Summary
The story ofDigimon Survive’s production is easily the strangest in the franchise. After its 2018 announcement, the game couldn’t catch a break. It ran into budget and size constraints, passed between developers, switched engines, and got hit by the 2020 pandemic. After multiple delays, it finally managed to release worldwide on May 17, 2025, but even then it wasn’t what fans expected. Pitched as a visual novel/strategy hybrid with survival elements,Digimon Surviveturned out to be a visual novel first and foremost and a turn-based strategy second, and merely survival-themed. Some players still enjoyed it, but after such a long wait, it fell short of even genre enthusiasts' expectations.
Now thatDigimon Survive’s first anniversary has come around, theDigimonfranchise finds itself in between long-term projects. TheDigimon Ghost Gameanime ended months ago, and the next majorDigimonproject is a theatrical film. It’s evident thatSurvivewas not whatDigimonneededright now, but it’s still better that it came out than not at all.Digimon Survivehas some merits, and it’s set the stage for a great future title that either recycles its better ideas or brings backDigimon’s past strengths in the gaming field.
RELATED:Digimon Survive’s Visual Novel Storytelling is a Double-Edged Sword
Digimon Survive Has Many Elements A Future Title Could Build On
Many parts ofDigimon Survivewere serviceable and had some good ideas that the game couldn’t fully realize. The tactical battles only took up a small amount of the game’s runtime, and there’s a lot more that could be done with them in a combat-focused title.Digimon’s mid-battle evolution presents many unique opportunities thatother monster-collecting games likePokemonandShin Megami Tenseidon’t. WhileDigimon Survivefalls into the trap of higher Digimon evolutions just being better, a differentDigimontitle with a more built-out combat system could revisit tactical battles more successfully.
There are also a number of good ideas inSurvive’s story, even if they didn’t get the necessary focus.Digimon Survive’s multiple routes are both its greatest strength and weakness, as they offer interesting ideas for exclusive scenarios and Digivolutions, while not leaving the time or resources to build out any one idea. A game without them wouldn’t need to worry as much about repeating old content on New Game+ or writing around characters who may not be alive. The end of a particular route also introduced afascinating dark-world state thatDigimonhasn’t explored, which might be the perfect setup for a trueDigimonstrategy game.
Other Digimon Games Aren’t Waiting Behind Survive Anymore
Digimon Survive’s long development had the strange side effect of seemingly holding up the release of other consoleDigimongames. The only title released during that time wasDigimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition, and the only console game launched sinceSurvivewas the Switch and PC ports ofDigimon World: Next Order International Edition. There’s no hard evidence, but it is feasible that the combination ofSurvivefalling behind schedule and COVID-19 impacted other projects. Fortunately, a newDigimon Storygame focusing on the Olympos XII Digimon group was teased in 2022, and if things go smoothly fans should hear more about it in the next year or two.
Even better, Bandai Namco confirmed afterSurvive’s launch that multipleDigimonprojects are currently in development at various levels of completion. Much of what heldDigimon Surviveback seems to have been circumvented, andsoon enoughDigimontitles will be flowing again. This is great news for all theDigimongame subseries and any new spin-offs in the works. WhileDigimon Survivedidn’t provide many reasons to celebrate its first anniversary, what its release meant forDigimongames as a whole made its release worthwhile.
Digimon Surviveis available now on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
MORE:Digimon Survive Should Be Another Subfranchise like World and Story
