For those who decide to buy this game, PLEASE start from Cyber Sleuth (right), then move on to Hacker's Memory (left) for optimal experience.


Graphics
☐ Bad
☐ Okay
☑ Decent
☐ Great
☐ Incredible

Music
☐ Bad
☐ Okay
☑ Decent
☐ Great
☐ Incredible

Bugs
☑ No bugs
☐ A couple
☐ Many bugs
☐ Too Buggy
☐ Unplayable


Difficulty
☐ 2EZ
☐ Easy
☑ Normal
☐ Hard
☐ Super Hard
☐ Unbeatable

Story
☐ Non-Existent
☐ Lame
☑ Decent
☐ Great
☐ Incredible
☐ OMG, WOW!

Gameplay
☐ I fell asleep
☐ Okay
☑ Decent
☐ Great
☐ Best of the best

Characters
☐ Irritable
☐ Tolerable
☐ Fine
☑ Decent
☐ Great
☐ I wish they were my real buddies


Length
☐ Mini (0 - 4 hours)
☐ Short (4 - 10 hours)
☐ Standard (10 - 30 hours)
☐ Long (30-70 hours)
☑ Looks like a JRPG (70-100 hours)
☐ Grindfest! Get me out! (101+ hours)

Replayability
☐ None
☐ Only if you really like this game
☑ There is reason to replay the game
☐ Has tons of routes and replayable options
☐ Meant to be replayed

Worth
☑ At Full price
☐ On Sale
☐ For a nickel
☐ Do not buy this
☐ Get this out of your library

Verdict: 7/10

As a huge Digimon fan since I was little, I've always been excited to hop into these games, and Digimon Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition coming to PC as both Cyber Sleuth & Hacker's Memory coming together as one was great news for someone who missed them from not owning a console after PS/PS2. I ended up spending 239 hours to collect all 103 steam achievements for both versions of the game, as well as to complete my "DigiDex", having collected 341/341 Digimons available in the game. Actual gameplay without the achievement hunting would be around 150 hours (without rushing through things). If you are one to skip dialogues, you can possibly complete the game in 120 hours, but it is not recommended as the game is called Digimon Story , so do you really wanna miss out on the stories only to get to the ending and feel the void in your heart?

Graphics were decent, indeed they could have been better, but considering how these games aren't exactly "modern" per se, they are pretty good for a Digimon title.

The games (both CS & HM) have decent soundtracks and while they aren't great, they are good enough for you to not want to be just playing with the BGM muted while listening to your Spotify playlist.

The game isn't buggy considering how you seldom crash (only twice throughout my 239 hours of gameplay) and you don't get glitches (not that I know of ) at all.

In terms of gameplay, the difficulty settings (Normal/Hard) is where improvements can be made. It currently sits at an awkward spot where really good players will find the Normal difficulty too easy, and while Hard difficulty makes it such that the game isn't a cake-walk, all it does however, is beef up the enemies and what that means to a JRPG is MORE GRINDING. The Hard difficulty offers nothing except more YEN currency drop per fight, which really isn't what you'd really care about to begin with.

For a game that calls itself "Digimon Story", you'd expect to be blown away by some amazing storyline, but if you jump into the purchase with that mentality, you'll likely leave feeling disappointed. Apart from 5 plot twists between the two games combined, the game just runs you through a typical cliché storyline where you'll end up having to be the hero who helps bridge the gap between extremists (both Digimons and Humans) and eventually save the world (both yours, and the Digital World).

The gameplay itself is average, just a typical turn-based strategy style of gameplay, where you exploit strength advantages and weakness disadvantages in a Pokemon-style of gameplay. Synergy don't quite matter in this game, and you can just beat the game if you focus on balancing out your Digimon party's typing.

As for the in-game characters, everyone I spoke to who play the game had differing opinions, some felt like Nokia's bubbly personality resulted her in being too annoying because she always felt too hyped up. Most do agree though that Erika Mishima from HM side was an awesome side-character and that she should not leave us after we actually beat the game. If beating the game and saving the world means losing Erika, then some would rather not. And maybe, that's why you'll see reason to replay the game, so that you can go on ventures with Erika again, like the good ol' days.

Gameplay Length is around 70 to 100 hours per game , and with the gameplay being nigh identical, the gameplay aspect does become somewhat monotonous, and that's where your personal patience/tolerance/preference for a game's length comes into play. If you are someone who loves long games where you get loads of story content, then this game is for you. Otherwise, it becomes dreadful to go through the chapters to get to the end.

In terms of replayability, you'll really only want to replay if you want to spend more time with your virtual waifu Erika, who vanishes after post-game , or just simply for the goodies you get from clearing the game once.

In terms of worthiness for the price tag, I'd say getting two games (albeit largely similar ones) for the price of one is definitely a good deal, and even more so if you are a Digimon fan. For anyone who hasn't watched the Digimon series, this could still be a decent purchase if you like the JRPG style of gameplay.

Overall, it was a decent purchase I've made, and I had quite some fun digivolving through the digivolution trees until I had all 341 Digimons in my DigiDex.

TL;DR Good Purchase, not quite replayable, was fun while it lasted.