Recent reviews by Aidan

Just do yourself a favor and play the game. Please. Nominate it for best story as well.

Honestly, I'm not even quite sure where to begin with this game. I don't get much time to sit down and play through games anymore, but I have to say with no uncertainty that AI: The Somnium Files is probably the best game I played in 2019. Kotaro Uchikoshi delivers another masterpiece in video game storytelling, and AI manages to top his previous work in nearly every single way.

Story:
To put it simply, this story is nearly perfect. For those unfamiliar, you follow Special Agent Kaname Date, a detective that is part of a special investigation unit of the Japan Police Department called ABIS. You and your partner, an AI that resides within your eyeball (aptly named Aiba) must investigate a murder that harkens back to a series of serial killings over six years ago. As you advance with your investigations, new questions are asked without getting any answers, and branches off into multiple pathways with no telling what the outcome will be. Each of these paths leads to a unique ending that satisfies different aspects of character arcs and relationships, but not all (until the true ending, that is). If you're familiar with Uchikoshi's previous work in the Zero Escape series, the concept of playing through for multiple endings will not be foreign to you. However, unlike in Zero Escape, AI allows you to hop back and forth to different scenes with ease, making the work for those different endings a lot less tedious. There are also less endings (save for the joke endings), but I believe nearly all of them are gratifying in their own way.

I have to say, I didn't expect this game to have as nearly as hard of an emotional impact on me as it did. I found myself brought to tears no less than twice by this story, though I will admit some of the themes the game touches upon strike a personal chord with me. For a game that takes place in the near distant future, I did not expect to be able to relate to any of what was going on whatsoever. This story is surprisingly human, and deals with relationships in ways that are very real for an otherwise surreal premise and overarching plot. In fact, I found myself a lot more invested in the side characters than the plot at times, and wished that each and every character could be explored with so much depth.

Characters:
Kaname Date is joined by a very colorful cast of supporting characters, including his artificial partner, a creepy otaku in his early twenties, a young internet idol, a kickass, mysterious boss, and your twelve year-old snarky roommate. Each of the 27 or so named characters brings something new to the table, whether it be comical relief or heart-wrenching emotional depth. I found myself quickly getting attached to two of the characters in particular, though I won't say anything in order to not give anything away. While a lot of the characters seem pretty unlikable on the surface, through the various dialogue options and interactions, you learn that each one has their own motivations for why they are the way they are, and they become more sympathetic.

The only thing that I'd really say took me out of the story was that the main character is a pretty massive pervert, and while some of the jokes are funny, others just sound really awkward and unnecessary. It seems like a common trope for the genre, but I'd really wish it was kinda left out in this case, despite Date's perversion having story relevance and justification.

Mechanics:
For the most part, AI functions as a standard visual novel, with options to check the log, have auto-scroll engaged, and to skip through dialogue and cutscenes. However, most of the game is spent looking around and investigating - you are placed into a setting, and are free to look around and interact with the environment. Even the most mundane objects can lead to funny interactions that add to the game's flavor. I suggest inspecting anything and everything you can. The game helps you out by graying out the names of objects/people that have already been fully explored.

The other part of AI, are the Somnium sequences. These are essentially mini-games where you enter a subjects dream world, and have to solve puzzles that open up different locks to show scenes from the subject's past. In the Somnium, you play as Aiba, and walk around to investigate different objects to see what progresses through the "mental locks." The puzzles are pretty intuitive for the most part (I had to look up a guide for a few and some of the collectibles). A lot of it requires abstract thinking, and some things you would never consider end up being the correct answer. The Somnium sequences are quite fun, and are easily some of the most enjoyable parts of the game.

Audio/Visual:
Since my computer isn't exactly high-end, I wasn't able to fully experience the game in its highest quality (I would actually recommend playing this game on PS4 lol). However, on what low settings I could run, I would say the graphics were really fine. Some of the facial tracking used for the in-game models is kinda cartoonish, but I suppose that would be the point of a cartoon wouldn't it? I suppose I can also mention here that a lot of the character designs are very charming, and help the different supporting characters stand out from each other.

The soundtrack by Keisuke Ito is really what stands out here. Every track on the OST is a pleasure to listen to, and the main theme is just as heavy and intense as the premise would have you expect. Each Somnium has a different theme as well, usually corresponding in tone/essence depending on the story and subject. There isn't a whole lot else I can say here, but the soundtrack is really fundamental to the whole experience, and it would be a disservice to play the game without it.

This game hates Windows 7 users though. I found my game crashing rather often whenever a movie scene came up - sometimes the game would softlock as well and I'd have to save and restart the game to get it going again. However, most solutions have an easy fix that you can find through Google.

Overall:
There's not much else to say about this game that I or others have already. Every good thing you've heard about this game is probably true, and the story and characters of the world make the thematic content extremely compelling. It's funny, satirical, depressing, and deadly serious, and the change in tone is done so well that it never really feels out of place. I only wish the game took itself as seriously as it deserves to sometimes, but really that comes down to personal preference. Some people will love the wacky, out-of-this-world content in this game, and others will feel turned off by its evident genre influences.

For me though, this game was eye-opening to say the least, and I only wish that I could play it through again for the first time. Every hour is worth the money you spend on it.

9/10