Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, there was another craze sweeping across the globe. Often considered the counterpart to the Pokemon series was an anime called Digimon. The main differences for the monsters and creatures of this world is that they existed in a digital world, and they each had their names end with “mon” for some reason. The initial TV show followed the adventures of a group of youngsters who get sucked into the Digimon world electronically, while away from their parents at summer camp. They all come to befriend their own digital monster, that over the course of the show’s run grows and bonds with their human companion. The first series was such a hit, the creators of it continued those stories, and eventually tried their hand at making it a video game.
Japan has had an avalanche of Digimon video games come out in the past, but the West hadn’t really caught onto it as fast. The Western gaming community had an on-and-off again relationship with these titles up through the release of Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth for PS4 and Vita in February 2016. Following up on that, Bandai Namco is ready to bring more games in the Digimon universe to Western audiences. At the Tokyo Game Show, Digimon World: Next Order was revealed in an announcement alongside a trailer for the title.
Japan got their hands on this experience for the Vita back in March of this year, but the focus of the Western release for Digimon World: Next Order seems to have moved to strictly the PS4 instead. The game plays out as an RPG, with the addition of a possible second Digimon partner for the player over the standard 1 on 1 team-up. The player is sucked into the Digimon World. Its been taken over by Machinedramons, and the player saves two Digimon from an untimely demise. Finding the source of the Machinedramon menace might be the key to helping the human get back home in one piece. They’ll train their Digimon partners up through battling, encountering over 200 Digimon and interacting with them in various ways. Over time you can build up a village of these e-critters, maximizing the benefits you get in-game by doing so.
Digimon World: Next Order arrives in early 2017 for PS4 over in Europe and North America.
