Review: DIGIMON SURVIVE Delivers a Solid Visual Novel with a Sprinkle of Tactical RPG
Earlier this month, Bandai Namco released Digimon Survive which was developed by HYDE, Inc. The game is a visual novel and tactical RPG hybrid and follows a group of humans who end up meeting Digimon and having a huge mystery ahead of them. The game is available now on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox One (affiliate link) via their digital storefronts or retailers including GameStop (affiliate link) and the team at Bandai Namco was kind enough to provide me with a Switch copy for this review although all thoughts and opinions are strictly my own.
Digimon Survive presents a hybrid visual novel and tactical RPG set in a mysterious world filled with dangerous monsters and deadly battles that will test your ability to survive.
After getting lost on a school trip, Takuma Momozuka finds himself transported to a world inhabited by ferocious foes and new allies. Join Takuma and his friends as they fight their way back home. Craft your story in this thrilling visual novel with turn-based combat.
This game is definitely a mixed bag in my opinion. For starters, it’s very long. I’ve sunk hours into the game and am barely scratching the surface of anything. This will be a strength or a weakness depending on your attitude. Another mixed part is that there’s no English dub of it. Like most (if not all) Bandai Namco games, they use a Japanese voice cast and then you can add subtitles in your language. Once again, this is something that may be annoying for some while others enjoy it. I’m going to start my review with my cons and then wrap everything up with what I see as the pros.
The first con I will bring up is the tactical RPG aspect of Digimon Survive. The mechanics and battle system are fine. They’re nothing to write home about but aren’t awful except that some of the key Digimon partners are basically useless because of how slow they are/how their attacks work. I understand that variety is good in these games, but when I go through multiple battles with Kunemon doing literally nothing because of how little movement it has and his attacks don’t have good range, I get frustrated. Also, the battles happen so infrequently that it’s a little disappointing. The game is marketed as “a hybrid visual novel and tactical RPG” but the latter feels like it only takes up about 20% of gameplay. I just wish it was a bigger part of the game. In addition, while it is nice that there’s an auto-battle option if you don’t like tactical combat or if you can’t attend to things for whatever reason, I wish you could speed up the auto-battle and it’s not that great at figuring out the best moves.
Another aspect that I’m not a fan of is that you have three stats, Moral, Wrathfulness, and Harmony, but the game doesn’t really explain these at any point other than vague mention about how the choices you make will impact how well you work with others and such. Thankfully, Attack of the Fanboy has a nice and very brief explanation about the Karma Points mechanic.
Thirdly, I like the idea of being able to talk to opposing Digimon and potentially recruiting them. I get annoyed when I feel like I’m taking a shot in the dark to get the right answers. There are times that I swear I have the right answer based on the context but then I end up offending the Digimon and lose any chance of recruiting them. A little more refinement in this system would go a long way.
Where Digimon Survive shines in my opinion is the visual novel aspect. The story is very compelling and incredibly well done. The team did a great job of also making it more interactive than other games in the genre. You make decisions in conversations that influence your relationships with others, sometimes you have to pull out your camera to find hidden items or monsters, you’re given some freedom sometimes in the order in which you interact with people, there are spots where you can just do free battles and grind that experience, and more. There are times where you want to just hurry on to the next battle, but overall, the visual novel experience is nice which is great since you’ll spend about 80% of your time in it.
The art is also fantastic. The character designs, settings, and just about everything visual about the game is a positive. There are also some animated cutscenes that are really fun and I wish there were some more of those to help break up the monotony of just having character portraits talking.
At the end of the day, if you’re looking for a tactical RPG, Digimon Survive is not the best choice. If you’re looking for a visual novel with good interactive elements here and there and a compelling story, this game is solid for that. Yes, I wish the tactical RPG elements were a bit more prevalent or stood out more, but as it is, the game is good if you have the right expectations. What has your experience with Digimon Survive been?
