The original Digimon World game released in 1999 and while it earned mostly negative reviews from critics, it managed to develop a cult following of dedicated players who still speak highly of it to this day. Digimon World featured unique gameplay mechanics where players had to do their best to take care of their partner Digimon, raising them from an egg to more powerful evolved forms. The game was notorious for its incredibly complex digivolution mechanics, requiring players to complete very specific actions to get the Digimon that they wanted, and for its high difficulty; if a Digimon died, players had to start raising another one from scratch.
While fans have been waiting patiently for the new Digimon Survive game, now expected to arrive at some point later this year, others have been hoping for a remaster or remake of Digimon World. No such project has been announced at the time of this writing, but Digimon video game producer Kazumasu Habu did confirm that it's being considered. Habu said this during a Q&A session at Digimon Con 2022, saying that he is "positively considering" it.
What Habu hasn't determined is what this new version of Digimon World would be like. Apparently, a straight port, remaster, and remake are all being considered as possibilities when it comes to reviving Digimon World for modern audiences. At this point, the most likely scenario seems to be a Digimon World remaster, which Habu described as "highly feasible," as a remake would mean potentially adding new elements that would make it a much more ambitious undertaking.
If a Digimon World remake were to be made, Habu speculated about what those new elements could be. Habu said that adding a new field or new Digimon could throw off Digimon World's balance, and would in turn require more changes that would essentially result in it being a new product rather than a remake.
While there are no doubt many Digimon fans that would be happy to see Digimon World make a comeback in any form, others may be more interested in seeing some of its sequels come to new platforms instead. The original Digimon World was followed by Digimon World 2, 3, and 4, all of which have their fans. There's also the Digimon video games released for the Nintendo DS to consider.
If a potential Digimon World remake or remaster does materialize and is successful, one has to imagine that new versions of the other games would also be on the table. For now, Digimon fans can look forward to the release of Digimon Survive later this year.
Digimon World is available for PS1.
Source: Gematsu
