Digimon Survive Review – Review. The game does everything but doesn’t do anything right

Although Digimons are often considered the “worst brethren of Pokemon”, in recent years they have given players an exceptionally good side. Digimon Story: Cyber ​​Detectiveas well as displaying it with the subtitle pirate memory It is a very successful RPG that, in addition to focusing on collecting and developing monsters, makes for a really good story. I have the impression that how successful these two titles are in this respect has the creators relying too much on the narrative layer.

Digimon Survival It is, in the words of the creators, a visual novel (graphic novel) game with RPG elements. This description is correct, because the vast majority of the gameplay is really about talking to the heroes, tapping on objects in our environment or making the appropriate dialogue options for the situation. In the game, we play the role of a boy who, along with a group of friends from school and a mysterious old man, is suddenly attracted to an unusual world during a school trip. This world is surprisingly similar to the world he lives and works in every day except for one small thing – there are no people in it. There is a whole bunch of different monsters, such as Digimon, and although some of them are friendly and have relationships with children, many others have no good intentions at all.

A story consisting of 12 chapters and one after the eighth It splits into three different ends as per our choiceIt is polished and fits well with the universe. We learn about the secret of the parallel world of humans, explore the existence of Digimon and their relationship to humans, and It all fits in with the digital monsters that underpin the franchise. Digimon Survival Focuses on options, because these not only determine the psychological state of the hero, which directly affects the development of Agumon, the main digimon in the game, but also allow him to develop relationships with others. By choosing the appropriate answers to the situation, we influence their mental stateNeglecting this aspect may lead to dire consequences.

This title has elements of a survival game not only in terms of “to be or not to be” the heroes we’re talking with. There is no coin or shop of any kind here, and items that allow, among other things to heal our Digimon, we gain only by fighting or finding them in our surroundings. Therefore, if we unreasonably manage our equipment, we can lead to a situation where we simply get stuck and the entire struggle for survival ends in failure.

Classic jRPG-style battles take about a quarter to a third of the game’s time. It’s not much, but this production is directly presented as primarily a visual novel, so it’s hard to complain about it. Regarding the quality of combat, it turned out to be flawless – it is intuitive, requires strategic thinking, and offers some interesting differences.

Unfortunately, despite the fact that the game allows you to recruit Digimon that you meet, those who are assigned to us in the plot have additional skills necessary during skirmishes, such as evolving to higher and lower forms or raising specific stats. This makes the option to recruit the remaining Digimons a useless addition, because no matter how they are developed, they will look pale in combat, compared to some of the creatures imposed by the creators. I am convinced that the whole game can be completed without any problems without hiring a single Digimonand I regret that I did not decide to do it myself, because the fact that the great beast I made was never a match for Agumon or Falcomon, disappointed me greatly.

Digimon Survival He tries to draw from many genres at once. It’s a beautiful graphic novel, it’s a great RPG, and it’s a great survival gameHowever, it does not stand out with anything special in any of these general concepts. Visual novel is the biggest profession here. After the game, which left great titles in that regard and threw itself into deep water, moving away from a simple storytelling RPG, I was expecting fantasy fireworks.

Unfortunately, while the main plot is fun and thoughtful, the characters turn out to be flat and expressionless. Each of them has some schematic features and it is difficult to describe them convincingly, since their statements are not factual. Both the dialogues and descriptions are generic, and attempts to expand the characters’ personalities through their individual stories don’t come naturally and make you want to scroll through them sometimes – which isn’t what the reading game is about.

Despite everything Digimon Survival I finished satisfiedenjoying fun battles, developing my own monsters, and even expecting more solutions to the story – although, unfortunately, I can’t say that this story really grabbed me.

My opinion of Digimon Survive

Advantages:

• Beautiful Animated Digimon wallpapers.
• A story consistent with the realm of Digimon, exploring the question of their origin;
• The turn-based skirmishes were very well executed;
• Survival elements built into the visual novel mechanics.

minus:

• The ability to recruit Digimon, which is not useful in the game;
• flat paper figures
• No option to skip long scenes (especially annoying when playing again or after dying in combat);
• Poor text quality that forms the basis of the entire game.

Final Rating: 6/10