Survival RPG Digimon Survive Is Part Fire Emblem, Part Visual Novel

Digimon Survive is an upcoming survival RPG developed in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the popular Digimon anime. The game presents an original adventure separate from the show, with characters designed by Uiti Ukumo and music composed by Tomoki Miyoshi--who's composed for video games like SoulCalibur V and I Am Setsuna.

Digimon Survive tells the story of four teenagers getting lost while on a camping trip and stumbling into a new world inhabited by Digital Monsters. Players control the leader of the group--Takuma Momozuka--who's partnered with Agumon. Each of Takuma's friends find Digimon partners of their own, and together the group works together to find a way for the teens to get back home again. Their adventure won't be easy though, as Digimon Survive's new trailer promises the game features darker themes of death and destruction--elements that haven't really been seen in Digimon since Digimon Tamers.

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The new trailer showcases the two different styles of gameplay present in Digimon Survive. Parts of the game will play out as a visual novel, where the player determines what choices Takuma makes. How the characters' Digimon partners digivolve and the final ending of the game is dependent on what dialogue options and actions players choose. The rest of Digimon Survive is a turn-based strategy game. Players move their characters' team of Digimon across a battlefield to fight against enemy monsters, the ability to digivolve or warp digivolve and fight more powerful foes dependent on the characters' bonds with one another.

The last Digimon game, Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth – Hacker's Memory, is a role-playing game for PS4 and PS Vita. Hacker's Memory is a more traditional RPG, where players collect Digimon for turn-based battles. Although the mechanics are solid, the gameplay feels more in-line with the Pokemon anime--collection over connection--which goes against Digimon's themes of bonding with a chosen partner. Digimon Survive seems to be more in-line with what the Digimon anime is about.

Digimon Survive is launching for Xbox One, PS4, PC, and Switch in 2019.