Last month, I had the honor of interviewing the producer of Digimon Survive, Habu Kazumasa, who expressed his desire to take Digimon in a darker direction and demonstrate his personal vision of what exactly Digimon meant to him. In a lot of ways, Digimon Survive continues the tradition of being a love letter to the franchise. It's clear that a lot of passion went into the production of this game, with its well-rendered artwork, occasionally well-animated 2D transitions, full voice acting, and very detailed game sprites; in short, Digimon Survive oozes polish. But instead of hearkening back to a simpler time, Digimon Survive embodies a maturity befitting fans that have been with the franchise for decades, and the first sign of that is its distinctly horror-inspired tone.

The game's eerie and atmospheric soundtrack evokes a constant sense of uneasiness, like something can jump out at you from around the corner at any waking moment. Despite starting with scenes of everyday whimsy, an almost sadistic undertone gradually begins to take hold of the story. Many previous installments in the Digimon franchise have delved into the psychological and emotionally dark aspects of these creatures, especially when it comes to their relationships with their human companions. Digimon Survive is no exception, with its theme of Digimon acting as a mirror to the more traumatic struggles that people go through. This is facilitated by the game's choice-based narrative, which can sometimes feel like it's intentionally designed to twist the knife for unsuspecting players.

Much like a visual novel, the main story is told via art renders and dialogue trees. The player's choices can change the trajectory of the main story or affect your affinity with specific characters, thus influencing their fate in the main campaign. Some of these choices are innocuous, while others can have major, long-standing ramifications, and I will give the game credit that it does not hold back on the severity of those consequences when it comes to who can be saved and whose fate you might have doomed. This both makes for an engaging narrative experience and encourages replayability, as you could potentially go down a multitude of different routes where different characters that you interact with can have vastly different futures.

Narratively, the game is very strong and I could see it having a very long shelf life for long-time Digimon fans, especially if you're someone who has been looking for a bit more bite from the franchise. The core cast of characters could initially come off as a bit generic, but their chemistry feels genuine, and the sheer amount of time you spend with them makes a lot of those terrible circumstances or outcomes hit you all the harder.

Unfortunately, the amount of time demanded by the Digimon Survive's story can act as a double-edged sword, as just one playthrough can take an extensively long time. The game's overall pacing is painfully slow, with the opening hours probably being the most egregious. At first I thought that the game was just taking its time establishing atmosphere, but even towards the middle and tail end of the playthrough, the writing can be a bit too opaque for its own good. Sometimes, characters will repeat things that have already been said, and there are definitely moments that could've been cut for a much snappier and streamlined narrative. Just one playthrough can leave you exhausted by the end instead of inspiring you to explore the different choices and routes.

Digimon Survive's turn-based battle system could have potentially circumvented this problem by breaking up the pace. Every Digimon comes equipped with standard and heavy attacks; positioning your characters across the grid-based maps plays a distinct part in maximizing your damage output. The mechanics are easy to grasp but they never really expand past their initial introduction; while there are technically multiple options for combat, taking full advantage of them requires a bit of grinding when you could easily brute force the game without much thought. On one hand, you could argue that the game is very beginner-friendly that might appeal to younger fans who aren't super familiar with this gameplay, but on the other hand, I don't think this game is meant for younger gamers given its story and overall tone.

I honestly feel a bit conflicted after playing Digimon Survive, because I truly admire the amount of passion and thought put into it. If you are a long-time Digimon fan, then this this is worth at least one playthrough. The presentation is incredibly well-polished. The game also runs relatively well on the Switch, and I would even argue that it's the ideal platform for slowly chipping away at the story on your commute rather than finishing it all in one sitting. Unfortunately, I feel like the game's narrative was a little too ambitious for its own good, which can result in a lopsided experience. A tighter story could have helped things feel less tiring, and a more fleshed-out battle system could have left a stronger feeling of engagement to break up the repetition. That said, I still love what is being done here and hope this format comes back—just in a more refined package.