AI: The Somnium Files

AI: The Somnium Files has a lot of dirty jokes, and its story is not very surprising. But still, it can not be denied that Kotaro Uchikoshi has created yet another work of outstanding artistry.

AI: The Somnium Files has to be easily one of the best visual novels I’ve ever had the joy of playing, maybe even ranks as one of the best games I’ve played this year. With superb visuals, engaging gameplay, likeable characters, and a twist-filled story to rival that of M. Night Shyamalan, this is definitely not a visual novel to be slept on (sorry).

Questionable humour aside however, the icing on the murder cake is the way that AI: The Somnium Files has you revisit scenes, following different plot branches to produce a different outcome (sometimes radically different) without needing to start all over again. Date may not be a great detective, but there’s no doubting that AI: The Somnium Files is a great detective game. It blends humour and human horror to deliver an engaging, mind-bending experience that’s a cut above most visual novels.

AI: The Somnium Files is yet another winner from Kotaro Uchikoshi, expanding upon Spike Chunsoft's renown formula and pushing it in bold new directions. It can fumble in its visuals and mechanics, but look beyond a few of its weaker elements and there's a truly original adventure brimming with excellent ideas.

Kotaro Uchikoshi has never disappointed with his games and with AI: The Somnium Files is not the first time, luckily. This new title stands out for its visual elements and its bold and fun mechanics. The only thing we can recriminate is the design of his characters. AI: The Somnium Files is a very original adventure that is full of excellent ideas. The plot keeps everyone who plays it in suspense, and their characters end up being quite loved towards the end of the adventure.

Ultimately, AI: The Somnium Files is a game that has moments of brilliance that are obscured by a disjointed narrative and investigative process. Aside from the Somnium sequences – which are, admittedly, very cool – the game failed to motivate me to truly engage with its overarching story. I just didn’t find it appealing. That said, it may be worth a look for fans of the genre (or detective stories in general), who are likely to feel at home here if not altogether blown away.

When the story hits some of its high points, AI: The Somnium Files is really good, and feels like the same kind of high 999 gave… but it is largely crippled by just how slow and repetitious it all is. Random slapstick and outright unrealistic scenes draws players out very quickly from the attempt at being a serious plot. It goes nowhere fast, and the whiplash between attempts at humour and serious moments are too ham-fisted. The overall plot could easily be cut by more than half, and the overall experience would be better for it.

The single greatest VN I've ever played. It's a slow burn for sure, but it's the kinda game that keeps you guessing, and only in the last few hours do all the loose ends finally begin to tie up. The cast, art, story, and music are all 10/10 in my opinion. This game is the kind that gets you questioning how high quality a game's narrative can truly be, I mean SERIOUSLY. Do yourself a favour and pick up this masterpiece. A true gem of this generation.

When the story hits some of its high points, AI: The Somnium Files is really good, and feels like the same kind of high 999 gave… but it is largely crippled by just how slow and repetitious it all is. Random slapstick and outright unrealistic scenes draws players out very quickly from the attempt at being a serious plot. It goes nowhere fast, and the whiplash between attempts at humour and serious moments are too ham-fisted. The overall plot could easily be cut by more than half, and the overall experience would be better for it.

I can't say it's a masterpiece, especially comparing to The Nonary Games. This games lacks gameplay, and also some actions scenes look strange...very strange. But, like always for Spike Chunsoft, the plot just does it.

Too long. I can't deal with the repetition, doing basically the same thing with minor tweaks over and over just to advance the plot, which is quickly dropped as soon as you get somewhere, just to start over but it's different this time! I don't mind the campy stuff in it, but the Psyncs were just awful and follow VERY questionable logic. The use of timies felt awkward and I ended up not using them correctly half of the time because of it. The whole time system should have been scrapped anyways, and replaced with a more logical flow with demerits for being wrong. Timies are also RNG, so if you get a bad one in some cases you might as well start over. Generally decent, if boring at times, with a sprinkle of HOLY CRAP AM I IRRITATED sums up the game. I honestly think "gamers" give way too high of scores overall, seemingly pleased with any slop that comes out, but this one in particular is actually decent, but totally dragged down by its terrible design choices. I really wanted to like it and in some ways I did, but it fell short in just about every category, except for the Psyncs, which were universally awful.

Une sorte de jeu d’aventure légèrement cyberpunk… mais c’est surtout un ‘Cluedo’ qui prend un malin plaisir à vous égarer sans arrêt, vous leurrer, vous faire croire que vous avancez, sauf qu’en fait à chaque fois, vous aboutissez… à une impasse ! Il faut donc se retaper les « somniums », à savoir explorer (encore) les rêves des suspects (ou suspectes) croisés ici et là, des espèces d’énigmes certes pas bien compliquées quoique sans queue ni tête, sans aucune logique puisqu’il s’agit des rêves des gens… mais tout de même, c’est en temps limité et c’est un peu trop… n’importe quoi ! D’autant que ça ne mène à rien en fin de compte, à part finir l’enquête (un peu plus ****) en queue de poisson, en eau de boudin ou sur une mauvaise fin, elle-même aberrante (elle aussi !). Parfois, des séquences d’action ont lieu mais se font avec des QTE (de merde, pléonasme) et l’humour volontiers débile, voire carrément vulgaire et infantile s’avère en totale contradiction avec ces crimes horribles… Peu de lieux différents sont disponibles et on se borne à faire la navette (à n’en plus finir) entre ces quelques endroits, tout ça pour faire à peine avancer le schmilblick… et à chaque réponse fournie, deux nouvelles questions arrivent, vous laissant (encore) dans la perplexité la plus totale… c’est X-Files ou quoi ? On passe un sacré bout de temps dans ce polar foireux et globalement, on constate que c’est juste du temps perdu ! on se lasse de cette intrigue à tiroirs, de cette enquête qui raconte de la merde sans s’arrêter, histoire de rallonger (encore) la sauce d’un scénar de crevard complètement à l’ouest ! Enfin, c’est graphiquement assez simplet et ça rame de temps en temps sur Ps4 de base ; le jeu est entièrement en anglais et c’est très bavard, alors si vous avez du mal avec la langue de Jexpire, vous ne ferez pas de vieux os… Après une vingtaine d’heures à être mené en bateau, j’en ai vraiment ma claque de ce jeu de merde : je lui attribue donc la note minimale !