Digimon Survive (2022)

Reading the other reviews here should have given me every information I needed but I wanted to see for myself. Also my nostalgia fueled compulsive christmas game purchase spree needed a monster game to be satisfied.

Well this is 30% a tactical RPG, 70% a visual novel with light horror elements with a digimon skin, and I really respect what the team was going for. That being said actually playing the game is quite tedious and repetitive. I feel like a bigger team with bigger budget could have succeeded in this risky project but for a team this small they probably should have targeted less content. There's only a handful of background music and environments, which is fine for a VN when it last a dozen hours, but not when you need to spend at least 30+ hours to reach one of the 4 endings.

That being said, it was a really refreshing formula and there are interesting ideas here and there, and I wish Pokemon took notes from this to try new things.

I was really enjoying this game until I hit a wall and realised that it was going to involve selecting every single room and conversation and would require an investigation to progress the story. I like visual novels that are choice based, not memory based. Feel free to comment an alternate experience.

I have such fond memorise of digimon and I play the games for good vibes, I did not get the emotion playing this game.

I can see why someone might enjoy this but it was not for me.

I have heard that it is 2/3 visual novel and a somewhat weak RPG which also contributed to the drop. In the 1 hour I played I got almost no experience with the gameplay.

I think that main thing that killed it for me, was that for a game with such incredible key art, the battle sprites just lacked... any effort whatsoever...

Never have I liked a game so much while also finding a game so difficult to recommend.

This is probably the best Digimon game, full stop. If you're a fan of the series, even casually, this is basically a full series of the anime, with some excellent writing and a shockingly adult tone. Digimon as a franchise is fascinating because, unlike Pokemon, it constantly evolves to age up with its fanbase. I watched the first season of the show when I was like 10, and I'm now 33. Survive is absolutely aimed at an adult audience.

But its biggest flaw is its structure and mechanics. Do not play this game without a guide. It advertises itself as a sort of CYOA visual novel, but in reality, there are only 4 routes, and 1 of them, the true ending, is completely inaccessible on your first play. I found that incredibly frustrating to discover after getting several hours in, but once I accepted that concession, I enjoyed the game more for it. The true ending, in fact, requires New Game +, because without the boosted affinity values in NG+, it is impossible to save a main character early in the game. Which drove me absolutely insane when I first played, because he and his Digimon were my favourite characters.

Despite the structure, the writing in this game is shockingly great - especially compared to what I'd consider to be awful writing in the Digimon Story games. The route the guide recommended for my first play (Harmony) absolutely broke me. It was a genuinely devastating story, dealing with themes of abuse, anger, and the impact that has on people around you. And it hit extremely close to home for me. The true ending, thankfully, was a lot more optimistic, and does a much better job of explaining the lore of the world. But this is a script that will kick you in the balls when it needs to, and make you laugh other times. I was not expecting a licensed game to actually hit me in the feels, but this one did big time, and that is rare for a man as hardened as myself.

Contrary to what the general zeitgeist says, this game is not strictly a visual novel... The VN trapping really only apply to dialogue and story structure. The actual combat is a turn-based SRPG, and that system is... Fine. Perfectly adequate. It's not exceptional, nor particularly deep, but it has lots of variety and two rock-paper-scissors weakness systems that give it just enough spice to carry it - though the fast-forward system in these battles (holding X) was very much appreciated when some of the damage spongy enemies appear late-game.

Otherwise, navigation and exploration occurs in an adventure game style format, where you will select locations from a menu and move your cursor to inspect points of interest. You can also find hidden items by using your phone's camera to inspect digital anomalies in each screen. It's definitely a low-budget way to handle movement, but in a game as lengthy as this one can be, it certainly cuts out what could have been monotonous backtracking and open world exploration - which I came to value.

If this game sounds interesting to you, it's luckily come down quite a lot in price. I see the PS4 version going for around $35CDN brand new, and the Switch version about 5 bucks more. Gotta love the Nintendo Tax.

I played the entirety of this game via PS5 remote play, and as there are really no action elements, I found the perceptible lag to be completely acceptable. It was a great way to hammer through some of the more monotonous segments while dividing attention with the TV.

So who would love this game? People who can enjoy or tolerate all this game's quirks. If you want a game with great writing and some massive emotional highs and lows, this is a winner for sure. If you love Digimon, especially when it veers into darker territory, I think there's a lot to love here. But unless you're an absolute pro with visual novel tropes, for the love of Azulongmon do not play this without a guide. It's not at all accessible to casual players, and it is not great at setting expectations. There's a lot to love, but you gotta work to get there - and that will absolutely deter some players.

Done with the Wrathful route! I've planned to play the NG+ for the Truthful route right after this, but what I saw in that depressing branch is just too much for my heart.
The dark evolution of the cast is chef kiss if you like character-driven stories.

A miracle this game came out that good with all the troubled development.
It's a good character-driven story full of mysteries and dark themes, but with a battle system too simple.

And I've finished Digimon Survive, Platinum Trophy AND 100% completion.

Visual novels aren't my thing - but because of the IP and material I LOVED this entry to the Digi-verse! I can honestly say it was easily worth the 200+ hours I spent in it. Did I have to spend 200 hours in it? Absolutely not - but I couldn't leave!

Get this game if you are a Digimon fan!

My guide in spanish about how to get all the endings of the game was a success so I was asked about doing one on how to get all Digimon and their evolutions.

It was a lot of work, so I hope it will be useful to you. You can find it here.

Again, its in spanish.

I like visual novels, I love tactical RPGs and I love Digimon. This should be a cocktail made specifically for me... well, it kinda is. But what it's not is a great game.

Digimon Survive has an amazing story and I really liked (most of) the characters. But is not a great visual novel and is just a mediocre RPG.

The plot is a lot darker than usual. I know Digimon is Pokémon's edgy cousing, but I didn't expected so many deaths and tragedy. A colleague joked about this being 'Zack Snyder's Digimon'. That's not right, but it's not completely wrong.

Anyway, you can read my full review in spanish here.

I really wish this was a better game, but the plot was so good (at least for me as a Digimon fan) that it was enough to have me happy despite all its flaws.

I knew what I was getting into. So my opinion isn't of a nostalgic fan who wanted a different game then they bargained for and was salty about it. I love visual novels, tactical RPG's and am just dipping my toes into being a Digimon fan, since I love monster collectors.

But there was too much fluff to the story, so many repeated predictable moments. and you spend half the game chasing after different party members who've gone awol for whatever reason. The human characters are also bland and tropey other than best girl Mui.

But most Digimon were oozing with personality and I liked them a lot.

I hated all the menu hopping that was required in the exploration segments. I would rather just read a story being told than have to move a cursor to talk to every single character, although I do understand it in the free time portions somewhat. The camera function got old very fast, especially since it was never explained why it works the way it does. We know they are digital monsters, but the game doesn't.

Probably the biggest gripe I had was the dull tactics gameplay. You have a basic attack and a strong attack which ultimately just means get to the side or the back of a digimon and wail on them. It's the same for every fight, no actual tactics involved, and I've had more fun with tactics games of a much lower budget. I actually auto battled the second half of the game because I was so bored, and that paired with a snail paced story put me to sleep.

When the story is good though, its really freaking good! And much darker than I expected; and I've been desensitised somewhat for playing a few phycological horror games which had a much higher age rating than this. I was shouting at the screen several times at events that played out. I wish there had been more jump scares though.

They mess up the pronouns of a certain character a lot too, even in the same sentence sometimes, it feels really unpolished and there were some misspellings and words that were out of place, though that didn't bother me too much (again in no small part for me enjoying low budget games with poor localisation)

And for a Pokemon fan from the 90's just discovering all these new monsters and having a first taste of their world, Digimon are cool. I prefer cuter 'mons and this game is perfect for getting to know a few of them, and hey cats that turn into waifus? I'm game.

So yeah it was a thing that exists. I want to go more into the digital world, but I will never play this game again, not even for the other endings. Once was a chore to get to the good stuff.

Edit - I have recently discovered the auto-battle feature. This essentially turns the game entirely into a visual novel, which helps me change my mindset when playing. While some of the poor UI choices still hinder the game, I think I will be able to enjoy the story enough to bump my score of the game higher. Not sure why they felt the need to tack on such a boring tactical combat system to this game. I assume the inability to make the system engaging played into why the game's design and developer changed partway through development. It will be interesting to see if internal discussions surrounding the game ever see the light of day.

So many annoying issues. Want to check the map? Haha now you can't close it, guess you'll have to choose your current location and reload the area. You can save just about any time, but enjoy a 2 minute load if you want to rewind literally one sentence of dialog.

Enjoy spending 4 turns reaching an enemy across the overly large maps in battle. And enjoy how long it takes even at 3x speed.

Don't think about playing docked unless you want a game that, during combat, looks like a F2P add you x-ed out of ads for countless times to chug along and look choppy.

The game is just boring, and I'm saying that being interested in the story. If I didn't get this at launch and also love seeing evolution lines, I don't think I'd even continue playing. I'll beat it someday but I think it's worth sending this to purgatory for now, and actually having fun with something else. It hurts to say this about a game that seemingly survived so much adversity. No matter what twists the story may hold, I don't think they can redeem such boring gameplay.

Very excited for this to release. Through the years of following it, there were so many times I thought it had died. Hoping the localization is decent.

Between this and the Gen 9 Pokemon games, I expect my gaming purchases for the year are locked in. I feel good about having only added 4 real games to my collection (5 if I get both scarlet & violet), while chipping away at those I already own. I appreciate all the tips people gave about managing a backlog, as I have felt guilt-free and have been able to enjoy gaming much more as a result. (Thankfully I am able to totally shrug off the weight of my steam library & PS Plus games since they take up no physical space.)