Digimon Survive – Review
Out Score: 8/10
Digimon Survive combines a visual novel with a tactical RPG in a never-seen-before adventure. It’s a little dark and gritty, something you may not exactly expect from Digimon, but that’s what makes it stand out. Bloody conflicts galore, and this secret world of monsters, some adorable and some equally terrifying, is sure to put your survival skills to the test.
Takuma Momozuka finds himself transferred to a realm full of fierce enemies and unexpected allies after getting lost on a school trip. Follow Takuma and his pals as they struggle to get home. In this gripping graphic novel with turn-based combat, you may create your own plot.
Digi-Diary
You take on the role of Takuma Momozuka. A high school student who is spending spring vacation with his friends camped out in an abandoned school. They are suddenly transported into another universe. And what was supposed to be a brief excursion to a shrine becomes a life-threatening adventure. They must navigate the Kemonogami (Beast God) World with the aid of their Digimon. Or be destined to spend the rest of their lives there.
After a few pages, the narrative becomes quite dark, occasionally veering into horror. Themes of abuse (mental, verbal, and physical), betrayal, loss, and sadness are addressed in Digimon Survive. Additionally, given that they are all just children locked in a survival situation, tensions may rise. It’s quite captivating. The choices you make do have an impact; some even result in horrible character deaths. Don’t expect the light-heartedness of the Digimon Adventure anime series.
Sin Digi-gami Tensei
Digimon Survive offers you a variety of options throughout the narrative. Some of them are just aesthetic, but the majority of them actively affect the Karma System of the game. Three alignments are available to you: Moral, Wrathful, and Harmony. The plot will ultimately diverge into one of three different directions depending on your decisions. But more than simply the plot is impacted. Depending on whether the alignment is strongest, your main character’s partner Digimon, Agumon, will grow in a different way.
It’s a cute little element that increases the overall replayability of the game. The game’s user interface (UI) discreetly glows the colour that corresponds to the alignment type that each decision indicates. Additionally, the fact that each alignment consistently occupies the same space—left for Moral, up for Wrathful, and right for Harmony—helps. If you wish to change your route, you can always check your current Karma levels in the game’s Profile menu to see which road you’re on.
Virtual Sanity
Anyone who doesn’t speak Japanese well will need to read a lot of it as there isn’t an English dub. However, I can see that the voice actors do an excellent job of convincing listeners that the characters are actual people. The translation can be problematic at times, though; there may be terms that aren’t translated, incorrect Digimon references, or even misgendering of characters in the same scene. Although I actually don’t mind it because the tale itself is so wonderfully written, I do hope that at least part of it will be rectified in a future patch. The character pictures and Digimon in the cutscenes are at the very least emotive and well-animated, both during and after battle.
If the visual novel portion of Digimon Survive makes up 3/4 of the game’s length, then the remaining 1/4 of the gameplay must be tactical RPG. Combat is turn-based, isometric, and grid-based, as is customary for TRPGs. The game allows you to select as many Digimon as that particular combat permits before each battle begins. There will occasionally be Digimon that are either required or unavailable, however, it depends entirely on the narrative. Each Digimon’s speed stat is used by the game to establish the turn order, and you can always see who is going next at the side of the screen. The ability to arrange your actions around the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition is something you can never underestimate when this knowledge is provided to you.
Final Verdict
Digimon Survive has a great blend of a visual novel and a tactical role-playing game. Although Survive has some fantastic moments, the combat encounters don’t really digivolve much, which can disappoint some. But its narrative is nevertheless compelling enough to keep readers interested. A Digimon visual novel is surely unexpected but ultimately fun, and we can’t wait to see what else the franchise brings in the future.
