Digimon franchise dramatically shifts tone with the reveal of Digimon Survive

After playing my first Digimon title earlier this year, I find myself now strangely drawn to/invested in the franchise. Playing Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth – Hacker’s Memory, I was surprised at how adult the game was, and how deep and rich the story and world building were. And now, Bandai Namco have announced a wild shift in the Digimon franchise, with the reveal of the new survival-RPG Digimon Survive.

This new title is a complete break with existing Digimon lore, representing a unique timeline and new characters. While not a lot of information is given, from the trailer it seems like the combat is shifting to a more tactics-like engagement system, as opposed to the traditional turn-based RPG combat that the series typically uses.

According to the press release, “In Digimon Survive, a group of teenagers led by Takuma Momozuka, get lost on a school camping trip and find themselves transported to a strange world of monsters and danger. As they fight their way back home through a 3D world of difficult decisions and deadly battles, players’ choices throughout the game will impact the evolution of their monster allies, and the final ending.”

Digimon Survive will be available on PlayStation 4 system, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. The game is expected to release in 2019, but no official date has been announced.