The story of Digimon 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 July 29, 2022, but even then it wasn't what fans expected. Pitched as a visual novel/strategy hybrid with survival elements, Digimon Survive turned 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.