Picture the scene. It’s a warm spring and a group of school friends are spending it at camp. But during their holiday they fall into another world featuring uncanny elements of our own and filled with monsters. Yes, that’s the premise of the Digimon anime you remember from the turn of the century. It’s also the setup for Digimon Survive, the game that celebrates 25 years of digital adventures!
The champions of the Digital World return in this original game that celebrates the long history of this franchise. What started as a Tamagotchi spin-off and grew into a rival for Pokémon is back in an entirely new form. After a torrid development cycle, it’s finally time to kick it off!
A New Adventure to Celebrate the Franchise
First announced in 2018, Digimon Survive is the next game in the franchise after Hacker’s Memory the year prior. Unlike that title, it does not belong to the Digimon Story subseries, nor the classic Digimon World line. Survive was intended to help celebrate the 20th anniversary of the original Digimon Adventure anime. It would also have been tied into the impending 2020 reboot, but was sadly delayed multiple times and passed between developers. Now the game is here for the franchise’s silver anniversary.
A Summer at Camp You Won’t Forget…
Our story starts in a very familiar place with a group of kids at camp. Chief among the core group of eight is Takuma, the playable character and resident gogglehead. While exploring a famous local temple, he and his friends run into a Koromon. It digivolves to Agumon soon after to save another of Takuma’s classmates from a Digimon attack, at which point they realise they have stumbled into another world.
From there, each member of the cast finds a Digimon partner of their own who will help them fight the many enemies that lurk in this world as they try to survive and get home. It very much sounds like the adventures of Tai and company and the roster of Digimon in the game are taken from that same early era of the series. But with an original cast and fresh story, Survive is certainly more of a homage than a rip-off. With eye-catching character designs by Uichi Ukumo, and scene-setting music by the much-acclaimed Tomoki Miyoshi, Digimon Survive is set to carve its own place in the franchise.
The Unique Gameplay of Digimon Survive
Whereas previous Digimon games like Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth have focused on traditional monster-raising RPG gameplay, Digimon Survive takes a new approach. This is a game of two halves, the first being a strategy role-playing game. You assemble a team of Digimon made of characters’ partners and allies you can recruit to take on enemies. Tactical battles ensue across a grid layout, as you match the types and elements of your team against your foes to ensure victory. Encounters like this happen both as part of the story and randomly during “Free Battle” sections to help you train your team.
The second half of gameplay shares much with the visual novel genre. This consists of you exploring the world, finding strange anomalies with your phone, and talking to characters. Dialogue scenes become “text adventures” where what you say and the choices you make have a profound effect. The trailers themselves have shown this, with Takuma’s Agumon digivolving to Greymon in an early teaser but later becoming Tyranomon instead as a consequence of an earlier action.
This branching digivolution is reminiscent of the franchise’s roots on the V-Pet and early games like Digimon World. How everyone’s partner Digimon grows isn’t the only thing that can change across playthroughs, as there will be multiple endings and the possibility of characters being killed off. The game is called Survive for a reason.
The Karma System Shows Your Path
The main barometer for your decisions in Digimon Survive will be your Karma score. This comes in three different types; Moral, Harmony, and Wrathful. The strength of each can determine your relationship with other characters, what Digimon you can recruit during your adventures, and how Takuma’s Agumon will be able to evolve.
Moral
Old school Mass Effect fans can think of this as the Paragon choice. Decisions that boost your Moral score have a virtuous focus on subjects like justice, sacrifice, and prudence. Focusing on this aspect of Karma will give Takuma affinity with Digimon of the Vaccine attribute, making them easier to recruit and influencing Agumon to evolve in this direction. The iconic Greymon is of the Vaccine attribute if you fancied partnering with one.
Harmony
The flower-powered Harmony decisions would have 70s parents growling about hippies. You can increase this score by expressing compassion, cooperation, and peace in your decisions. A harmonious Karma will be compatible with Data attribute, including the likes of Agumon’s alternative evolution Tyranomon shown in some trailers.
Wrathful
Playing Renegade for life? Wrathful decisions are bold, direct, and objective-driven. These Karma decisions are not antagonistic by any means, but can certainly rub a few people the wrong way. Following this path grants you affinity with Virus attribute Digimon. It’s hard to know what that means for Agumon’s evolution, though we are having flashbacks to that terrifying SkullGreymon episode…
When Can I Play Digimon Survive?
Good news, Digidestined! You can already play the game. Digimon Survive launched worldwide today, 29th of July 2022, and yesterday in Japan. This is great for fans across the world who normally have to wait for new Digimon games to make their way to the west. It can be played on PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.
Don’t Spoil Survive
With such a branching and involved story promised in Digimon Survive, there’s certainly a lot that could be spoiled. Bandai Namco wants the experience to be special for players so have issued this request that everyone stay quiet on spoilers for the next two months.
Digimon Survive Official System Requirements
Are you ready to go digital? Luckily you won’t need a Digivice to drop out of the sky to play Digimon Survive. Just a gaming PC that can meet the official system specifications for it. We’ve got them right here for you to check.
| Component | Minimum Specs | Recommended Specs |
|---|---|---|
| Operating System | Windows 10 | Windows 10 |
| Processor | Intel Core i5-8400 AMD Ryzen 3 3300X | Intel Core i7-8700K AMD Ryzen 5 3600X |
| Memory | 12GB RAM | 16GB RAM |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 AMD Radeon RX 580 | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 |
| DirectX | Version 12 | Version 12 |
| Storage | 60GB available space | 60GB available space |
The Best Gaming PCs to Play Digimon Survive
Does your system have what it takes to survive? If your hardware needs to undergo digivolution, then you’ve come to the right place. Here at Overclockers UK, we have plenty of gaming PCs to serve as your faithful partner in the Digital World.
OcUK Gaming Enigma Essential (FS-1DV-OG)
Need your own champion of the Digital World? Look no further than the OcUK Gaming Enigma Essential. This gaming PC has everything you need to take on, and hopefully make it through, Digimon Survive. It’s AMD Ryzen 5 5600 CPU makes use of multicore technology, featuring six cores and twelve threads. With that kind of power behind them, it’s like you’re overclocking your team of Digimon! Feel immersed in all the action with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 GPU unlocking superior graphical prowess.
Available to order from £879.95*
Refract Gaming Azure (FS-1DP-EP)
Looking to Digivolve into Ultimate? Nothing defines that more than stunning 4K resolution and that’s what the Refract Gaming Azure delivers. This pre-built PC is designed for plug-and-play, making it one digital partner you won’t need to raise. Fitting of a system at this level, it packs the power of an AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU, 32GB DDR5 RAM, and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Graphics Card. Plus, like all Refract Gaming PCs, the Azure comes with three years parts and labour warranty as standard. Prodigious!
Available to order with next day delivery for £2,199.95*
OcUK Gaming Radiance Frosty MK2 (FS-1GC-OG)
Want to warp all the way to the Mega level? We hear you! Effortlessly stylish and powerful, the OcUK Gaming Glacier really represents that final form you want for your gaming PC. It’s packed with amazing technology, including an Intel Core i5 11400F CPU, to handle multitasking effortlessly. With its NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 GPU, you will experience a new level of graphics prowess to match the mysterious world of Digimon Survive. All this is neatly installed in a sleek white Lian Li Lancool 205M Case to achieve the perfect modern aesthetic. You two are Digidestined for one another!
Available to order from £999.95*
*Prices correct at time of writing and PC specs are subject to change.
- 8 min read
Jacob Smith
Author
Jacob is a passionate gamer, plus a noted Pokemon and LEGO nutjob, who emerges only when doing the words here at Overclockers UK. Since starting at the tail end of 2021, Jacob has gone on to write dozens of blogs on everything from the latest games to whimsical Dickens-inspired poetry. Outside of creating content and being the one person in the office daring to champion Nintendo, he is often found fawning over his Pokemon card collection and his trio of lovely doggos.
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