the visual novel database

Report an issue on this page.

Review of AI: Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative

SubjectAI: Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative
ByHelpfulness: 5
Vote: 5
version on 2022-06-26
ReviewTHIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.

To be honest, I didn't really like this one as much overall. It definitely had it's moments but... it was not as good as Uchikoshi's previous games.

First problem is the characters.

Fiction can touch our emotions because we as human beings can sympathize or empathize with the experiences on screen. We can relate. I liked the plot lines of Shoma, Komeji and Amame because you can understand them, since even if you have not experienced the same thing as them personally, family and money struggles, wanting revenge for an injustice, guilt and losing a loved one are things that anyone can understand. But outside of those three, most of the other character arcs boil down to "I was experimented on in the torture lab as a child and now my DNA is fucked up". This isn't really tethered to anything in reality so you don't really feel anything seeing it, you know?
Gen, Kizuna and Lien are different, but honestly the problem with them is that their stories are just a bit too cheesy. Like yeah I get that Gen was picked on for being different. But this story has literally been told since the 1800's. When the author does not add anything to it, it just feels tacky and clichéd.


Then the "saving the world" shit.

Maybe just a question of personal taste, but I don't really like stake raisers and superhero-y shit. I signed up for a mystery game about investigating a murder, not a shonen anime. I really don't understand why the hell they included this, it's so off track with anything that Uchikoshi created before.
So yeah, I didn't really like the ending. Probably what left me the most disappointed.


Finally the way the main plot twist was revealed.

It's not that I didn't like the plot twist, I loved it! I'm a sucker for the way that Uchikoshi plays with the narrative of games. But I feel like they just gave it away with Shoma just casually talking about his dad as if he was alive yesterday, and date showing up out of nowhere in the "future".
Because, when Mama gives you the multiple choice question, it just becomes too obvious. It should have been a Eureka moment where a lot of things make sense at once, but it felt a lot cheaper than that. It would have been cooler if they'd found a better way to let the player figure it out themselves.
I was more of a fan of the little things that make you question the narrative. Like Ryuki being scolded way harder then he should have been for losing the culprit in the "past" and then learning in the future that he shot a civilian.


Again, this game had it's moments. The three characters I mentioned earlier, the crime scene recreations, the somnium segments, some of the mysteries... But overall I still found it disappointing in a lot of aspects.
5 points
#1 by nirvaren
2022-06-27 at 05:33
< report >I thought the first was decent but this one seemed a bit suspect at a glance so I've been hesitant to touch it. From your review, it sounds like it's incredibly lazy. Would you say this was a cash grab off the success of the first? Or maybe I'm just overthinking it.
#2 by version
2022-06-27 at 11:47
< report >I definitely didn't think it was lazy. Plus I don't regret playing it (especially because I played it for free), but I felt like it could have been a lot better if they'd just stayed on the course of a regular mystery/Uchikoshi game. If they were "lazy" at anything it might have been the characters, but that's just one part of the game.

But also now that you read my review I'd say you already got spoiled on a lot of things...Last modified on 2022-06-27 at 11:54
#3 by nirvaren
2022-06-27 at 16:32
< report >Don't worry about it, I'm not really planning on playing it. And I get what you mean, it's more you don't like the direction it was taken and some of the execution. Also I forget where I saw it but someone said it has a twist like Zero Time Dilemma, where the characters know what's going on but you don't which I hated. I assume that's what you were talking about with the main plot twist. I have no interest in those kind of twists.
#4 by cryptox12
2022-06-30 at 15:54
< report >The game was such a letdown, but I guess it had its moments
#5 by rahkshilord
2022-07-01 at 00:07
< report >I'm right there with you. I loved the first game but this one just doesn't work for me. I pretty much only managed to get to the end because I wanted to see Mizuki, she's still great.
#6 by cryptox12
2022-07-01 at 15:51
< report >It's just incredibly frustrating because this had a lot of potential and I was really impressed with how it began with all the nexpo ARG stuff but then it just devolved into recycled shonen tropes. Also felt like there were way too many Somniums/investigations and incredibly lazy dialogue otherwise
#7 by Jorogumochan
2022-07-21 at 03:39
< report >Good review, I fully agree with you