Title: Digimon UP
Developer: Bandai Namco Entertainment
Publisher: Bandai Namco Entertainment
Release Date: July 15, 2026
Platform: iOS and Android
Reviewed on: Android
Price: Free

Digimon‘s newest release is a glitchy idle RPG.

I am a big fan of the Digimon series, from the original TV series to Digimon: Time Stranger I have been there. With the game’s launch trailer, I thought it looked interesting. I have been busy for the past three weeks during which I tried out Digimon UP since I had a lot of hurry-up-and-wait moments. I even managed to be one of the top 200 players on the North American server for the past three weeks without spending a dime. Unlike a lot of my reviews, this one will focus on art, design, gameplay, and story. I will be avoiding talking about bugs though since those are an ongoing issue as well.

Art

This is hands down the best part of the game. I have done a few game jams in my time. Never ever let any one tell you sprite art is easy. This game features a ton of sprite art even with various actions. From characters to UI, everything matches in a wonderful modern 16-bit style. You can tell care was take for each of the starting Digimon for the first three series to be recreated faithfully in this style Its very pretty and fun to watch the fights. Character customization is fun with so many different outfits and designs from onesies to an entire new drip. The game has over 100 hair styles, with similar amounts in outfits, shoes, accessories and head gear. Honestly, you could spend more time dressing up you character with the 10 billion combinations — yes I did the math — than dealing with Digimon. I like the feature, but it is odd for a Digimon game.

Design

The layout is there. Some elements are simple and intuitive while others are not. It looks nice and organized, so the layout is great visually like the art style. The problem becomes you constantly need to dive through various screens. You need to hit the menu button to open messages. The explore icon goes to farming eating training and…the encyclopedia. The shop opens on passes which can then switch between premium currency and items that have their own sub categories. Finally, you get to the general shop which has a completely different layout that is visually closer to the exploration section layout than any of the other shops. Going through two selection screens and scrolling down to get my daily allotment for free emeralds from the shops was almost more hassle than it was worth. I will be honest, it took me much longer to find how to change battle typing than it should have because of exactly how many different tabs you can go through and memorize. Currently, I have been through two banner events and they both felt the exact same with different images. Support and skill cards are upgraded in the same way but placed in two different, nearby locations. Honestly, it organized, but intuitive it is not.

Gameplay

This is an idle game, so its designed to waste time while getting that dopamine fix. It has a simple gameplay loop fight, get stronger. There are extras you can buy to level quickly, but nothing is required. Gameplay is repetitive to say the least. You do about a few dozen tasks a day, mostly fights, as your Digimon team earns EXP. This comes in the form of mini games and timers, arcade-style room navigation, farming, arena battles, and training. You have so many free attempts before you need to watch ads or wait. You could spend money and freemium gems from quests for extra turns and time. Unfortunately, the dopamine rush fades quickly without any real structure behind the game. I get I am farming to feed my Digimon, it makes sense. Historically, It has happened in every Digimon World game. Why am I exploring, invading other people, or fighting any one of the daily bosses? A simple tweak to text and description can help with this and make the game feel more cohesive. Why am I attacking Datamon well he is stealing data from across the world. The world exploration mini game is basically just an early-90s flash-style game. Gameplay starts to feel dull after the first couple days things become a chore. There is a lot to do, but nothing feels impactful or exciting. Then, there is Digivolution and Digimon can Digivolve into one of 3-5 options in most of the recent games. All of the ones here are straight paths and any other Digimon well they are stagnant guests? companions? At this point, it’s not raising Digimon it’s level up evolve repeat, nothing interesting or new. Pokémon with extra steps. Why are we doing any of this?

Story

Let’s be honest, there is none. The heart and soul of Digimon has always been its stories, good or bad. Like Power Rangers, each season told a story about a different series of characters. Each game usually has a bare minimum plot. In fact aside from Digimon Up, there are only five real exceptions that I can recall: Digimon Battle Spirit, Digimon Battle Spirit 2, Digimon Rumble Arena, Digimon Rumble Arena 2, and Digimon World Championship out of over 80 releases all of these being fighting games. The last of the story less games was released in 2008. You are implied to be traveling the world via a map you see occasionally, but with games like AFK Journey dropping lore in quests this is an oversight or at least that’s how it feels.

Final Score (2.5 Out of 5 Stars)

Initially, I had fun, but I am going to delete the game. It’s pretty and nostalgic, but I can find a dozen books I would rather read. For me, a 2.5 out of five is a successful game as it works mostly and doesn’t break your brain or phone while playing it. But it’s not something to look forward to, oh boy, I can’t wait to beat Datamon four more times today… I would raise the score to a 3 out of 5 if they fixed all of the bugs, had some loose narrative, and make some changes to gameplay — eight different-yet-same boss fights daily for over 20 battles gets old quick. It is continuously updating and adding more content like the upcoming defense-type dungeon. However, without a major rework that’s the highest I could go. It’s cute and alleviates some boredom which is the point of an idle game. If you’re bored and have nothing better to do it’s worth a try.

Featured Image: Digimon Up

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