive was provided to us by Bandai Namco for review purposes. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy for more info.
Affiliate Link Disclosure: One or more of the links above contain affiliate links, which means at no additional cost to you, we may receive a commission should you click through and purchase the item.
Summary
Digimon Survive is a masterclass Visual Novel that hooks its teeth into you and doesn’t pull out until you hit the credits screen. That is if you are a fan of Visual Novel games that attract through Japanese voice acting and only a little Tactical RPG battles to set the mood. Music, atmosphere and story is top tier and makes you feel like you are literally inside the anime, if the anime had more death looming over your every decision.
Pros
- Atmospheric done right
- Art is absolutely beautiful
- Master storytelling and narrative
- Great spatial awareness
Cons
- Visual Novel game means it is a lot of reading and comprehending
- Japanese only voice overs.
