It's been a while since I was this hooked on a game and this one hooked me right from the start and didn't let go. I was supposed to just test it to see if it works on my potato laptop, but I couldn't put it down. It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me experience a whiplash of emotions.

AI: The Somnium Files is a game by Uchikoshi Kotaro, the creator of the famous Zero Escape trilogy, and developed by Spike Chunsoft so you should expect high production values. It's an adventure/visual novel hybrid similar to Zero Escape, but this time the two segments are completely intertwined every step of the way. It gave me that same feeling of a larger looming mystery you gradually reveal in a non-linear way the previous trilogy had. It's also quite different at the same time.

Genre wise, it's a sci-fi murder mystery set in the near future where you play as the detective Date Kaname as he investigates a series of bizarre murders. Victims are set up in theatrical ways and all are missing a left eye. Incidentally (or not) our protagonist has an artificial left eye, equipped with a super advanced AI - Aiba (eyeball...yeah, puns) which serves as his partner and companion. The relationship and banter between these two is the highlight of the game. Date is a Psyncer who uses the Psync machine to enter the dreams of suspects or witnesses as part of investigation.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2298080382

GAMEPLAY
Whereas Zero Escape had separate puzzle and VN/narrative sections, Somnium Files has a more varied and interwoven gameplay although it doesn't have traditional logic puzzles. The bulk of the game is investigation, going to locations, talking to characters and clicking, lots of clicking (from a fixed position). Every location has numerous hotspots that a point'n'click fan in me couldn't help but click on...everything. And I'm glad I did as that way you get lots of funny comments. Actually that optional side banter is so much fun and it contributes greatly to characters and the world to feel more alive and fleshed out. It's also needed for achievements. What's more, when you go back to the same location the hotspots are active again, but the comments, jokes and puns are different every time. It's amazing how much attention to detail went into this. The dialogue is prompted through this random clicking or actual talking to characters. You have numerous dialogue options and you get to use all of them like in most adventure games.

There are shootouts with QTE, but they're rather easy. They feature a hilarious running joke. Aiba has a way of motivating Date to increase his speed (up to 3.6 times) with the power of an elusive porno mag. There are also interrogations of suspects where you present the right evidence(s) similar to Danganronpa just not timed. And these lead to psyncing.* (more in comments)

Somnium aka the Dream World is the most challenging and interesting part of the game. You control Aiba in 3D and solve puzzles. The 'puzzle' is actually in deciding what hotspot to engage with and then making a choice of action. You only have 6 minutes but that's not a problem per se, because when you don't move and just observe, the time stands almost still. But every action costs a certain amount of seconds so there's quite a bit of time management involved. The other challenging thing is that, since this is a dream world, the logic is often twisted and vague, so there's a lot of trial and error and out of the box thinking. Actually, that wandering in the 'dark' and using intuition is part of the appeal and there are often more ways than one to solve a Somnium. If you make a mistake or run out of time you can retrieve steps to previous checkpoints or just restart the whole segment from a flowchart. Somnium is also the place where routes branch.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2298082893

Let’s not forget this is a visual novel at its core so yes, there are routes and branches. Because of the nature of Somnia you’re not actually aware when you make a choice, exception being the first one. But there’s a flowchart that slowly shapes itself as you progress and you can jump around to any point you’ve unlocked like in Zero Escape.

STORY AND CHARACTERS
I’ve written more about gameplay than the story so far which is a first for me. That’s because it’s difficult to avoid accidentally spoiling something and that would be a great shame. It’s a murder mystery after all, structured in a way that by going through the routes and branches you slowly piece together the big picture. So the twist won’t hit you out of nowhere cause you’ll already have a lot of hunches if not the details and the mechanics. I strongly suggest going down the red path first and Mizuki’s route by choosing the left cage in her Somnium. Mizuki’s route is the most heartfelt and wholesome. The other major route, the right purple one, is more revealing and baffling, but also quite poignant. Playing the routes back to back and alternating between the two crucial branches will gradually form a mindblowing story full of twists and turns, but one that is also very emotional. It’s tightly woven with no threads hanging, more compact and less convoluted than Zero Escape. It manages to imbue the mystery with a touching personal story similar to 999.**

Characters infuse this smart puzzle with vibrant life. Most of them are fun and colourful, especially Date. He's hilarious, wacky, pervy and a bit of an idiot. Aiba is there to slap him out of his more eccentric moments and the two make a hilarious double act (she's the 'straight man' in this comedy duo) Date is a peculiar case of a protagonist, there to give us a straight male perspective (VN version at least), but is also quite an eye candy and a proper bishonen. So there's a bit of dissonance between the way he thinks like an average guy, but looks like Adonis. (Thanks for all the close-ups of his beautiful face) Although he's a 'perv' who makes a lot of stupid dirty jokes and starts glitching in presence of tiddies (standard behaviour I presume), I wouldn't call him a creep. But, Aiba would. Actually, he's often made fun of by the characters and the game itself.***

On a serious note, Date is a good, likeable character with a heart of gold.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2306536619

The humour may not be everyone's cup of tea, but personally I loved it. The jokes are full of bad puns, pop culture references and sexual innuendo. It was so bad sometimes that it made it even more hilarious. Some people probably won't appreciate the stark contrast between serious crime scenes and stupid jokes. But I love a good whiplash. I must note that this is only the case at the beginning of routes while the investigation is slowly rolling. When stakes become high, jokes are toned down or absent altogether. In those moments clicking things won't give you any funny lines. I greatly appreciated the gradual tone shift. Furthermore, many random lines turned out to be not so random.

This attention to detail permeates everything and that is also true of visual presentation. Everything is dynamic, character models and avatars are animated with natural body movements and facial expressions even though still a bit stylised. Instead of CGs there are cut-scenes, cinematics like in Zero Time Dilemma. Somnium scenes are the most beautiful and full of creativity befitting the dream world. Music is also quite memorable. There's a haunting main theme waiting for you right on the title menu.

I wish I could play it again for the first time. Highly recommended!

I need an Aiba in my life.

If only I could experience it fresh all over again.

AI: The Somnium Files (AI) is an adventure game with visual novel element, developed by Spike Chunsoft. The story is written by Kotaro Uchikoshi (director of Zero Escape series and 999). I’ve to admit I never play any his previous games before. So, this review is based on my perspective for Uchikoshi’s work first time.

The story set in a near-future Tokyo. You’re detective Kaname Date, assigned to investigate crime scene. Date is working as a part of special team along with his artificial intelligence partner named Aiba, solving mysterious case and hunts the clue in suspect dream.

You progress through story by exploring places in real-world Tokyo. It features free camera from Date’s perspective as you’re free to inspect environment (indicated by green color until it turns grey). Most of scenes end up by further interacting and getting all information from people. The story also has branching paths and multiple ending based on major decision making like other visual novels.

Things that make AI becomes different is sub details and its presentation. The way character reacts to dialogue and to other NPCs, 90% of dialogues are fully voiced (even though it’s Japanese dub lip sync). It may sounds nothing new, but I consider it’s a major step up in VN genre to make characters feel much more alive and believable.

The writing is this game fantastic. It’s full of feeling and touching moments. In the same time, it doesn’t hold back mature contents, present in gruesome and twisted way. The characters are well-developed, thoughtful, and dynamic as I feel attached to them even they are just minor characters. The argument and banter between characters are pure gold, not to mention amount of random jokes and puns back and forth (lots of dad jokes, dirty jokes, references from games, anime, show, meme, pop culture, etc.). They’re on almost everything you inspect and may change every time you revisit the scene. It’s totally random and sometimes hard to catch up all things. It’s optional, but they are WORTH checking and some may further character development in story. Keep me giggle in joy.

The story expands in multiple routes. Some routes will explain the facts that are not present in another route. The purpose is to encourage player to learn a piece of information and side stories as it’s all connected and well-explained to the end. The story pacing is great, it doesn’t hold you for too long, but keep revealing after and after. Some may be predictable due to obvious hints; some just caught me off guard with twists and turns. I also personally like the way that story ties to modern trend, scientific term, and Japanese culture despite of sci-fi elements.

For me, AI Story is a rollercoaster ride of feeling and life lesson, written in much more mature term (both drama and comady). Many times I actually feel care about characters, laugh how ridiculous humor is, shed the tear because feeling of loss or how cruel the world is. Sometimes, it tries so hard to be serious, but it won’t, but I had mixed feeling in good way and very satisfied.

Aside of exploration and investigation in real world, you’ll be introduce to Somnium (Dream in Latin). You will be tasked to interact with random objects in dream world in order to solve puzzle and discover hidden truth of suspect’s mind within 6 minutes. In Somnium, things are not bound by common logics. Sometimes, you’ve to think out of the box how each object relates to each other.

As you control Alba in third-person perspective, time only move faster when you move and perform certain action (with fixed time). Time move very slowly when you stand still as it let you take time observing environment and map. Some action will grant you TIMIE which serve as time modifier for next action. The more you play, the more you learn how to utilize TIMIE to survive in 6 min Somnium (such as trade bad TIMIE to low-timed action).

You may find puzzle in Somnium like trial and error gameplay, but they’re placed for reason and somehow relates to the plot. Some actions are just expose funny commentary, but again they’re worth checking. Failure is very forgiving as you can reload checkpoint or restart if you messed up. So, take time and experience Somnium by yourself.

Personal Suggestion: Even you’re free in your decision. I strongly suggest experiencing left side of flowchart first by choosing Left Bird Cage in early Somnium as it provides better background and character foundation for main story.

You may expect some action sequences that rely on easy quick-time event. Unlike other crime- thrilling story, action scene is where you’re chilling and enjoy how silly and creative it was.

The playtime can be vary from 15-30 hours depended how much you invest time on detail and side stuffs. Finding collectables in Somnium and inspect stuff to fulfill your appendix. Don’t worry to start over if you miss, the game features flowchart to select specific point of story including Somnium. “Ctrl” button allow you to skip old event in high speed and “Log” with fully voice when you lost track. They are well-designed and convenient.

Voice acting is a phenomenon. I could feel how much fun they have during performance especially English dubs. Each voice actor/actress completely nails the role and personality of each character. It strongly builds up emotional elements (distinct and natural) and keeps engaging and pacing for me.

Soundtracks are great as well, composed by talented Keisuke Ito. The variety of music set the mood very well in most scenes. Even though music can be repetitive sometime due to short loop, it’s chilling, catchy, trippy, or just hit emotional spot so hard. Both voice and sound are one of main factors that enhance overall experience in satisfied level.

The game is powered by Unity engine featuring simple and clean 3D environment and Cel-shade anime like characters design by Yusuke Kozaki. It’s distinct and maybe ridiculous sometimes, but I’m appreciated the direction. Sometimes, anime-like characters can express emotion more efficiently.

AI is not a perfect game; there are some odd transitions between the scenes and character ragdoll that could do better. Event reminder help to keep audience in track, but sometimes it feels over usage and repetitive.

There’s technical issue for just Window 7 users which relate to current Unity engine as dialogue with video may not continue due to video buffer issue and force you to reload save from main menu. It’s not a big deal for me, but it can be annoying and immersion breaking. My best suggest is to apply beta branch by entering: Windows7Beta in betas of game properties.

AI is such a delightful and well-balanced experience I had in long time and worth every penny. The artstyle and uniqueness might not be for everyone’s taste which is fine. But for player / streamer who enjoy similar genre even you never play Uchikoshi’s previous works. This a love letter to adventure/VN that may put a warm smile on your face. Both yourself and audiences

If you found this review helpful, please consider and give a thumb up, any feedback and exchanging idea are very appreciated

I honestly don't know where to begin.

It's not a perfect story. It has a couple of headscratchers and some really glaring holes in logic, mostly ones that involve your ability to inspect things. Uchikoshi kinda expects the player to know Zero Escape trilogy prior to this and the game feels like a bit more polished and slightly less serious version of Zero Time Dilemma (or at least more self-aware)

But the bits that shine really do shine. The great parts of the story are just stunningly great. Ota's route and the good ending had me bawl my eyes out. The characters are all memorable and the music is wonderful, you would think Shinji Hosoe is back for that game, but nope. It's Keisuke Ito of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Yakuza 3 and Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night fame.

I think this VN made my life better and was a small step towards helping with depression.

What makes a game good? Is it the story? The characters? Or perhaps, the graphics?

You see, to me, it's the combination of the writing, the characters, the soundtracks, and a strong voice acting performance. AI: The Somnium Files fills all the criteria, hence, making this a good game. Actually? Scratch that, it's better than "good", it's a wonderful game and i don't have to be a detective like, say, the protagonist of AI, Kaname Date to figure that much. But you might wonder, what is AI: The Somnium Files?

AI: The Somnium Files is Kotaro Uchikoshi's (Zero Escape) unique take on the serial killer mystery genre. You see the world through the lens of Kaname Date, a goofy (but also serious when the situation calls for it) Metropolitan Police Department detective and his partner, Aiba, which is a pun to AI, eyeball, and Aibou (meaning: partner in Japanese).
As Date, it's your job to investigate the murder and find the culprit behind the crime, bringing justice to the victim and their family. You can do so by asking questions to people and dive deep into their dreams, which really reminds me of the anime ID:Invaded. For reference, AI came out first.

Before, i mentioned the game's strong points. I'd like to elaborate that.

The writing for AI is excellent. It's a mystery game so it's obvious that you will understand little at the beginning and start to learn more over the course of the game. But, the writing makes you keep guessing, theorizing, only for it to be thrown out of the window. That makes it more rewarding when you correctly predict something. Learning the truth is such a mindblowing experience. And before you know it, the game is over, leaving you wanting more. AI makes me angry, happy, confused, anxious, even bawl in tears. From start to finish, i really enjoyed the feels trip.

The characters are charming and well-developed. They feel real, and every little bit of interactions will make you like them better. For example, Date and Aiba's banter and stupid puns, Date and Mizuki's silly conversation, the list goes on. This is where the strong voice acting performance comes in. Personally, i played through the game with Japanese dub, and it's truly great to see the way the voice actors bring their characters to life.

The gameplay is fairly simple. On one hand, you have the investigation where you just talk to people. On the other hand, you search for clues in their dreams by choosing the correct choice to unlock their "Mental Locks". You only have 6 minutes to clear all Mental Locks. Usually, every choice will be followed by a short interaction between Date and Aiba, and that is precisely why i ended up trying all the choices. To see them interact more, to get to know them better.

I can't end the review without singing my praises to the composer of this game, Keisuke Ito, notably known for his works on the DS and 3DS Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series (with my favorite being Explorers of Sky). He really knocked it out of the park with his musical pieces for AI, from downright silly, happy-go-lucky, serious, somber, and the ones that tug at your heartstrings and make you cry. If it was on Steam, i would definitely buy it.

Thank you Uchikoshi and Spike Chunsoft for creating AI: The Somnium Files. I hope more people will try this game, because honestly it's such a crime that AI is severely slept on. It needs more love. AI might not be that popular when compared to other Visual Novels available on the market but it sure is a masterpiece, and has a special place in my heart.

EDIT: AI Sequel, "AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES - nirvanA Initiative" is coming in Spring 2022! Steam storepage is already available, so go wishlist it~. I'm so excited.

Play fully blind.
Click everything.
Laugh and cry.

That's all you need.

Not done yet, but good so far.

However, I'm posting this to give awareness that a few parts can crash, so save frequently so you don't lose a lot of progress.

reporting back since I just finished it:

Fantastic game, but as far as I know, it will still crash at the PSyncing Warehouse part. My recommendation (even though it ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ BLOWS) is to save after every step and slowly inch yourself forwards since there's no specific point it crashes, just here and there.

After Zero Time Dilemma I had low expectations coming into this. And not only AI didn't disappoint, I can state that it is the best game by Uchikoshi I've ever played. The story is conclusive unlike Zero Escape series, it answers all the questions you have, it doesn't break the rules, and the only finnicky thing it has is probably just a reference to Zero Escape/Infinity Series. Gameplay-wise it's somewhat like Ace Attorney, but court debate is replaced with dreams where you have to solve pretty trivial puzzles and manage your time. The difficulty is just right for this kinda game. So just buy it pls ;_;

This game doesn't take itself too seriously. This is the successor to the Nonary and Zero Escape games. It's a cheesy love letter while also being it's own masterpiece. It has a seriously deep, confusing plot that I didn't see coming until right near the end. It also has a lot of anime-trope moments that will leave you reeling in cringe for weeks to come. This game doesn't have escape room segments like previous games. This game is split in 2 halves of a whole gameplay. The first half is exploring each location at your own leisure (via point-and-click) to find clues. The second half is a time-rationing dungeon that puts you in a relavant environment and you must find all the clues before the time runs out.

It's not as dark or serious as 999, VLR, or ZTD, but it does present an excellent mystery.

I would recommend playing through the first somnium level at the very least. The rest of the game is very similar from there on out, so you can decide after that if you want to stick with it.