{"id":102490,"date":"2019-10-25T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-25T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/nintendo-switch\/digimon_story_cyber_sleuth_complete_edition"},"modified":"2019-10-25T18:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-10-25T18:00:00","slug":"review-digimon-story-cyber-sleuth-complete-edition-pokemons-biggest-rival-is-still-worth-a-look","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2019\/10\/25\/review-digimon-story-cyber-sleuth-complete-edition-pokemons-biggest-rival-is-still-worth-a-look\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition &#8211; Pok\u00e9mon&#8217;s Biggest Rival Is Still Worth A Look"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/8a6670a9932ce\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/8a6670a9932ce\/small.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n<div id>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition Review - Screenshot 1 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/100396\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/100396\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition Review - Screenshot 1 of 4\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>You\u2019ve got to admire Bandai Namco for releasing a monster capturing\/battling RPG just weeks before a certain selection of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nintendo-switch\/pokemon_sword_and_shield\">Pocket Monsters<\/a> swarm the Nintendo Switch &#8211; but <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nintendo-switch\/digimon_story_cyber_sleuth_complete_edition\">Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition<\/a><\/strong> offers more than enough in the way of different mechanics and content for those looking for an alternative to Game Freak&#8217;s monster-catching behemoth. This Complete Edition bundles in two titles \u2013 2015\u2019s <strong>Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth<\/strong>, and 2017\u2019s <strong>Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth &#8211; Hacker\u2019s Memory<\/strong> \u2013 both originally released on PlayStation 4 and PS Vita.<\/p>\n<p>Both are set between Tokyo and a virtual utopia known as EDEN, where players\u2019 avatars can interact \u2013 and just like in the real world, some are more salubrious than others. Cyber Sleuth sees players step into the shoes of a half-digital character looking to retrieve their real-world body, while Hacker\u2019s Memory has you hunting down an identity thief (always use two-factor authentication, folks) in events that run parallel to Cyber Sleuth. Cutscenes are well-animated, but most of the text is dropped on players through written exposition, making it feel more Visual Novel than RPG at times.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition Review - Screenshot 2 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/100393\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/100393\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition Review - Screenshot 2 of 4\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>Despite the name suggesting some fact-finding and detective work, there\u2019s no real sleuthing to do here. Thankfully, there is plenty of everything else, and between both storylines, you\u2019re looking at a solid 90-or-so hours of content. We\u2019d <em>definitely<\/em> recommend playing Cyber Sleuth first, otherwise it can feel like being thrown into a world where the rules are only gently touched on and never fully explained \u2013 plus you can import your save across from one game to the other. Plenty of the optional missions in both titles feel a little like filler, but they do add some flavour to the world.<\/p>\n<p>The plot is all technobabble in reality, and feels like a very &#8217;90s-flavoured depiction of digital life \u2013 potentially a design choice, but also just as likely to be based on the fact that the anime version of Digimon began way back in 1999. Monsters themselves are framed as computer programs, but offer plenty of personality and varying designs to make trying to find all 340-odd digital beasts includec in the game a compelling chase.<\/p>\n<p>While exploring and chatting to various NPCs in the overworld and battling monsters in turn-based combat may sound familiar, both titles here offer enough to distance themselves from those inevitable <strong>Pok\u00e9mon<\/strong> comparisons. For one, monsters here evolve (sorry, \u201cDigivolve\u201d) into bigger, more powerful monsters, but they can also \u201cdevolve\u201d, offering up more options for further evolutions. It means that there\u2019s plenty of versatility to be found in the creature-nurturing systems and building out the ultimate team of critters takes some serious hard work and thought.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition Review - Screenshot 3 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/100395\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/100395\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition Review - Screenshot 3 of 4\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>Secondly, battles aren\u2019t one-on-one affairs, with most contests featuring three-against-three Digimon clashes. This makes having a balanced lineup of Digimon elemental affinities <em>incredibly<\/em> important, as one wrong move can leave you outnumbered and outgunned.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, you don\u2019t <em>technically<\/em> catch Digimon by throwing an object at them. Instead, you run into multiple monsters to fill up a meter. Once the meter hits 100%, you create your own version of that Digimon at the DigiLab, while finding more of them out in the wild allows you to create a more powerful instance of that Digimon.<\/p>\n<p>This feeds into the game\u2019s difficulty. On normal and below, it feels too easy \u2013 with auto-battling able to do much of the heavy lifting. We\u2019d recommend playing on Hard \u2013 it\u2019s not <em>too<\/em> tough, but there are some boss battles that you\u2019ll need to grind to be able to beat. Unfortunately, these fights don\u2019t feel particularly well signposted \u2013 so there\u2019s some guesswork involved as to whether you\u2019ll be ready to take them on or not. These difficulty spikes are fairly common, so if grinding the same opponents to level-up isn\u2019t something you look for, your mileage will likely suffer.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition Review - Screenshot 4 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/100397\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/100397\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition Review - Screenshot 4 of 4\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>On the plus side, this makes Digimon Story the ideal game to play in portable form \u2013 grinding up levels on the sofa, the bus, or a train journey. It also helps that while the game isn\u2019t all that demanding visually, it feels most at home on the Switch\u2019s portable screen; textures can feel a little stretched on a TV, but the Switch\u2019s 720p display offers plenty of vibrant colour options. The digital world of EDEN\u2019s reliance on blue architecture can feel a bit dull after a while (an issue present in both games), but that\u2019s a small criticism.<\/p>\n<p>Aside from the campaign, there\u2019s multiplayer battling to be done as well \u2013 either through local wireless play or online and if nothing else, it\u2019s a fun chance to compare strategies and lineups with other players.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"conclusion\">\n<h2 class=\"heading\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition is a content-packed RPG with plenty to see and do. Its evolution system feels wholly unique when compared to another monster-breeding game series you might find on Nintendo hardware, and while the grind may be too much for some, it\u2019s comfortably one of the best creature-catchers on the Switch \u2013 although Pok\u00e9mon still holds the crown, of course.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You\u2019ve got to admire Bandai Namco for releasing a monster capturing\/battling RPG just weeks before a certain selection of Pocket Monsters swarm the Nintendo Switch &#8211; but Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition offers more than enough in the way of different mechanics and content for those looking for an alternative to Game Freak&#8217;s monster-catching [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102490\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}