The Somnium Files AI Review – nirvanA Initiative – Enigmatic Detective

I’ve always liked mystery/mystery stories that were either based on real data or at least seemed very real. Since I was a child, I have devoured books by Erich von Däniken, Isaac Asimov or Ludwik Soucek. To this day, I’ll only miss a few lectures by Arnost Vassiček (the last one was with my daughter about 2 weeks ago), so it’s understandable that I like this genre of gaming entertainment. Although it is more of a mystery genre. The new game in the AI ​​series The Somnium Files from Kotara Uchikoshi also falls into this subcategory, only in its continuation he participated “only” as a writer, and the original Kotara assistant Akira Okada kept the nirvanA initiative under his heel. And it was definitely a very good move.

• Platform: Nintendo Switch (peer review), PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC (Steam)
• Publication date: June 24 (US), July 8, 2022 (EU)
• Producer: Spike Chunsoft
• Distribution: Spike Chunsoft
• Genre: mysterious detective adventure
• Czech localization: Not
• Multiplayer: Not
• Data to download: 1.19 GB
• Game time: 40 hours
• Availability: 16+
• Sales version: box / digital
• Price: 1,299 CZK

Hercule Poirot and Jessica Fletcher may be jealous

AI The Somnium Files – nirvanA Initiative continues the same line as the first AI The Somnium Files of 2019. The mysterious detective-adventure nirvanA Initiative offers us two main characters, the adopted daughter of the previous game’s protagonist Mizuki, who has certain superpowers, and the investigator Ryuki Kurota. Both are very young, but are already working as Special Investigators in the Advanced Brain Research Unit, abbreviated as ABIS.

When solving crimes, they use highly specialized Psync Machine technology, thanks to which they can look into people’s dreams. It’s not safe, but they can get information from a suspect or witness that they otherwise wouldn’t have gotten, either because the person didn’t want to give it or doesn’t remember it.

When solving crimes, they use highly specialized Psync Machine technology, thanks to which they can look into people’s dreams.

The case that these two really special investigators are dealing with is the serial murders, dubbed Half Body. And they really are as brutal as the name suggests. The killer cuts his victims in half, but only shows one half to the public. Because of the way he is killed, he will be called Tearer, or Tearer (be careful not to confuse with TMNT). The first body half case came up six years ago, and the killer remained unsolved after Ryuki’s seemingly unsuccessful investigation.

However, Mizuki only finds the other half of the body after six years on the baseball field, but the body shows signs of a murder from only nine hours ago. So Mizuki starts the case and her first stop is Ryuki where she wants to know exactly what happened six years ago.

Watson as artificial intelligence

Other ABIS members help us solve the case, even the co-authors from the previous game, such as Boss and Pewter, and, most importantly, our colleagues with artificial intelligence, reappear in The Somnium Files – nirvanA Initiative AI. The first is Aiba. [což se v japonštině vyslovuje jako Aibou, tedy slovo označující partnera – pozn. autora], here you may know from the previous game and here Mizuki helps, and here we have Tama advising Ryuki. Stored in the cybernetic eyes of the AI-Balls researchers, these two artificial beings give us the whole play of what could be called superpowers. These are the functions of x-ray vision, thermal imaging or zoom, which will be an integral part of the solution of the case.

The advantage of the nirvanA initiative lies in the almost natural way in which pop-ups and other visual elements such as character information, memories, and object descriptions are displayed in a given location. While most of the information is really a lot, you don’t feel like it’s obscuring your screen unnecessarily, so the story doesn’t lose momentum and you don’t have to search long for something.

While most of the information is really a lot, you don’t feel like it’s obscuring your screen unnecessarily, so the story doesn’t lose momentum and you don’t have to search long for something.

However, this is a very linear adventure, so you will only need all this information if the game or its creators deem it necessary. Sometimes you will be able to explore an already cleaned up crime scene in virtual reality, which Tama or Aiba will recall from their memory. With the aforementioned abilities, one can somehow work to recreate the event in which the body of the victim was discovered.

The appearance of AI The Somnium Files – nirvanA Initiative can be compared to the previous game, which is not harmful at all. However, some of the animations have been improved and we’ll be seeing more dynamic sequences that can make more of a difference to the experience.

Until the dream

The game is divided into two important parts. During the investigation, you move in the real world, which sometimes makes you think that you are playing a visual novel. The scenes are completely in 3D, and you can “touch” almost everything. Aiba and Tama even comment nicely on browsing your site.

Dive into dreams, or parts of the Somnium, that’s another thing. Compared to the first game, nirvanA Initiative received several improvements, but the principles remained the same. Again, for example, you have six minutes to deal with the dream world and solve puzzles in people’s minds to get new information. At first glance, the logic has taken a leave of absence here, but it still works and seems simpler for The Somnium Files AI. Of course, you can set the difficulty and thus avoid the trauma of running out of time. Or vice versa.

The tasks and puzzles in the Somnium section are more linear, so moving forward makes more sense, and the results are somehow more clear and tangible.

The tasks and puzzles in the Somnium section are more linear, so moving forward makes more sense, and the results are somehow more clear and tangible. But the most important thing about them is how it will serve for further study of the character and at the same time minimize the amount of textual information. Thus, the conclusions seem more logical, which is only good for such a well-tuned game.

sci-fi reality

Hero games look pretty believable, which is sometimes a problem with Japanese games for Western players. The characters don’t have exaggerated, even absurd emotions, and Uchikoshi once said that he likes to add a human element to his stories, and the nirvanA initiative proves he wasn’t joking. So even when you’re investigating the murders of a serial killer who cuts people in half, you enjoy talking to some of the characters who, over time, will become more open than they originally thought. In addition, the narrative is set up and crafted very carefully. It causes you a lot of emotions, from laughter and joy to devastation and despair, and in addition, you will see several different endings, depending on your reactions in the game.

AI The Somnium Files – nirvanA The Initiative, like AI: The Somnium Files, is a fantasy adventure with a fun twist.

Thanks to Spike Chunsoft for reviewing the game.