The long wait for Digimon Survive is finally over, with players finally able to dive into this unusual entry in the series. Fans expect regular fare from one Digimon The gameplay can be understandably disappointing, but for those who enjoy visual novels and tactical RPG combat, there’s a lot to get you into here. It may not be the best Digimon game you can buy, but it’s definitely one of the best visual novels to come out this year. From text to images, this is an exceptional headline, as long as you know what you’re doing ahead of time.
While featuring creatures familiar to Digimon fans, this title is a departure in tone and genre from previous installments. Digimon Survive serves as a mystery visual novel with surprisingly dark visuals. Especially in the opening chapters, the game is closer to a horror story than we certainly expected. There were even a few jump scares to contend with.
As the title implies, this is a survival story, with player decisions affecting which character goes to the ending chapter. The central character of the game is mainly a middle school student on a class trip. Their plans to visit several historic sites were canceled when an earthquake blocked the way. Instead, Takuma and his classmates were led to a nearby temple. Aided by the Digimon friends they meet, the students find themselves in another world with seemingly no way back home.
It’s a simple premise but Digimon Survive offers many branching storylines to explore based on the decisions the player makes. Side-by-side with certain characters can boost Takuma’s stats and even strengthen his relationships with other members of the cast. These stats show themselves in the way their Digimon evolve and the boosts they give each other on the battlefield. It’s a really solid, organic way to make the visual novel parts of the game feel important and valid rather than just a wall of text to tagline to join the battle.
Make no mistake, Digimon Survive is a visual novel with tactical RPG elements mixed in rather than the other way around. You’ll spend most of your time reading and hearing your solid voice than fighting other Digimon. The biggest criticism we have of the game is the gap between the game’s original combat instructions and the next time you use those mechanics. The first few hours of Digimon Survive are spent in the visual novels, and it’s not until you’ve gone through the entire prologue that the combat system reappears. The pacing starts from there, but it makes the game’s opening hour feel slow when compared to subsequent chapters.
If you have played games like Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics, the battle in this game will have very few surprises for you. Position and strategy are paramount, with Digimon being able to strengthen allies or shield them from blows if they are near them. Mining can give you a Digital Monster a significant boost in stats and attack, but it slowly drains their SP, so it needs to be used sparingly, especially especially at the early levels. Most combat encounters can be defeated with a change in strategy; Fortunately, we didn’t have to sharpen much to overcome the challenges. It would be nice if the battle didn’t feel related to the visual novel aspect of the game, but what’s there pushes the story forward nicely.
Most of the main cast of Digimon Survive have a Digimon partner with them wherever they go, but there are plenty of others that can be recruited for your purposes through the game’s Free Battle system. When you see a Digimon that you want to recruit in the Battle of Freedom, simply select the Talk option from the menu and target your desired creature. A mini-game in which the player chooses a verbal answer to the following Digimon statements; The correct answers will give you a better chance of recruiting them in the end, but the choices sometimes feel too random to predict. If you want to catch every Digimon in this game, you’ll need to invest a healthy amount of time to do so.
Fighting isn’t the only dangerous thing you’ll do in Digimon Survive. The visual novel sections of the game offer choices for the player to make that can have more impact on stats and relationships. Making certain choices can result in the character dying and their Digimon companion disappearing from the game for good. The characters mourn their friends and lament their choices along with the players, who have engaged them in an amazing and mature story development. You don’t expect that kind of darkness from this series, but it works well to remind you of the cost of survival.
While the battle in the game doesn’t have many surprises, the text surrounding it does. We are constantly reminded that these are children in this harsh environment who are fighting for their lives. They attack and repel each other, react harshly to their stressful situations, and rally together in a way that is, by far, the hallmarks of Digimon Survive. You believe in the friendship you’re seeing and so you stress about how your choices will affect them. Sometimes a typo in the text doesn’t change the fact that this is a very well written and well presented story.
When you’re not fighting or reading, you’ll explore the strange, time-shifting world in which the characters find themselves. Most of these sections are easy to navigate, but they offer the opportunity to uncover some secrets. The most interesting mechanic in the explorations is the use of the character’s smartphone camera to uncover hidden creatures and environments. Basically, it will take a few plays to find everything that Digimon Survive has to offer.
Inference
Digimon Survive is one of the best visual novels to come out so far this year, with plenty of heart and tension to bring you to the ultimate action. Fans looking for a gripping story with well-written and presented characters that deal with life-or-death situations will enjoy the ride, while combat-focused players will likely enjoy the ride. found that the game was a bit brief. Despite its slow, unstable start, Digimon Survive is well worth the long wait.
