The Digimon franchise is one of the biggest names in the Monster-tamer genre, with a legacy spanning twenty-five years.
During that time Bandai Namco’s digital monsters have appeared in a variety of forms ranging from cartoons, toys, card games, comics, and more.
The franchise also has a strong history with the video game industry and has had a magnitude of games released across all platforms.
Their latest title is the long-awaited Digimon Survive, which is the first visual novel, tactical RPG in the series.
Like other stories within the Digimon franchise, Survive also revolves around a group of teens who have to defeat a powerful evil being with their digital partners.
Survive’s plot focuses on fourteen-year-old Takuma Momozuka, who like past protagonists wears goggles on his head.
Takuma is attending a historical studies camp during spring break with some friends from his school. During this trip, a few of the other students go missing, prompting Takuma with a group to find them.
This desperate search eventually puts the protagonists in danger, when they are confronted by a group of wild Gotsumon.
While trying to escape and losing his friends Takuma encounters Koromon who digivolves to Agumon and deals with the Gotsumon.
This destined meeting throws the teens into a dark adventure that sees them trying to find a way home without being captured by the antagonist Digimon.
The Digimon series has dealt with dark themes before in past series, but Survive takes this up a notch.
The plot is filled with all the usual anime characters, jokes, and tropes while adding some original storytelling into the mix.
It all works really well with each character having an empathetic journey of discovery while they come to terms with themselves, relationships, and their new deadly scenario.
Survive really shines with multiple story branches that can be taken and are dependent on the player's decisions, making every playthrough vastly different.
Survive still feels like you are watching one of the series but the mature themes really elevate the storytelling from past entries.
Digimon Survive has a stellar hand-drawn aesthetic that makes it a perfect living visual novel.
Character designs are much more realistic with only a few of the cast sporting big hair or brazen clothes.
However, a nice little design feature is how some of the protagonist’s colour schemes match the partner Digimon like Miu Shinonome or Saki Kimishima.
The character models for the teens that appear during the visual novel moments and can be very emotive.
However, their expressions and reactions are very limited which can make playing through these segments somewhat repetitive.
The Digimon themselves look fantastic during battle and have a wide range of animations for each attack which look wonderful in action.
Digimon Survive is a great-looking game that puts more of a mature spin on the usual visual style, which also looks amazing during the anime cutscene.
Digimon Survive has a lot of dialogue, so thankfully it comes with voiceovers. The cast does a wonderful job bringing all the characters to life, making the whole experience like playing a living anime.
My only issue is that there’s only a Japanese cast and with so many fans in the West, it just seems like a massive oversight to not include an English dub.
Digimon Survive is mostly a visual novel game mixed with tactical role-playing game elements.
The visual novel part of the game will see players engaging in conversation with other characters where their choices will impact story progression, Karma, and Affinity.
Affinity and Karma are very important elements of the game as they affect how effective the Digimon will be in battle and what they can evolve into.
The game can be really unforgiving with some choices leading to very bad consequences that can’t be undone.
This portion of the game would’ve been very boring however, due to the well-worked plot and fascinating characters it isn’t.
Survive is very engrossing and watching how the partner Digimon and supporting cast react to your decisions just keeps getting better.
Each character has their own motivations to survive and is constantly being tested by the protagonist who is trying to do the right thing.
There also isn’t a straight answer or path to the end which allows the game to have a lot of replayability. The main issue with Digimon Survive is how long it takes to get going before players can engage in battles.
Players will have to get through the massive prologue with a few training battles before they can do it for real. The game also has a Free mode where players can explore the map via fast travel and battle Digimon.
This is a nice feature as it allows players to backtrack or meet with characters in certain locations to raise Affinity and Karma.
Battles take place on grid-based locations where speed will determine which unit of Digimon will attack first.
Each Digimon will have a set of attacks that have a certain range and extra ability that will help with strategising.
A key element in battle is how players will position their Digimon, with certain areas such as the back and side inflicting the most damage.
All Digimon come with a type and exploiting their weakness like with other monster-tamers games also plays a massive part.
Digimon will also be able to perform some sort of team action that comes in the form of an attack or support, but this is also determined by how close they are on the map.
Digimon will of course be able to Digivovle during battle after the new form has been unlocked. Partner Digimon will require SP to stay in that form while recruited ones will need a key item.
The battle system has a few layers that allow for some fun strategising, but it's not hugely complex.
This is always a good thing because it allows players to get on with battling and building a team, rather than learning all the different systems.
I felt this tactical style of combat really lends itself well to the franchise because it helps recreate the experience from the cartoon where there are massive battles with multiple Digimon
You can get Digimon to join you by asking a series of questions that will build up their affinity with you. If players answer well enough Digimon will eventually allow players to recruit them into their party or just get items from them.
This method of catching monsters can be quite exciting as the whole process is in your hands and can go either way based on how well you interact with the Digimon.
Verdict 4/5
Digimon Survive is a breath of fresh air for the franchise as its hybrid elements really complement each other.
It may not be from everyone but, fans of Digimon have another great adventure that’s as good as the core material.
The game did feel unbalanced with the visual novel parts really overshadowing the battle segments.
Digimon Survive is out now for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC
