Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Hacker's Memory - PlayStation 4

It arrived in perfect condition and works well

This is the best digimon game in my opinion. At least when we are talking in the last 10 years. The story was better and more interesting than the first cybersleuth. This one also has more digimon so that's a plus. It still has an online feature that let's you battle but I didn't mess with it personally. Without going into any spoiler, this game has and talks about characters and events that happened in the first game. I don't believe it's necessary to play the first one to enjoy this one. If you are thinking about getting a digimon game, please get this one. Unless you like the OG Playstation 1 digmon world then get next order.

The overall game is great. If you liked the original Cyber Sleuth, you'll like this as well. Most of the mechanics are overall the same, but they did add a couple of new ones, plus a new type of battle system which is pretty interesting. They also added about 80 more digimon to my knowledge. If you never played the original Cyber Sleuth, I would recommend playing it before this, but this game is also really good and recommend this one as well. The only reason I recommend the original over this is that there are a lot of references to the first game. I am mostly writing this to denounce most of the issues people had with this game (thus all the 1 star ratings). The preorder DLC for this game came via email, but many people were upset it didn't come in the game box. Then, Bandai Namco had an issue with redeeming the codes, so they didn't work until yesterday. The last issue some people had were the censorship. The censorship was a single digimon got a reskin and a name change. Now, I do think it's stupid, even moreso what was being "censored" but it's not like they changed a lot of the game. One digimon, Sistermon Noire, is a gun-toting nun, which the developers of the games created an American counterpart, Sistermon Ciel, as they were afraid the American audience would be upset with a nun with a gun (which I think is hilarious considering this is America we are talking about). Either way, if you wanting a "pure" version of the game, then import the EU version, which to my knowledge, has Sistermon Noire in it. The censored version is apparently the American version only, though I would verify that if you are planning on importing it.

The Cybersleuth series of Digimon games are some of the best Digimon media you can get your hands on if you like Digimon and turn-based games this is the one for you. But FYI, this is the second instalment in the series, so you might want to play the first game before this one.

An all around improvement to the formula, the AI is less dumb and hard mode is actually balanced and not just raising HP like the prequel. Story is just as good, the new introduced characters are more interesting and they make more of an impact on the gameplay itself. Newly added digimon make a nice addition to the roster and most of the digimon are available from the start instead of gating them behind story progression like last time. Old assets are present but are in the minority and are generally updated and polished up, new areas outnumber old in number and usage. A good degree of personalization is now available from double the ABI to make more spread builds to accessories for avatar and digimon. Online mode is vastly improved not only being less clunky but also offering all the quality of life that was missing (inv for friends, search conditions for opponent, bot option, battle boxes to have your builds ready to go, etc.) participation now rewards coins that can be used to further customize digimon and avatar appearance in addition (accessories, titles, different avatars, etc) there are also event battles with great rewards and special rules.

This is a great sequel to the first Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth game. I definitely recommend playing the first installment before playing Hacker's Memory because the two stories run parallel to each other. The best feature about this game's story is that it shows you what's going on with characters like Fei, Yuuko, Nokia, and Arata when they're not interacting with the sleuth character from the first game. It adds more dimension to those characters, the world, and the overarching story.The gameplay mechanics are mostly identical to the first game, so veterans will have an easy time picking up where they left off. It's your typical turn-based battle system that's it's similar to Final Fantasy X's. Some balance changes were implemented, changing the SP costs and elemental attribution in some cases. For example, WarGreymon's "Great Tornado" attack was changed from a fire attack at 40SP to a neutral attack at 35SP. Some new aspects to the battle system are "domination battles" and "territory battles." Domination battles require you to move along a grid-like floor capturing tiles for points. Sometimes the goal is to wipe out the opposing team, but most of the time it's to reach the target point value before the other team. You usually play with two other party members who usually bring their own team of Digimon. It's my favorite of the two, but I feel like it could have been made more interesting. You basically just bash the other team to push them back enough to steal their tiles. Maybe if they added more rules, it would be more fun. Territory battles, on the other hand, require you to disable beacons emitting status effects on your team before you attack the boss. You also bring a friend with you to this type of battle and they guard the beacons to make sure enemy hackers don't reactivate them while you're away.The Digivolution system is exactly the same as the first game's as well, along with the DigiLab. If you import a save from the first game, your Field Guide will be imported so you won't have to worry about rediscovering the same Digimon. It comes in handy when you want to know how to optimize your Digivolution path to get the Digimon you want early on. I personally find Digivolution to be a really fun and addictive aspect of the game.Hacking has slightly changed in the game. You have more abilities now, such as the ability to run faster, turn invisible, return to the dungeon entrance, and repair broken items. While you can still hack through firewalls, some require you to bust through by force. I personally find the "acceleration" hack that lets you run faster to be the best addition. It's great when you want to fly through a dungeon you've been to several times.I have several minor complaints that led me to take off a star from the overall review. For starters, I don't like the menu interface. It's really annoying going through so many different screens just to conduct business on the computer. If I exit EDEN or the DigiLab from the computer, I have to go through the whole bootup again just to use a different option like the BBS. It would be a lot simpler if you when exiting EDEN/DigiLab, you remained logged into the computer. Or if they let you skip the bootup screen, that would work, too. Whenever I wanted to access EDEN or the DigiLab, I found myself using the phone outside Hudie just because it was faster.I also don't like that you still can't take more than one quest at a time. I get how they can sometimes clash with each other, but the game could just make exceptions for missions that don't cause sequencing problems. For example, I don't see why Mirei's hacker missions can't stack. The game doesn't automatically transport you to the enemy's location; you have to go there manually. They're typical "talk and fight" missions, so it would be nice if I could do them in bulk rather than fight a hacker then go through a dozen screens just to report back in and take the next hacker case. Alternatively, they could allow us to access the BBS from inside EDEN, rather than having to return back to base each time.Finally, the English subtitles are still so-so. While the translation on the whole isn't awful, it definitely needs work. The DigiLine is the worst part and it's just as confusing and off-the-mark as the first game's.The bottom line is: if you liked the first game, you'll like Hacker's Memory. It's a great addition to the series. It has a good story, great characters, and lots of fun Digimon.