Digimon Survive shouldn’t be the RPG that some followers wished it to be. Recruiting, coaching, and battling Digimon takes a backseat in favour of a really text-heavy story that unfolds by largely static scenes. In brief, it is a visible novel before everything, to the purpose the place among the title’s RPG components virtually begin to really feel like they’re tacked on.
You will in all probability know whether or not Digimon Survive is for you from that opening paragraph alone — however even when you’ve got been ready on an expertise that is extra in keeping with previous titles, like Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth, you should not write Survive off utterly. So far as Digimon video games go, it is a pretty distinctive tackle the property, honing in on a darker story that usually surprises with its sinister themes. Get by the plodding first few chapters, and you will find an attractive narrative.
The plot, after all, revolves round a gaggle of highschool college students who discover themselves trapped in a mysterious ‘otherworld’ — which simply so occurs to be inhabited by the titular monsters. Fortuitously, the hapless youngsters are rapidly partnered up with pleasant Digimon, who swear to guard their new masters. Followers of the animated exhibits will instantly recognise this premise, however in not being certain to 20-minute episodes, the sport is ready to take its time in establishing its characters and their relationships with each other.
The methods wherein the scholars’ personalities bounce off their Digimon is a spotlight. The creatures are a unusual, inquisitive bunch, with solely a restricted understanding of how people reside — but they’re dedicated to making sure that their newfound allies, er, survive, and discover a approach house. In reality, the companion Digimon steal the present, with dialogue that is typically comically blunt or endearingly daft. The pleasurable dynamic that kinds between the beasts and the youngsters solely will get higher as the sport goes on.
The plot itself will preserve you guessing, regardless that the pacing can really feel glacial at instances. In typical visible novel trend, the writing can appear longwinded — particularly in scenes the place each character feels the necessity to chip in — but it surely’s the sport’s exploration sections that basically begin to grate. With a view to progress the story, you will typically need to level and click on your approach by environments, choosing out particulars or speaking with particular characters. There tends to be loads of backtracking throughout these eventualities as you examine each little factor simply to just be sure you did not miss a significant clue or a secret that would possibly alter upcoming occasions. Sluggish, however bearable at finest — frustratingly tedious at worst.
There’s some welcome participant selection peppered all through the journey, although, which helps preserve issues fascinating on an interactive degree. Your most important character, Takuma, is a little bit of a clean slate when it comes to persona — a distinctly common highschool scholar, as described by the sport — so that you get to form his outlook by your actions. Alongside selections that affect the story instantly, you will improve particular person friendship ranges together with your fellow college students by siding with them throughout debates. What’s extra, your selections usually affect three traits that decide Takuma’s mind-set, and in flip, the brand new kinds that your Digimon can take.
Digimon evolution — or digivolution — is an idea that is launched early on, and it performs a significant function in fight, the place non permanent evolution results in considerably elevated stats and higher assaults. Discovering new digivolutions is a spotlight as you progress, and provides some weight to your aforementioned dialogue selections. It is a good system, however sadly, it will get a bit buried beneath bog-standard tactical battles.
Fight takes place on a grid, together with your Digimon group going through off towards much less amicable monsters. The whole lot’s flip based mostly, and positioning is necessary, as assaults from the facet or behind deal extra injury. It is all fairly easy, and seeing your digital buddies achieve expertise and develop stronger is as addictive as you’d anticipate, however the system as a complete finally ends up feeling considerably stunted. It by no means branches out from the fundamentals, with digivolution being the one facet that provides real spice to proceedings.
And it does not assist that encounters are so few and much between. There are non-compulsory battles which you could try at any time, however they’re moderately senseless — little greater than a solution to enhance your Digimon’s ranges in between story-based brawls. Because it stands, fight largely serves its goal in offering respite from the dialogue-heavy plot, but it surely very hardly ever excites, and positively should not be thought-about a key promoting level of the expertise.
Conclusion
Digimon Survive’s uniquely darkish tackle the usual Digimon storyline is sufficient to carry a title that is typically poorly paced and primary in its method to gameplay. A visible novel with RPG components bolted on, it is troublesome to not really feel as if the creature taming and fight facets of Survive may have been greater and higher. However in the end, a mixture of endearing characters and eye-opening plot factors make this one other worthwhile journey within the digital world.
