AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES / DEVELOPER & PUBLISHER: SPIKE CHUNSOFT / PLATFORM: PC, PS4, SWITCH (REVIEWED) / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
Written by acclaimed visual novel director Kotaro Uchikoshi, AI: The Somnium Files is Chunsoft’s latest story driven thriller.
The game begins in a crime scene. A woman’s body is tied a carousel horse, with one of her eyes removed. You play the role of Date, a special investigator who enters the dreams of others as part of his investigation process. Unfortunately for the woman on the carousel, this isn’t a dream. You’d be forgiven for thinking it is though, as your partner is one of your own eyeballs, named Aiba. Aiba is an advanced artificial intelligence eyeball – using “her” abilities, you’re able to hack people’s phones and use X-ray vision. Cool, right?
The gameplay itself is a mix of old school and modern point and click as it separates into two parts. First is the real world, where you look around the 2D screen and interact with objects. There’s no inventory though, it’s more just about inspecting and interacting with what you can see. You’ll also interview people, opening up different dialogue trees. The second part takes place in the dream world. You control Aiba, and move around the 3D space interacting with objects and trying unlock mental locks like Leonardo DiCaprio.
The story itself is fantastic. If you’ve ever played any of the brilliant Zero Escape trilogy, you’ll know what to expect. Lots of tension, violent murder, great dialogue, twists and turns with multiple endings. It’s all brought to life by the excellent work of animators who’ve worked on Fire Emblem and No More Heroes titles in the past.
Although you do more than in a standard visual novel, the game definitely falls into that category, as for the most part you’re just enjoying the show. The gameplay is really just making choices and solving surreal puzzles with surreal answers. Unlike a lot of visual novels, it does have full English voiceover from a solid cast.
If you’re a fan of visual novels or the Telltale games, stop reading and start playing. AI is a thoroughly enjoyable experience from start to finish.
