AI: The Somnium Files

If only I could experience it fresh all over again.

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 ;_;

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.

From the writers of the Zero Escape series and published by the people that referance their own games in games comes a murder mystery sci-fi adventure visual novel.
Gameplay:
- The main gameplay is point and click with the game letting you click almost every existing item on the screen to possibly trigger some funny banter dialouge between the 2 main characters. With every advancment of the story the same item might produce new dialouge with a continuing joke.
- Somnium stages is a game section where you go into a person's dream and control a character from a 3rd person view to do various things in order to get deeper into the dream. These stages have a 6 minute time limit which slows down 100 times slower when you don't move in order to look around and plan your next move because each action costs time.
- Presenting evidence. During interrogations you need to pick the right evidence to present in order to progress the story and questioning.
- QTE. There are a few QTEs that happen throughout the story and it's basically whacky action shinanigans that you shouldn't take seriously lol
Story:
While the story of AI Somnium Files is centred around a murder mystery it's actually more character focused story. The investigation felt eerily realistic with what little clues we have on hand to find the culprit that there's nothing much we can do aside from wandering around asking for witness testimony to gain more clues. With all the characters somehow being connected to one another the whole mystery came back around full circle with a lot of unspoken hints in game mechanics and mundane occurance that it all somehow made perfect sense in the end.
Characters:
Date is an unusual main character to say the least. At first glance you'd think he's more of a serious detective that thinks logically and takes his job seriously. After being with him 1 hour or 2 you start to realize he's a goofball that makes a lot of pun jokes and is a pervert with a short temper. Depending on your preferance you might dislike the main character in this case because he's not particularly charsimatic without context.
Aiba on the other hand is Date's left eye... I'm not gonna elaborate on that XD
Voice Acting:
I played the game in english dub and I think it was amazing, the voice actors did a really great job in adapting the voices to certain situations and make it sound authentic without over dramatizing their part during serious situations.
I heard some of the japanese VA and I didn't like it as much as the english one for once. It just didn't sound as funny during funny scenes or didn't sound as intense during confrontation scenes compared to it's english counter part.
Although I kind of wish the ending song was in japanese just because of how weird the lyrics are in english lol
Overall I loved this game and you should definitly buy it if you love visual novels and mysteries (wait till sale because I can't defend that price)

one of the best narratives i've seen in a video game with some of the best plot twists in fiction period. it's very easily spoiled though so you're best off going in blind. saying any more would be a disservice. if you're thinking about getting it, get it. don't even wait for a sale if you have the money to throw around. you owe it to yourself to experience this absolute roller coaster of a video game.

I recommend it to Zero Escape fans or anyone wanting a story with interesting characters that keeps you guessing. It's a bit of a slow start (like Zero Escape), but once you get into it and start guessing and theorising with each new revelation you'll be hooked. But I have quite a few warnings below.
Aibo is best girl.
It's buggy. The character model's faces often break and require you to save and reload. Or the game just crashes with an error message, so you lose progress. It also crashes on Windows 7, but there's a beta I played that is fully playable. Still crashes a lot though. Every time you load the game, you have to watch a quick recap sequence. It's useful after taking a break from the game, but a time waster if you need to reload.
The credits and a bonus mode have the English audio, even if you pick Japanese. It's fixable, but it's not quick to do. There's a Steam guide on how to do it. Ridiculous that it was never fixed.
The translation localisation is sometimes inaccurate or plain wrong. The worsts offenders that come to mind are changing a Japanese kids song to a western one and changing character names/nicknames. Nothing that will affect your understanding of characters or the story though.
The story repeats itself and recaps way too often. Most of the time it's just repeating easily understood information you just learned.
Like in Zero Escape, flowchart jumping can be a bit confusing. Fortunately there's not too much of it in this game.
Also like Zero Escape, we have puzzle rooms. Sort of. Unfortunately it adds a time limit and features around it, which means less time messing with Best Girl Aibo and more time getting frustrated with the timed puzzles. A lot of the puzzles are illogical guesswork, made worse by some random chance. Don't feel bad for using a walkthough.
The game also has at least one (missable) forced political rant by a 12 year old. I wouldn't have cared if it was only a short line or two, but it's long and out of place. There's other subtle and minimal lines that were written a lot better.
The game can be a bit ridiculous/unbelievable sometimes. Mostly fight scenes. A blend of seriousness and comedy can work really well, but not to the point that the comedy becomes more important and makes the scene unbelievable. The best comedy is either with Aibo or Mama's freezer.
There's also that one somnium with 3 stupidly long dancing scenes. Get's worse when the game crashes and you have to watch them even more.
It's not a bad game, just very buggy and flawed in some areas. I really did enjoy it most of the time.

I recently finished AI: The Somnium Files and I loved it so much that I completed all Steam achievements (and even filled out the appendix). The storytelling in the game was masterful and the plot always kept me guessing. I remember gasping whenever a new twist came up and by the end, I was thoroughly convinced that it was one of the best visual novels I had ever played (and I've played many!) My favorite route was Mizuki's, it made me cry really hard along with Ota's route. The emotional impact that the game had was truly wonderful. I definitely recommend playing this game, you will probably remember it for a long time.
(Also Date is easily my favorite character--I love that despite his tough, sarcastic outer self, he cares deeply for his friends and would do anything to save them. Aiba is also an amazing character! She is really funny and sweet sometimes c:)