There are many people that dismiss Digimon as a Pokemon rip-off, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Not only did Digimon debut first with its virtual pets - the series has also never hesitated to introduce darker elements into the mix over the years. This has included gut-wrenching deaths and depressing story beats that have somehow managed to mesh well with the colorful and fun-loving Digimon themselves.

Digimon Survive, the latest game in the Digimon saga, takes this to the next level with a more mature original story about staying alive in a strange world. Rather than featuring a lively world with an abundance of mainly friendly new Digimon to greet you throughout, the world in this game feels much more desolate and intimidating than in some past entries.

Similar to the original Digimon Adventure anime, the game starts off with a group of teenagers arriving at a camp out in the woods. As one might expect, a number of them wander off into said woods and stumble upon a shrine talking about mysterious creatures known as Kemonogami - which were thought of as mere urban legends until then. Things quickly go awry though when mysterious creatures with glowing red eyes - who veterans of the series will recognize as Gotsumon - surround the group and end up knocking them all unconscious.

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Upon waking up, protagonist Takuma meets his own partner Digimon, Koromon, who soon evolves into Agumon, and is followed by the other kids getting their own as well. They soon realize that this may not be their original world and as the title of the game hints, they look for ways to survive on their own while investigating more about what is happening.

Digimon Survive's story is presented in the classic visual novel style where 2D characters interact over a static background for long periods of time, which vary depending on where you are on the world map. Some of these conversations really pull at the heartstrings; at one point, a character's tough exterior starts to crack when he reveals that his mother is dead, and he was almost hoping wherever they ended up was the afterlife just so he could see her again. Then you have lighter interactions to bring some levity with characters like Agumon or Minoru, who are always cracking jokes. It all balances very nicely.

The game is certainly not afraid to throw curveballs at you with story twists and main character deaths being pretty prevalent.

The darker themes presented in this game may be a bit of a turn-off for some people, but they're actually faithful to the tone of the series. Some of the best moments in the anime feature a tone more akin to this, such as the D-Reaper arc in Digimon Tamers that was fuelled by the grief felt by one of the characters after the death of their Digimon partner, and the effects this had on people around them. The game isn't afraid to throw curveballs at you with story twists and main character deaths being pretty prevalent. However, the fact that a couple of the deaths are inevitable on the first playthrough and can only be avoided in a New Game Plus playthrough takes away the sense of impact in your choices the first time through the game.

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During the visual novel segments of the game, there are two ways to greatly affect later outcomes, especially in the aforementioned New Game Plus playthroughs. The first of these is raising Takuma's affinity with the other kids throughout the game, which will depend on the dialog options you choose when talking to them. Raising the affinity of your characters with Takuma will allow you to gain access to higher-level evolutions, as well as potentially be able to prevent the death of a few team members in New Game Plus. While the actual affinity points do not carry over in any way to New Game Plus, there are more opportunities available to raise it to try and save a couple of team members. This system itself could have been a little more impactful on the first playthrough beyond evolution, but it still works for what it is.

Digimon Survive also has a Karma system that rates your overall playthrough as either Moral, Wrathful, or Harmony based on the points you earn by selecting certain dialog options. The game sets it up to where the left answer is always Moral, the top is always Wrathful, and the right is always Harmony. This was very much appreciated, as oftentimes the answers aren't that different and would be very hard to decipher otherwise. It would have been better to have had more differentiation in the writing of the answers so that this wasn't necessary, but at least it does give you a direct idea of which path you are heading towards.

This Karma system is important in the grand scheme of the game, as it affects the trajectory of the story in later chapters, as well as affecting the evolution path for your partner Digimon. I was genuinely shocked to see my Agumon evolve into Tyrannomon instead of Greymon at first, which I later learned was due to having picked more Harmony choices early on in the game. This is where I really learned to appreciate the system and play more carefully moving forward. Karma can also impact the recruitment of other Digimon in the game as well, though their evolution relies on items instead of the Karma system.

While the battles are few and far between, the tactical RPG combat system in Digimon Survive works quite well. To start each battle, you get to select your team from the collection of partner Digimon and recruited Digimon that you have acquired. From there, you must move around the grid-based map and take down the enemies, with the goal typically being to take down a specific boss.

One of my favorite moments came during a fight against Arukenimon, where the odds were very much stacked in her favor. The battlefield was filled with poisonous Dokugumon and they quickly were starting to overwhelm my small team due to story circumstances. This is when I realized that I could take a different tactical approach to save a few of my captured teammates, which opened up everything and allowed me to overcome the Ultimate level boss.

The evolution system is pretty cool in that you can evolve and devolve partner Digimon on any given turn. Your pool of SP is used for both evolutions and special attacks, which encourages you to be careful in how you use it. The map isn't just flat either; you can use vertical areas to better separate yourself from enemies in close quarters, while also having to keep in mind the verticality when moving around the map. Some of these map designs do get a little too confusing with the vertical scaling though, which felt like it could have used a little more polish.

The biggest issue with the early hours of Digimon Survive is that it moves at a snail's pace as it lays the groundwork for the rest of the game. Beyond the opening tutorial, you will not touch the battle system again for an hour or two as the tactical combat takes a backseat in lieu of fleshing out the story. The captivating story does help make up for it, but it presents you with a bit too much to have to sit through.

Digimon Survive goes against the grain by being essentially four parts visual novel and one part tactical RPG, which may not be everyone's cup of tea. The compelling story is the real standout here, which is complemented nicely by the enjoyable, if fairly basic, tactical combat system. If you can manage to make it through the first few hours of exposition, Digimon Survive is well worth checking out - whether or not you're a fan of the franchise.

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