Digimon Survive Review – A Nail Biting Return To The Digital World
Digimon Survive is the newest game release by Bandai Namco. The game, which takes the form of a visual novel with RPG battles and elements is definitely a big leap from any other Digimon games. Stylistically but also story wise, without getting into any spoilers Digimon Survive is a very dark story and with this single game Digimon goes back to tackling some seriously adult themes, something it was known as a trailblazer for back when it first came out in the West.
Digimon Survive made me happy that I’d spotted it’s release date just in time to pre-order it. It’s no secret that it’s lack of advertising and strange lack of stock in some areas caused a bit of an uproar. Personally I didn’t experience it and I’m glad because it gave me more time to sink into this wonderful game.
Going Back To The Digital World
In Digimon Survive you play as Takuma Momozuka a teenage boy going with his schoolmates on a school trip. Along with him are Aoi Shibuya who teams up with Labramon, Minoru Hinata and Falcomon, Ryo Tominaga and Kunemon, Saki Kimishima and Floramon, Shuuji Kayama and Lopmon, Kaito Shinonome and Dracmon, Miu Shinonome and Syakomon, your default Rookie digimon is Agumon. However the first major digivolution is tied directly into which options you’ve been making up until then. I ended up with Tyrannomon because my harmony karma was high. Choosing the more Wrathful options and you get Tuskmon, having a high moral karma will get you the classic Greymon. This is how the game plays out and this is really also why I don’t love calling it a VN even though it is, because it’s far more interactive than that. Your choices genuinely matter and it’s not obvious what the outcomes will be until you’ve played through them all, giving another reason to play through the story.
I lived playing through the story, knowing what answer will fill Wrath, Harmony and Moral karma but not knowing where exactly relying on one more than the other would take me. It was fun, add that to the extraordinary story, which is honestly one of the best Digimon has ever told and the game becomes a recipe for additive gameplay you never knew you wanted. I don’t like VNs at all, I hate them in fact but this game being majority VN didn’t bother me a single bit because there’s an interactive element to it. It’s not just reading a story, it’s clicking the right places, talking to the right people in the right order, learning what that order is honestly labelling the story parts of this game a visual novel seems unjustified.
Fighting With Your Digi-Buddies
Add all that to the turn based battle system and the whole thing is an absolute charm. The battle system is very basic on the surface but there’s a few things that make it stand out. Yes, it’s turn based and yes the ‘mon with the higher speed stat gets to go first these are staples of turn based gameplay. But you also have the ally system, if two digimon who are allied are close to each other they give each other a buff, it could be health up or CP up it depends but it’s an added thing that helps with the strategic planning of battles. Also you can talk to some digimon and if you give them the answers they like they’ll either give you a present or join you as an ally (Shin Megami Tensei style.) You can also choose to talk to your digimon or someone else’s to hype them up and cheer them on, giving them a stat boost, knowing when to use this is paramount to a victory against tough bosses.
Final Thoughts
Overall this is almost the perfect Digimon game but is it the perfect game? If you’re not a fan of Digimon then the small little call backs won’t make any impression but they’re barely there so it won’t matter. The standalone story is so strong that it doesn’t need to use nostalgia as a crutch for quality. I enjoyed every minute I played and got even more excited to play through again realising just how much my choices will affect the story this time. The whole thing is a blast and is one of those that you can grab and play for half an hour or in my case get absolutely lost in for days. It’s perfect for the Switch, I’d avoid the other platforms unless you really want to trophy hunt. I played on Switch and PC and though I loved both, Switch is recommended.
I would recommend this game to everyone I know has a Nintendo Switch but maybe not any other console. It’s a game made for handhelds and I want to spread the love!
