Digimon Survive Review (PS4) | Push Square

Digimon Survive shouldn’t be the RPG that some followers needed it to be. Recruiting, coaching, and battling Digimon takes a backseat in favour of a really text-heavy story that unfolds by way of largely static scenes. In brief, it is a visible novel before everything, to the purpose the place a number of the title’s RPG parts virtually begin to really feel like they’re tacked on.

You may most likely 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 according to 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 always surprises with its sinister themes. Get by way of the plodding first few chapters, and you will find an enticing narrative.

The plot, after all, revolves round a bunch 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 shortly partnered up with pleasant Digimon, who swear to guard their new masters. Followers of the animated reveals will instantly recognise this premise, however in not being sure to 20-minute episodes, the sport is ready to take its time in establishing its characters and their relationships with each other.

The methods through which 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 dwell — but they’re dedicated to making sure that their newfound allies, er, survive, and discover a means dwelling. In reality, the companion Digimon steal the present, with dialogue that is typically comically blunt or endearingly daft. The pleasurable dynamic that varieties between the beasts and the youngsters solely will get higher as the sport goes on.

The plot itself will preserve you guessing, though the pacing can really feel glacial at occasions. In typical visible novel vogue, 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 the intention to progress the story, you may typically should level and click on your means by way of environments, choosing out particulars or speaking with particular characters. There tends to be a variety of backtracking throughout these situations as you test each little factor simply to just remember to did not miss an important clue or a secret that would possibly alter upcoming occasions. Gradual, however bearable at finest — frustratingly tedious at worst.

There’s some welcome participant selection peppered all through the journey, although, which helps preserve issues attention-grabbing on an interactive stage. Your principal character, Takuma, is a little bit of a clean slate when it comes to character — a distinctly common highschool pupil, as described by the sport — so that you get to form his outlook by way of your actions. Alongside choices that impression the story instantly, you may enhance particular person friendship ranges together with your fellow college students by siding with them throughout debates. What’s extra, your decisions sometimes affect three traits that decide Takuma’s way of thinking, and in flip, the brand new varieties that your Digimon can take.

Digimon evolution — or digivolution — is an idea that is launched early on, and it performs a serious position in fight, the place momentary 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 choices. 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 staff dealing with off towards much less amicable monsters. Every little thing’s flip primarily based, and positioning is necessary, as assaults from the facet or behind deal extra injury. It is all fairly easy, and seeing your digital friends achieve expertise and develop stronger is as addictive as you’d anticipate, however the system as an entire finally ends up feeling considerably stunted. It by no means branches out from the fundamentals, with digivolution being the one side that provides real spice to proceedings.

And it would not assist that encounters are so few and much between. There are non-obligatory battles that you may try at any time, however they’re reasonably senseless — little greater than a solution to enhance your Digimon’s ranges in between story-based brawls. Because it stands, fight principally serves its function in offering respite from the dialogue-heavy plot, but it surely very not often excites, and definitely 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 fundamental in its method to gameplay. A visible novel with RPG parts bolted on, it is troublesome to not really feel as if the creature taming and fight features of Survive might have been larger and higher. However finally, a mixture of endearing characters and eye-opening plot factors make this one other worthwhile journey within the digital world.