Digimon Survive presents a hybrid visual novel and tactical RPG set in a mysterious world filled with dangerous monsters and deadly battles that will test your ability to survive.
The game primarily presents a visual novel experience, with players spending the majority of their time reading through the story and making dialogue choices. However, the game also features a turn-based tactical combat system that serves as a secondary gameplay element.
Players assemble a party of up to 6 Digimon to deploy against enemy Digimon on a grid-based battlefield. Each Digimon has a unique set of attacks and abilities that players can use to defeat their opponents. One unique aspect allows players to persuade certain enemy Digimon to join their party by engaging in dialogue. This adds an additional layer of strategy, as players must decide whether to defeat an enemy or try to convince it to join them. The combat also incorporates a Digimon evolution system, where Digimon can evolve into more powerful forms during battle, providing additional abilities and stat boosts. While the combat is not overly complex, it still provides a satisfying tactical experience that complements the visual novel storytelling, and players can grind and level up Digimon through free battles to overcome more challenging encounters.
Outside of combat, players can freely move around the game's various environments, searching for items, gathering resources, and interacting with NPCs. These exploration segments are interspersed with visual novel-style dialogue and story sequences, where the choices players make can have a significant impact on the game's narrative and progression. Depending on the player's responses, they may unlock different story paths, trigger character events, or even influence the evolution of their Digimon partners. This branching narrative structure encourages multiple playthroughs to experience the game's various outcomes, as the player's choices contribute to three distinct personality traits that affect the Digimon available for recruitment and the overall tone and ending of the story.