For starters, I want to acknowledge that any game that features a Haikyuu reference will be looked upon rather favorably by me, so I really appreciate AI: The Somnium Files for including one. There's actually a surprising amount of western and Japanese pop culture references, like Judge Dredd, which is cool.
I bought this game on a whim because someone I follow on Instagram was raving about it. I think it helped that I went into this game with practically zero expectations or prior knowledge because I have a feeling this is one of those games that is very hit or miss with people. However, I’ve played a handful of visual novels, so I’m used to the genre enough to not drop the game after experiencing the typical visual novel tropes (lengthy exposition, random dirty jokes, stuff like that). However, I’m happy to say that AI: The Somnium Files is worth playing through and is among the better murder mystery games that I’ve played. I’d say it’s right up there with Ace Attorney.
As much as I like the game, there is one very important thing I want to communicate. If you are planning on playing this game, PLEASE GO INTO IT BLIND. Do not look up anything because there’s a good chance you’re going to get parts of the story spoiled for you, and the story is far and away the strongest aspect of this game. For me, I can’t really see myself playing this game again, it’s one of those games where you’re able to experience everything it has to offer in your initial playthrough, which isn’t a bad thing at all, I actually respect the hell out of that. Do you know how stressful it must be to make a game with very little replay value? You’re essentially betting everything on that initial playthrough, if people don’t like your game after that then you’re cooked. But, like I said earlier, Somnium Files is worth it.
So, what makes this game so good? Well, I want to start off by talking about what I think is the best part of this game, and that’s the voice acting (specifically the english dub because I didn’t play the sub, but I’m sure it’s good too). First of all, every single line of dialogue in this game, whether it’s in-game or a cutscene, is fully voiced, which is pretty rare for games nowadays. It helped to not break the immersion, there were never any awkward periods of silence where I was just silently reading to myself, the characters were performing the entire time. What’s even crazier is that even though this game probably had thousands of lines to record, the voice actors deliver in spades. Every single VA is at the top of their game and breathes an unreal amount of personality into each and every line they speak. I can’t remember the last time I heard voice acting this good from a game that wasn’t a big budget powerhouse like God of War or Uncharted. Seriously, every single VA knocks it out of the park no matter the significance of their character or the situation they’re in. You cannot play this game with the volume down because you will be missing out on so much of the charm and nuance that each VA brings to their roles. Even though I like a lot of things about this game, the voice acting is easily its greatest and strongest aspect. Also, I want to point out how much I love what they did with Aiba’s voice. She’s an AI, so it’s natural for her to have a robotic voice, but the designers were smart and didn’t go full Alexa mode with her. Her voice is a perfect blend of robotic and organic. She has some modulation, but she still has a lot of variation and expressiveness to her. Not only does this fit in perfectly with the nature of her character, but it also avoids her being annoying. If Aiba sounded like Alexa or one of those AI TikTok audio voices, I don’t think I would have been able to finish the game without bleeding out from my ears. I would have looked like Blindspot after Homelander discombobulates him.
I also really like the UI as well. Having the lore and character information be contained in books that the player accesses from a bookshelf is such a neat design choice that I really dig. What’s equally as cool is the settings menu, which is formatted as a police form that Date, the player character, is meant to fill out. Like a preference form of some sort, which is genius! I really appreciated the extra touches they put into the UI. It’s not like Persona 5 level, but it’s notable enough to point out.
On that note, I also love whoever idea it was to create the appendix for the game, because there’s a lot of interesting lore in addition to just humorous notes that the writers left. There are hundreds of entries to go through and they range from explaining how Psynching works, to giving information on real-life medical diseases and terms, to analyzing both made-up and real-life internet/gen z slang. As someone who loves to write lengthy reviews of video games and movies, I will always appreciate when someone subverts lore expectations in a video game. I’m also starting to realize I have a thing for author’s notes, which the appendix has a lot of.
However, what really makes this game come together is its story and characters. For about 80% of this game, I had no idea what the big twist was going to be, or how they were going to wrap up certain plot points that had been established. Even though each new day added a plethora of new information to the case and so many new events transpired, I was still no closer to truly solving the mystery. I had an idea of who the killer was, but I couldn’t come up with an explanation as to why, and the game had gone in so many directions and offered so many alternative suspects, motives, and methods to the murders that I wasn’t really sure what to believe. The game does an excellent job at crafting its mystery while also shrouding the truth from you even when you’re beginning to approach the end of the game. With a game like this, I had so much information and clues revealed to me that you’d think I’d be able to figure out the mystery before it was revealed, but I was truly stumped, which made the grand reveal one of my favorite video game experiences this year. Shoutout to the narrative/writing team because I was really impressed with how the story turned out. This was a very high-risk story, there were times where I feared that it was going to collapse on itself due to its ever-increasing complexity, but somehow Kotaro Uchikoshi wrapped everything up in a neat little bow, so hats off to him for that because that could not have been an easy task. The twist, by the way, is excellently done and I think that the way the killer operates is honestly really creative and clever. I remember just being impressed and satisfied all around, so if you’re into good stories in video games, definitely play this game.
On that note, the characters are great too. Everyone is so full of personality and they all have equally interesting stories and motivations, it was always fun to talk to them. Again, the voice acting really went a long way to make them all likable/interesting. Even the minor characters, like the police officers or the taxi driver end up having a surprising amount of personality to them despite how much little screen time they get. The best example of this is with Kagami, the inspector, who is actually one of my favorite characters and the running gag with him is one of the game’s highlights. I also think it’s funny how whoever wrote his character page has a crush on him, I assume it's Date which would make him a bisexual king, but I don’t know because Date is shown to be pretty aggressively straight in this game. Kagami’s voice actor is also skilled enough to be a leading role in any video game, yet he still helps his character leave his mark despite the smaller role. And of course, the main characters are a great bunch and all have great chemistry with each other. Date and Aiba are the stars, and it’s probably worth doing each somnium over multiple times so you can hear all of their conversations with each other. They riff off of each other really well and have a great dynamic, and their story arc overall is very heartwarming. Iris is fun, I actually think they utilized her status as an internet idol pretty effectively within the story, it’s not just an aesthetic choice. I feel bad for Ota because I have a feeling many people aren’t going to forgive him for leaving Mizuki on her own when he saw Shoko’s body, because that was really pathetic, especially considering he’s 24. However, if you’re willing to overlook that, I do think the rest of his journey is rather compelling. I love how many tropes the creators are trying to subvert with him, and I think he carries a lot of the story’s emotional weight. Ota is Iris’ number one fan, he devotes a lot of time to watching her streams, promoting her material, buying her merch, the whole nine yards. You’d think someone that dedicated would be the creepiest and most socially inept person ever, right (especially because she’s an internet idol, Iris is closer to a hololive girl than an actual celebrity)? Well, surprisingly, you’d be wrong. Ota is perhaps the first character of his kind that actually has social skills (something Mizuki points out), isn’t a total creep, and is for the most part a hospitable person. Like, okay Uchikoshi, go off king! That’s not to say he’s without flaws, his relationship with his parents is actually really sad and he can be pretty pathetic sometimes, the game wasn’t afraid to punish him when he deserved it, but the end of the game (specifically his ending) shows us that it’s never too late to make things right, that the hardest part is just taking that first step to fix things, but the people who love you will support you all the way. I really like how they ended things with him and his mom, that heartbreaking journey through Mayumi’s somnium followed by an emotional resolution between mother and son made me tear up a little, and I actually found it to be a little relatable to my own life as well. It made me take a second and think about everything my parents have done for me, and whether or not I deserve it. Seeing Ota’s story has made me more self-aware of the role my parents have played in my life and how important it is to work as hard for yourself as they do for you. So yeah, I really ended up liking Ota. I think he would be even better though, if Mizuki wasn’t 12 years old. I honestly don’t know why Mizuki is 12, it would have worked better if she were in the 15-18 range. I get that the designers wanted Date to have a fatherly bond with her, which I admit does work pretty well, but there’s just a few things that don’t. First of all, Mizuki possessing superhuman strength is something that came completely out of left field and I do not know why they decided to give her that quality. Seriously, she’s the only character in the game like this and it just seems so out of place because everything else (psynching, Aiba, the evolver, etc.) feel within the bounds of realism for this game, but Mizuki being able to fend off dozens of armed guards with a metal pipe and also fell a tree with a single kick does not. It’s kind of cool, but I wish it was either unpacked or scrapped entirely. Also, Mizuki is really smart and rational for a 12 year old, but the fact that she hangs out with Iris and Ota, who are both adults, is just kind of strange, you know? Like, of course Iris and Ota aren’t creeps, but again it’s just a little off-putting. I like her personality and relationship with all the characters, but I think it would have worked better if she were a bit older. Also, it would make Ota leaving her at the murder scene in the beginning less weird if they were closer in age. Maybe Ota should have been younger than 24, now that I think of it. Sorry, I went on a tangent. The rest of the characters are truly great, just trust me. Moma is my favorite character btw, though I wish he didn’t fall victim to the OPS (Occasional Pervert Syndrome) like Date does.
The gameplay is your standard point and click, with the main progression coming from asking characters questions and learning new information. However, I should talk about the somnium levels, which are pretty fun, though the puzzles aren’t very…puzzly? I guess? Like, you can solve pretty much every somnium via relatively mindless trial and error, as long as you’re content with redoing it a few times in case you run out of time. This isn't a terrible thing, the levels are still fun to interact with and hearing Date and Aiba’s conversations are fun, but the somnium levels aren’t going to engage your brain much is what I’m trying to say. There are also a handful of action sequences with some QTEs thrown in there. Now, I’m actually a QTE enjoyer given they’re done right, and I wouldn’t say they’re done right in this game, but I guess they’re not done wrong either? Honestly, I’m just grateful that there are any action scenes at all, and the action itself is pretty entertaining, having Aiba allows you to pull off some crazy marksman stunts, kind of like Robocop’s insane targeting system. The action sequences are really over the top and wildly unrealistic, I say it’s better than just your standard shoot and cover bang bang they’re dead. There’s some pretty good choreography from time to time as well, but it’s all in cutscenes. I might get killed for this, but dare I say this game may have (MAY HAVE) worked better as an action game? The action is just so unique and Date’s gun, the evolver (awesome name btw) looks so cool and can utilize different bullets like…..you’ve got the ingredients for a banger combat system right there. Imagine having Aiba analyze enemies and the battlefield, predicting their next moves and then giving you options to take on enemies, it’d be so cool, just saying. It could sort of be like the fights in the movie Upgrade, though obviously less robotic, since Aiba can’t control Date, but you get what I mean, right? Now, I don’t know who would make up the common enemies that Date would have to fight all the time, because that doesn’t make sense for the story, but maybe it’s like a Persona thing where he only fights in somnium and there’s like dream monsters/enemies that defend people’s secrets from getting exposed, and then he does his detective work outside of somnium, it’s a win-win! Spike Chunsoft, if you’re reading this, I’m open and willing to join your team, just give me a call.
SOME SPOILERS AHEAD A few other things I want to mention. The soundtrack is alright, there’s not really a lot of tracks, but it fits the vibe and I liked the one that played when you’re in the Minecraft ShovelForge world (yes, that’s real, and it’s cool). I also liked the character design, everyone’s design fits them perfectly and brings out a lot of their personality. Date’s fit is my favorite though, that dude is dripped out! I want that trenchcoat.
I do wish we got to see more of Renju, however. He’s a really interesting character with a ton of narrative significance, yet he only has a couple dozen or so voicelines, and they’re all in flashbacks. I get why he wasn’t a more prominent character, but you’re telling me there couldn’t have been one route where we could have talked to him? It is what it is, I suppose.
Also, Shoko straight up physically abused Mizuki in the past and that plot point is never really addressed or resolved in any way, I thought it was kind of jarring to imply all of that in her somnium and then not really address it in the real world. It does explain her behavior at times, though.
Also, I like the little customizable dance minigame you can do once you beat the game. I’ve never seen that before and it’s really cute and fun.
A lot of the jokes in the game come from characters mispronouncing objects, which actually is pretty funny even though it doesn't make a lot of sense when you're playing the game in English as opposed to the original language (Japanese). I'm still not sure how Date confused a lantern for a cabaret girl lol.
Overall, I really did enjoy this game. The characters are fun and memorable, the narrative is complex, engrossing, and masterfully handled throughout, though there are periods of long exposition due to just how intricately the threads have been woven. The gameplay is serviceable on its own yet does a great job at accenting the story, which is definitely its strong suit. And I can’t say it enough, but the voice acting is absolutely phenomenal. This is a game that I feel could work really well as a TV series, though there would be some hoops to jump over (like how to manage the branching pathways when the game itself doesn’t treat it as a mechanic and more of a tool for the player, with an exception for Date remembering things like the nurse). Certain things would definitely have to be changed but I think the story is perfect for a TV drama thriller. Anyways, if anyone reading this is planning on doing a TV adaptation, give me a call, I’d love to work with you.
That’s pretty much all I have to say. I probably wrote wayyyyy too much about this game and for those of you that read this all the way to the end, thank you, really. It genuinely means so much to me and I appreciate it with all my heart. If you liked hearing me rant, consider reading my other reviews. I promise they’re not all as long as this one (for the most part lol).
