After a series of long delays and more than four years of active development, Digimon Survival is finally here. Reactions to the game have been somewhat mixed so far, with some players praising the beautiful presentation and others complaining about the divisive visual novel style. The latter is perhaps an unfair criticism, as the game was never advertised as having anything, although that’s not to say it still doesn’t have its fair share of issues.
For every well realized and unique mechanic who can be found everywhere Digimon Survival, there is an equally raging element or poorly implemented idea waiting to frustrate players. It’s far from a bad game and one of the very best Digimon games of yesteryear, although it’s hard not to be a little disappointed as some of these problematic pitfalls were easy to avoid.
Loved: The Darker Narrative
The first debuted all the way back in 1997, the Digimon series is now more than a quarter of a century old. As the franchise has aged, so have its fans, to the point where a significant portion of the… Digimon fanbase now consists of mature adults. With this in mind, it makes a lot of sense for a modern Digimon game to tackle more mature and darker themes than its predecessors, and this is one area where Digimon Survival certainly does not disappoint.
The pokemon series has at times tried to cover dark topics, perhaps particularly in the sixth generation games, Pokemon X & Y. Despite the darkness of the Pokemon War and AZ’s ultimate weapon, it always felt like the games were held back by their need to appeal to a younger audience. Thanks to the pursuit of a teen rating instead of an E for everyone, Digimon Survival has no such problems and is probably a much better game for it.
Loathed: Digivolution
There’s an awful lot to love about how Digivolution works in the Digimon world, but the way this is implemented Digimon Survival leaves a lot to be desired. To be clear, there is nothing inherently wrong with players using Enlightenment Slabs to activate Digivolutions in Free Digimon or having Partner Digimon Digivolve being part of the main story. Unfortunately, however, every system has a few fundamental flaws that should never have been released.
The item needed to direct a rookie digimon to his champion form won’t be readily available until part 9. At that point, players have long since started encountering Ultimate Digimon. This encourages players to replace their ‘mons’ rather than keep training them while waiting for an evolution item that, as far as they know, may never come. As for Partner Digimon, even after unlocking their most powerful Digivolutions, they’ll always go into battle in their Rookie forms, pretty much guaranteeing that they’ll be last on the first turn of any battle after a certain point in the story.
Beloved: the ‘catch system’
The pokemon series has changed a lot since Pokemon Red & Blue, but one thing that has largely stayed the same is the way players catch new Pokemon. Beating a Pokemon to within an inch of its life and then throwing a magic ball at it can be fun and all, but at the same time it can quickly start to feel a bit monotonous, especially for long periods of time pokemon fans. To avoid this kind of repetition, Digimon Survival offers a much more interesting look at befriending new creatures and it really helps to make each Digimon feel unique.
It was an excellent idea for players to earn a Digimon’s trust through conversation, and for the most part it was really well realized. To be clear, it still has its flaws, such as some of the optimal responses being completely random and the fact that there is a chance for the Digimon to flee from battle even if players answer all of its questions perfectly. Despite this, it still makes for a very welcome change to the status quo and is one of the many things the pokemon series can learn from Digimon.
Disgusted: the long loading times
While playing Digimon Survival on Switch, it takes over a minute to load a free battle from the map screen. Heck, even restarting a fight takes about a minute, both because of the long loading times and the need to reselect a team every time. These loading times are slightly better on other platforms, but considering how easy Digimon Survival When it comes to graphics, the fact that so much of the game is spent loading screens these days is truly unforgivable.
In comparison: a battle in Pokemon Sword & Shield takes less than ten seconds to load, with players ready to trade almost immediately after the battle is triggered. Because of the aforementioned issues with Digimon going on the run when players try to befriend them and how rare some of them can be to meet, those hoping to befriend every Digimon in Digimon Survival will probably restart a lot of fights, with that ‘one minute’ starting to add up quickly.
Loved: the replayability
With three different routes offered during a player’s first playthrough and a fourth becoming available in New Game+ mode, there are plenty of compelling reasons to replay Digimon Survival. For example, some players want to see the real end of the game, while others just hope for a second chance to keep their favorite. Digimon Survival character alive. Anyway, there’s a ton of content here for those looking for a game to put some time into.
In fact, the New Game+ mode makes it easier for players to skip certain sections and also allows them to carry over a lot of their progress when it comes to levels and the like. As a result, minimal time is wasted replaying identical sections, while players can instead focus on exploring new routes and the rock-solid narrative beats that come with them. The game may have its issues, but the implementation of the New Game+ mode is certainly not one of them.
Loathed: The Pointless Choices
Great emphasis was placed on the importance of player choice during the build-up to the release of Digimon Survival. Unfortunately, the game falls far short in this area, and most decisions feel hollow and meaningless. Those that affect the playable character’s Karma only affect one specific point in Part 8, and even then the individual choices themselves are irrelevant, using a scoring system to determine which routes players can take. That’s just the tip of the iceberg though, as some of the game’s other “choices” are even more pointless.
On a few different points Digimon Survival, players will be faced with two options, with their placement in the story suggesting these will be incredibly important decisions. The first of these picks isn’t too bad, as it can technically affect the difficulty of the battle that quickly follows. The next one, however, is completely pointless any way you look at it, with the playable character flip-flopping almost immediately if players don’t pick the option the game wants. Sometimes it is better to give players no choice than to give them a pointless choice.
Digimon Survival is available on PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Switch, and PC.
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