In a few more months, Digimon Survive will finally be out. This visual novel-cross-tactical RPG has been suffering delays for years, but it finally has a global release date that is fast approaching. Even if it shares a release date with Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Digimon fans everywhere are looking forward to finally closing the door on this chapter of the franchise's gaming side. Sporting traditional visual novel elements infused with survival tropes, multiple story paths, and a tactical grid-based combat system that promises to deliver serious endgame challenges, there's a lot to look forward to.
As it stands, Digimon Survive has one of the most unique meta stories in the Digimon franchise. Initially aiming for a 2019 release date, it quickly slid into delay after delay. These bizarre circumstances have done a lot to bring attention to the game, and the directions its dark storytelling could go are promising for the Digimon franchise. Even after decades of Digimon World and Digimon Story titles, no game has ever been released that will play quite like Survive does. It's a strange yet exciting time, although fans reading into a recent developer breakdown of the gameplay have noticed something odd. It seems that in Survive's efforts to break away from the typical format of Digimon, it has also meddled with the series core mechanic of digivolution.
How Digimon Survive Has Altered Digivolution
Digivolution is handled differently from evolution in Pokemon and demon fusion in Shin Megami Tensei. Digimon are portrayed as being able to move up and down their evolutionary lines with some degree of freedom, rather than just evolving upwards linearly. Adding on to that, a Digimon can take different evolutionary routes for different results. There are six main digivolution stages as well as fusions and other special evolutionary methods. Depending on the species of Digimon, just about every step of this process could have a choice between different resulting forms. Getting new Digimon types and powering up basic forms is encouraged, so de-digivolving Digimon is a common practice in some video games.
This is all explained by the amount of data a Digimon has absorbed. When evolution is triggered by a human ally, less data is absorbed than if the process had occurred over time. This can leave the Digimon unable to retain its new form even if it’s just as strong as it would be naturally. That was how the anime treated digivolution, though other media tended to ignore this in favor of letting players keep their evolved Digimon. De-digivolution was left in the player's hands, if there even is an option in the first place. Digimon Survive gamifies the anime's formula by placing a time limit on digivolution with dwindling SP, forcing Digimon to evolve and devolve over the course of a single battle. Thanks to this, it may be the first Digimon title to accurately reproduce the anime's dynamic transformations and the portrayal of Digimon partners defaulting to their Rookie forms.
The Impact of Digimon Survive's Changes to Digivolution
In Digimon Survive, Digimon can only evolve if they have unlocked a digivolution, and Survive borrows any evolution type it needs to reach a desired form. On the right route, Agumon may be able to Dark Digivolve straight to SkullGreymon, but he would only be able to hold this monstrous form for a short time. SP drains every turn a player Digimon has digivolved, forcing them to return to their base forms eventually. There are many ways to restore SP, so players will need to manage their resources and movement carefully to ensure evolved Digimon are in the thick of things and no base-form allies are surrounded. This also has the nice side effect of ensuring that partner Digimon are all in their more personable Rookie forms during most visual novel segments.
The methods of gaining evolutions are also more varied than normal. Human allies can gain digivolutions for their partners through relationship values and story events, which brings to mind Persona’s Social Links. There are three main routes as well as a secret route, and different digivolutions are unlocked on each path. Things are simpler for recruited wild Digimon as they simply require items to digivolve, though this method isn’t seen much in the games.
It appears that Digimon Survive is trying to replicate some older anime seasons' different digivolution methods, which could give major story moments more impact via unlocking a new form. This choice to pursue a new take on digivolution should serve Digimon Survive well, and could make it all the more memorable once it's finally out.
Digimon Survive will be released on July 29th for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.