Support NeoGAF

[Komatsu]

DEVELOPER: Spike Chunsoft
PUBLISHER: Spike Chunsoft
GENRE: Adventure / Visual novel
PLATFORMS: PS4, SWITCH, PC
RELEASE DATE: September 17, 2019 (Digital) / September 24, 2019 (Physical)

AI: The Somnium Files is set in a technologically advanced Tokyo in the near future, and follows detective Kaname Date from the Advanced Brain Investigation Section (ABIS) of the metropolitan police department. Date investigates a serial killing case in which victims have had their left eyes gouged out. Date himself lost his left eye six years prior to the beginning of the story, and has an artificial eye containing an artificial intelligence unit called Aiba that is linked to his consciousness and used to assist in investigating the killings.

Among other characters appearing in the game are Date's co-workers at ABIS including his boss and old friend, and the engineer Pewter who handles the Psync device and created Aiba; and web influencer Iris Sagan, a high school student who makes Let's Play videos and music videos under the name A-set. [FROM THE WIKI]

One rainy night in November, a woman's body is found at an abandoned theme park, mounted on a merry-go-round horse. She had been stabbed repeatedly, and her left eye was gouged out. Kaname Date of the Metropolitan Police Department arrives on the scene. He recognizes the woman. Suddenly, a crash rings out through the rain...

AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES chronicles an investigation through both dreams and reality. A thrilling neo-noir detective adventure following Date and his partner is about to unfold. [FROM METACRITIC]

... and others ...

RPGSite - "AI: The Somnium Files is a must-play for fans of detective games. It’s risky, creative, fascinating, and feels like the next step for the visual novel medium."
RPGFAN - "AI: The Somnium Files' story is dark, [...] but I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of humor and, dare I say it, heart present in the plot too."

​

 

[protonion]

Unless you are a hardcore visual novel fan you can safely skip this.

I have seen 3 endings do far. I will force myself towards the true ending so all these hours dont go to waste.
Even if it has the greatest plot twist of all time it is not worth all this boredem.
Nothing in all the hours I've played even remotely grabbed me.
The humor is bad and the characters are bland.
The "puzzle" sections are pure trial an error.

That quote from rpgsite on the op is unreal! What are they smoking there?

Going from Fata Morgana to this was painful. I hope Yuno makes up for it in a few days.

 

[MagnesG]

Unless you are a hardcore visual novel fan you can safely skip this.

I have seen 3 endings do far. I will force myself towards the true ending so all these hours dont go to waste.
Even if it has the greatest plot twist of all time it is not worth all this boredem.
Nothing in all the hours I've played even remotely grabbed me.
The humor is bad and the characters are bland.
The "puzzle" sections are pure trial an error.

That quote from rpgsite on the op is unreal! What are they smoking there?

Going from Fata Morgana to this was painful. I hope Yuno makes up for it in a few days.

You just killed the hype for me. Is it that bad? How many have you spent? I plan on playing this on PC later down the line.

 

[Bkdk]

It’s enjoyable to watch on YouTube, I like the female characters and I actually miss this type of humor. It’s not really a murder mystery. It’s a light hearted story at its very core and the game mentions that in a slightly subtle way around 1 hour in the game.

Nearly all major female characters are emotionally attached to the MC and I kinda enjoyed this. Few games especially the western ones are like this anymore.

 

[protonion]

You just killed the hype for me. Is it that bad? How many have you spent? I plan on playing this on PC later down the line.

Around 15 hours.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

can you give me the difference between Nintendo Switch and PS4 Version?

 

[ROMhack]

So, I haven't bought this game but I've been watching an (online) buddy play it via Twitch.

It looks remarkably entertaining and reminds me of a lot of the irreverent qualities of a Swery/Suda51 game but concentrated into a VN.

Bkdk sums it up best when he says it's a lighthearted story, which IMHO we don't get enough of in gaming (oh how everything must be so serious!).

At £50 it's a bit rich for my blood right now but I'm really tempted to give it a twirl eventually.

 

[Verdanth]

Been very interested in this game to be honest. Played the demo and liked the vibe.

But the price is too prohibitive at the moment.

 

[Rean no Kiseki]

Been very interested in this game to be honest. Played the demo and liked the vibe.

But the price is too prohibitive at the moment.

ME too!
There's a sale for it on PSN right now

AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES

One rainy night in November, a womans body is found at an abandoned theme park, mounted on a merry-go-round horse. She had been stabbed repeatedly, and her left eye was gouged out. Kaname Date of the Metropolitan Police Department arrives on the scene. He recognizes the woman. Suddenly, he hears...

store.playstation.com

There's a free demo i'm gonna try out.

 

[RealGassy]

I have to regrettably admit that this...
This might be my game of the year.

 

[Faithless83]

50% off on PSN/Steam.

AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES

One rainy night in November, a womans body is found at an abandoned theme park, mounted on a merry-go-round horse. She had been stabbed repeatedly, and her left eye was gouged out. Kaname Date of the Metropolitan Police Department arrives on the scene. He recognizes the woman. Suddenly, he hears...

store.playstation.com

Now I understand the review bombing and western sites not want to touch this game. It's very non-PC.
A couple of hours in, some mild Snatcher vibes (Detective/AI partner banter) and from the creator of The nonary games trilogy.

Might end up double dipping just for the jabs on western culture alone.

 

[zelhawks37]

Loved this game! Uchikoshi really knocked this out of the park IMO. Looking forward to his next game.

 

[UnNamed]

I was interested in this game, now I'm a little bit worried. But it is not my priority now, my backlog list is increasing in the last few months.

 

[KiNeMz]

Platinumed this one. Loved it.

 

[Faithless83]

I was interested in this game, now I'm a little bit worried. But it is not my priority now, my backlog list is increasing in the last few months.

I wasn't aware of it coming out since yesterday and I was looking forward to it. Very little western coverage and 50% off could mean slow sales indeed.
My backl... collection is borderline insane, but since prices are rising due to USD conversion rates lately, I'm buying a few games just in case. Was pleasantly surprised on this one, I was supposed to play just the beginning and now I'm hooked.
Very refreshing to see a game daring to be non-PC in this day and age.

 

[Erdrick]

I picked this up last month off of PSN for 39 bucks CDN along with the 3 Zero Escape games as well. All on sale. I'd never played any of them prior to a month ago but I've got to say, to see the evolution of this writer's style and development is rather fascinating. I've loved the 3 prior games he did so to play this one over the past week and a half has been nice. It's a really beautiful game in looks and sound. The story has me hooked, and as with the 999 games, I've stuck with the English dub in these ones. This one is really well written and acted. I'm not finished yet but I'm so glad I picked this up. Something to be said, just relaxing in front of the TV to see what's going to happen next... Even though this particular game has more action elements than what I've been used to playing for Visual Novels.

I want more stuff like this!

 

[Faithless83]

I picked this up last month off of PSN for 39 bucks CDN along with the 3 Zero Escape games as well. All on sale. I'd never played any of them prior to a month ago but I've got to say, to see the evolution of this writer's style and development is rather fascinating. I've loved the 3 prior games he did so to play this one over the past week and a half has been nice. It's a really beautiful game in looks and sound. The story has me hooked, and as with the 999 games, I've stuck with the English dub in these ones. This one is really well written and acted. I'm not finished yet but I'm so glad I picked this up. Something to be said, just relaxing in front of the TV to see what's going to happen next... Even though this particular game has more action elements than what I've been used to playing for Visual Novels.

I want more stuff like this!

Closest to this I believe it will be the Danganronpa trilogy. I have yet to play it though. I'm close to the end of Somnium and I'm enjoying it a lot. It sure feels lighter than Zero Escape.

 

[Amiga]

I picked this up last month off of PSN for 39 bucks CDN along with the 3 Zero Escape games as well. All on sale. I'd never played any of them prior to a month ago but I've got to say, to see the evolution of this writer's style and development is rather fascinating. I've loved the 3 prior games he did so to play this one over the past week and a half has been nice. It's a really beautiful game in looks and sound. The story has me hooked, and as with the 999 games, I've stuck with the English dub in these ones. This one is really well written and acted. I'm not finished yet but I'm so glad I picked this up. Something to be said, just relaxing in front of the TV to see what's going to happen next... Even though this particular game has more action elements than what I've been used to playing for Visual Novels.

I want more stuff like this!

Psycho Pass, Steins Gate, Ace Attorney. IIRC they are all on iOS.
also Corps Party is kind of similar.