Sloanerisette
Digimon Survive 2022
Log Status
Completed
Playing
Backlog
Wishlist
Rating
Time Played
--
Days in Journal
2 days
Last played
October 20, 2022
First played
August 16, 2022
Platforms Played
Having now beat the Wrathful route and the True Ending, I'm calling my time with Digimon Survive done for now, and overall, I'm quite happy with it.
With such a troubled development cycle, I wasn't entirely sure Digimon Survive would ever come out, and if it did, how it would end up. I'm glad that it ended up a lot better than I would've expected.
Fundamentally, it's a solid 7-7.5/10 game (and I mean this in the most affectionate way, no less) filled with a ton of heart. The lack of a budget, especially for QA and Localization shows, with various spelling and grammar mistakes, and even some instances of characters speaking when other characters were meant to speak. There's no doubt large swaths of it are pretty messy and the game ultimately does suffer a fair bit of it, especially considering this is a Visual Novel.
However, I think that as a Digimon game, when the series has mostly been monster raising sims and classic, turn-based RPGs, I think this game really does thrive as a visual novel. It allows for a lot of focus on character moments in a franchise that ultimately does its best when it focuses on the characters, their relationships with each other, and their relationships with their Digimon partners. And honestly, I'd love to see something attempted in this VN style vein again for the franchise!
As for the tactics RPG part, it's... there. It's very basic, and can be satisfying at times, but ultimately never shines. In the True Ending there are a fair amount of fun fights-- albeit paired up with some fights where enemies feel a bit ridiculously strong, even on normal. But the Digimon variety is good, and the partners chosen for the characters feel varied and interesting. I would hope in a future game that follows the same vein they would take the time to really expand on and improve the combat.
The important part: the characters. I think they're all really good. They're all pretty varied, they have great designs, and good dynamics with their partners, which especially get expanded upon in the True Ending route. Even the characters who, in my first playthrough i wasn't as much a fan of, I cam to really enjoy in the True Ending. My favorites in particular were Saki, Aoi, and Minoru.
As for the routes, I think Wrathfulness is one of the best stories Digimon, as a franchise, has seen (albeit with some... iffy metaphors in the epilogue), and the dark tones that the developers talked about as a big point for Digimon Survive, they hit incredibly well. I was tearing up by the end, and I loved it. It was painful and emotional and strong and it was great for the core characters focused on, and after the first 8 chapters, which were a bit up and down (the prologue and the first half of chapter 1 in particular), it finished incredibly strong.
In my True Ending route, I thought it did a lot for some of the characters who weren't focused on, and really improved the characters I wasn't as big of a fan of initially. However, because of, presumably budgets and limitations, some things don't make as much sense, and part of the True Ending route suffers because of it. But in the chapters where things diverge? I think it's great, and feels like a really solid classic Digimon story with a pretty bombastic final ending sequence.
Digimon Survive really evokes classic Digimon in a lot of ways, but even with the older characters and the darker tone, it doesn't try and poke fun at how young or silly some of the original stuff like in Adventure was. Just like the shows themselves, Digimon Survive is filled with earnestness and sincerity in how it presents itself and how it plays out, even if it can be cheesy, and even if it falls a bit flat at times. It is Digimon through and through.
Ultimately, I could only really recommend this for fans of Digimon, but if you are a fan of Digimon, I definitely recommend checking this out. I had a really good time between both playthroughs, even with the slower parts or having to redo some battles over and over. It may not be the strongest game with parts of its design, but it has a lot of heart and love put into it that really does shine through, especially in the best moments.
With such a troubled development cycle, I wasn't entirely sure Digimon Survive would ever come out, and if it did, how it would end up. I'm glad that it ended up a lot better than I would've expected.
Fundamentally, it's a solid 7-7.5/10 game (and I mean this in the most affectionate way, no less) filled with a ton of heart. The lack of a budget, especially for QA and Localization shows, with various spelling and grammar mistakes, and even some instances of characters speaking when other characters were meant to speak. There's no doubt large swaths of it are pretty messy and the game ultimately does suffer a fair bit of it, especially considering this is a Visual Novel.
However, I think that as a Digimon game, when the series has mostly been monster raising sims and classic, turn-based RPGs, I think this game really does thrive as a visual novel. It allows for a lot of focus on character moments in a franchise that ultimately does its best when it focuses on the characters, their relationships with each other, and their relationships with their Digimon partners. And honestly, I'd love to see something attempted in this VN style vein again for the franchise!
As for the tactics RPG part, it's... there. It's very basic, and can be satisfying at times, but ultimately never shines. In the True Ending there are a fair amount of fun fights-- albeit paired up with some fights where enemies feel a bit ridiculously strong, even on normal. But the Digimon variety is good, and the partners chosen for the characters feel varied and interesting. I would hope in a future game that follows the same vein they would take the time to really expand on and improve the combat.
The important part: the characters. I think they're all really good. They're all pretty varied, they have great designs, and good dynamics with their partners, which especially get expanded upon in the True Ending route. Even the characters who, in my first playthrough i wasn't as much a fan of, I cam to really enjoy in the True Ending. My favorites in particular were Saki, Aoi, and Minoru.
As for the routes, I think Wrathfulness is one of the best stories Digimon, as a franchise, has seen (albeit with some... iffy metaphors in the epilogue), and the dark tones that the developers talked about as a big point for Digimon Survive, they hit incredibly well. I was tearing up by the end, and I loved it. It was painful and emotional and strong and it was great for the core characters focused on, and after the first 8 chapters, which were a bit up and down (the prologue and the first half of chapter 1 in particular), it finished incredibly strong.
In my True Ending route, I thought it did a lot for some of the characters who weren't focused on, and really improved the characters I wasn't as big of a fan of initially. However, because of, presumably budgets and limitations, some things don't make as much sense, and part of the True Ending route suffers because of it. But in the chapters where things diverge? I think it's great, and feels like a really solid classic Digimon story with a pretty bombastic final ending sequence.
Digimon Survive really evokes classic Digimon in a lot of ways, but even with the older characters and the darker tone, it doesn't try and poke fun at how young or silly some of the original stuff like in Adventure was. Just like the shows themselves, Digimon Survive is filled with earnestness and sincerity in how it presents itself and how it plays out, even if it can be cheesy, and even if it falls a bit flat at times. It is Digimon through and through.
Ultimately, I could only really recommend this for fans of Digimon, but if you are a fan of Digimon, I definitely recommend checking this out. I had a really good time between both playthroughs, even with the slower parts or having to redo some battles over and over. It may not be the strongest game with parts of its design, but it has a lot of heart and love put into it that really does shine through, especially in the best moments.