I've been playing Digimon UP for about a week now and I'm enjoying it more than I expected.
I started out of curiosity after seeing some posts right after launch. I'd known about the game for a couple of months but I had no idea what it was actually like (I was mainly keeping up with Alysion).
I began with YukimiBotamon and everything was going well, until I noticed that the game had automatically put me on the ASIA#192 server 🥲 at that point my partner had already reached the Adult level as Tailmon.
I had to reroll and created a new account on EU#34. It sucks because on my Asia account, by the 2nd multi (20 summons) per banner, I got 1 Taichi and Agumon + 1 WarGreymon.
I kept playing that account because I got attached to it, being my first account and having WarGreymon and a copy of Taichi and Agumon made it hard to let go.
But it's time to move on.
On the new account I started with Nyokimon, raised it to Huohuomon, and now I'm with Gabumon. So far nothing notable has come out, I'm 100% f2p and have no plans to spend money.
At the beginning, whenever my digimon digivolved and Brave Heart started playing, it gave me chills every time. Those first few days felt magical. However, for the past 2 days the music hasn't been playing during digivolutions, even though I followed the official english Digimon UP account instructions to manually adjust the settings.
I play casually while cooking, at night while writing, or whenever I have some free time.
What I like the most is the raising aspect. The training, feeding them, the camp… it really feels like having a tamagotchi but with your favorite digimon.
While the Meat Field, DD Box and Digital World Search are quite basic, I'm personally a fan of the game's overall visual aesthetic. The map also triggers strong Adventure nostalgia and is engaging, both in its design and in the digimon you find to battle.
I don't like mobile gaming, so the fact that it's an idle game works fine for me. I log in, check on my digimon, give it some love and go on with my day.
As for the things I didn't like:
Obviously the shop and the gacha system.
The pvp also feels pretty wild because of the whales.
The global chat that keeps popping up on the idle screen full of spam, I'm constantly blocking people. I think they should make that chat hidden by default.
And then there's the server issue. I know I'll probably never play with friends because the game assigns you randomly, making it almost impossible to share a camp or even add each other.
So if by chance you're on EU#34, feel free to add me. You can find me under the name Mary and we can support each other.
I also created a camp called FileHub. I don't have anyone in it yet lol, but you're more than welcome to join.
Update: I deleted the camp because nobody was joining, and trying to make progress by myself was way too slow. So I joined an existing lvl 4 camp with 59 other people instead.
I'm currently at Tamer Rank 10, TLv 88, in Kernel Area (Stage 553) and I don't pick my skill cards or support digimon strategically, just relying on auto-equip (which I know isn't optimal but I'm not playing seriously enough to study better combinations).
Overall, it delivers on the nostalgia, keeps me entertained for a while and gives that Tamagotchi / V-Pet vibe well. I'd only recommend it if you take it easy and don't spend any money.