AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative (Japan)
Nintendo Switch
🇬🇧🇯🇵
Reviewed in 2022
80
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✪ Reviewed on March 5, 2024
80
This sequel enriches the dreamlike investigation with a wider cast and Somnium scenes that remain wonderfully baffling. Humor sits beside horror and drama with rare poise. Sprawling, sometimes too much, but deeply endearing for puzzle lovers.
Your verdict
Category
Visual Novel1 player16+
Description
Two detectives dive into suspects' dreams to crack a string of murders. Published by Spike Chunsoft, released worldwide in 2022. Timed dreamscape exploration, two intertwining storylines, action and offbeat humour, full voice acting and dizzying twists.
AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative review
4/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Striking"
4/5
Music
★★★★★
"Excellent"
MAX
Story
★★★★★
"Masterful"
An investigation that dives into suspects' dreams to unearth the truth, six years after a first mystery. Between absurd humor and piercing drama, the script juggles shattered timelines, murky identities and dizzying revelations. That narrative virtuosity, able to make you laugh then tighten your throat, confirms a saga that masters science-fiction crime fiction.
Is AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative still worth playing in 2026?
nirvanA Initiative confirms Uchikoshi's team's talent for blending serious investigation, absurd humor and dizzying twists. The timed dream exploration keeps its originality, and the interweaving of two timelines offers a bold narrative structure that rewards attention. The polished voice work and direction hold a recent standard. A few Somnium puzzles stay obtuse and the humor does not always land. But for lovers of twist-heavy visual novels and Zero Escape, it is a gripping case that remains thoroughly current.
