AI: The Somnium Files

 PC
User Score
8.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 205 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 179 out of 205
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 205
  3. Negative: 21 out of 205

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  1. The_Milkman
    Feb 11, 2020
    10
    This is exactly what the visual novel industry needed. Its wholly unique, outrageously funny, and one of the most well put together murder mysteries I've ever seen. If you like Ace Attorney, Danganronpa or 999, then this is the game for you.
  2. SuperJotaro
    Feb 16, 2020
    10
    Here after a YongYea video pointed out the review bombing to me. I know it's been fixed, but I thought it prudent to give it a proper rating to help prevent asshats like Krvavi doing it as easily in future.

    Seriously bro, go back to retweeting anime ass like your discord handle suggests.
  3. Smeshy
    Feb 17, 2020
    10
    Just a great visual interactive novel mystery game all around with fun 3rd person escape the room puzzle types of portions in the game. Definitely recommend.
  4. WeedleSenpai
    Feb 11, 2020
    10
    Easily the best game released in 2019, if not the best game released in the past few years. An excellent find for any fans of the visual novel detective mystery genre. From the mind of the man who brought us the Zero Escape series, fans will see welcome returning elements such as the timeline flowchart, however it does depart from the zero escape formula at times, with pleasing results.Easily the best game released in 2019, if not the best game released in the past few years. An excellent find for any fans of the visual novel detective mystery genre. From the mind of the man who brought us the Zero Escape series, fans will see welcome returning elements such as the timeline flowchart, however it does depart from the zero escape formula at times, with pleasing results. This game is a lot more emotionally charged than zero escape titles ever were, focusing a lot on comedic dialogue, paralleled with some deep and often heart wrenching character development moments. Make no mistake, while this game does seem to focus on emotional impact there is no shortage of clever twists and turns in the narrative, as one would expect from the genre… Expand
  5. Eightgutter
    Feb 11, 2020
    10
    Really great game, if you liked the Zero Escape Trilogy you'll like this game as well.
  6. lazycomplife
    Feb 13, 2020
    10
    Wonderful story with great writing & excellent characters. Kotaro Uchikoshi is the best video game writer, hands down.
  7. RevUBrah
    Apr 15, 2022
    9
    The tone's all over the place and it feels more like Zero Escape 4 than its own thing, but the writing and characters are fantastic. It's no Disco Elysium but if not for 999 it'd be Spike Chunsoft's best mystery game so far.
  8. BaconBiscuit
    Feb 10, 2020
    10
    This game was awesome, hilarious, and best of all: super weird. It has an incredible story but never takes itself too seriously. The fact that people are review bombing this fantastic game is incredibly disheartening. Don't listen to the bad reviews, check this game out! It will definitely be worth your time.
  9. timeaxis
    Feb 11, 2020
    10
    I'm only halfway through it, but it's already my favorite game of 2019. An amazing game that captures the same magic of other games by Uchikoshi such as the Zero Escape series. The writing is the highlight, which balances funny with serious and a great cast of believable human feeling characters.

    To address the unusually high amount of negative reviews this game had at one point, it    I'm only halfway through it, but it's already my favorite game of 2019. An amazing game that captures the same magic of other games by Uchikoshi such as the Zero Escape series. The writing is the highlight, which balances funny with serious and a great cast of believable human feeling characters.

    To address the unusually high amount of negative reviews this game had at one point, it seems like they are mainly coming from people (or bots) who, for whatever reason, don't like the writer's openness and lack of prejudice. The game does not come across as preachy about this in any way. It literally just uses the term "LGBTQ" in one or two sentences, the way any normal person might. These scenes are hardly even consequential in the grand scheme of things, and did not feel jarring at all to me as I played. If you have ever comfortably occupied the same room as someone of a sexual minority for even a small amount of time, and don't just have an irrational burning hatred toward them for no reason, then you or any other normal person will not be phased by this, I can guarantee you. It's a nonexistent controversy.    … Expand
  10. taterboi
    Feb 11, 2020
    10
    Play this and the zero escape series. Ignore the negative reviews, this game got review-bombed for some reason I don't know of
  11. decksid4
    Feb 11, 2020
    10
    Absolute favorite. Charming, engaging, visually and thematically interesting, with a great cast and story.
  12. Georgesors
    Feb 11, 2020
    10
    Incredible game, your doing yourself a deserves if you miss out. If you enjoy ace attorney and dangonronpa
  13. PrinceWulf
    Feb 11, 2020
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. How often do you see a visual novel with all characters constantly moving, expressions changing on a whim and (outside of inner thoughts) full voice acting even during exploration. Not to mention every character in game feels legetiment, thus making the story 10 times more engaging. Outside of few moments which were meant to be silly, this is 10/10 for sure.… Expand
  14. maisofia
    Feb 12, 2020
    10
    The game is very character-focused, plot-heavy and it’s your familiar Kotaro Uchikoshi style gameplay which still shows you it’s own uniqueness!
  15. Reaver_Daemon
    Feb 16, 2020
    10
    Here to support my **** Uchikoshi. **** these busta ass review bombing Ballas mutha****as.
  16. Clairesse
    Feb 16, 2020
    10
    Must play for fans of story driven games or the mystery or psych thriller genres.
  17. Nigel_Thornbery
    Feb 16, 2020
    10
    This game is simply smashing! And A-Set, what a woman! This game made me abandon my globe trotting adventures and become something more.
  18. Jelal
    Feb 16, 2020
    10
    I'm honestly grateful I can express my rating of this game numerically because it was such an insane ride; I really can't gather my thoughts on this title to express in a formal review. Speechless. 10/10
  19. Agnabright
    Feb 17, 2020
    10
    The absolute best characters I have ever seen in a video game along with the greatest story. Not too much gameplay in it, but it completely makes up for it.
  20. Jrson
    May 5, 2020
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The game is basically a visual novel. There is some interactive elements to this game like the puzzles in this game. The puzzles felt more like guessing rather than actual puzzles And the amount of dancing in this game is kind of awkward. Otherwise, this is a very enjoyable narrative keeping you engaged as it leads you towards the true ending of the game. The protagonist of the game Date, is one of the best visual novel protagonists out there and the supporting cast is pretty good. Some people may find some of the characters in this game to be unlikable. What happened to Aiba at the end of the game is a hit or miss depending on whether you liked her.… Expand
  21. Sympfuhni
    May 12, 2020
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. AI: The Somnium Files is a great game all around that is kind of similar to the Danganronpa and Zero Escape series. All of them feature dark themes such as murder and gore but also have some hilarious moments in-between.
    Firstly, the graphics are absolutely amazing. Throughout the game, I could not help but admire the graphics, the animation was really well done. Nothing much to say there.
    Although the soundtrack didn't leave as deep an impression such as the ones from the Danganronpa series, I think they were pretty good as well.
    As for the story, it might seem extremely confusing at first but ties up all the loose ends really nicely at the end. However, the idea of parallel worlds and getting information from these parallel worlds seemed a bit... familiar. Not sure if this was intended as a nod towards AI: The Somnium FIles being in the same universe as the Zero Escape series but it was a bit disappointing. There were also times where a little girl with a pipe could run into 20+ armed men and not get shot once, which honestly kind of bothered me. However, that aside I loved everything else about the story.
    As for the gameplay, I must admit I was slightly disappointed when most of the challenges weren't really challenges at all, it was so easy the QTE got boring pretty quickly. As for the Psychin' the only real downside would be that in some Psyncs, you really can't tell what you need to do and it really just becomes a guessing game. So if you loved the puzzles from the Zero Escape series, you might be a little disappointed with this part.
    Next, the controls. I found it extremely weird that the keys to move the camera angle was on the arrow keys. If a player were to use the mouse and the arrow keys to navigate it would feel quite uncomfortable. Of course this would not be a problem if it were possible to configure these settings. I for one would really like the movements keys to be on WASD instead.
    Finally, the game ran smoothly the whole time and I never encountered any glitches or bugs.
    An overall great game even if you factor in the small little annoyances.    … Expand
  22. LorDofLegEnd
    Jul 7, 2021
    10
    My eyes have been opened........

    It was beautiful. They nailed it. I have recently played a lot of visual novels but never finished one because the dialogues aren't than fun to read and half way through I lost interest in the story( except for ace attorney its the best thing humanity ever achieved) but this was great I have played all the routes and unlock all endings it was worth it.    My eyes have been opened........

    It was beautiful. They nailed it. I have recently played a lot of visual novels but never finished one because the dialogues aren't than fun to read and half way through I lost interest in the story( except for ace attorney its the best thing humanity ever achieved) but this was great I have played all the routes and unlock all endings it was worth it. The gameplay was fun too. The somniums were enjoyable. I was playing this while they announced the sequel. I am excited for it    … Expand
  23. Antohadance
    Jul 7, 2022
    9
    Детективная визуальная новелла с отличным сюжетом, справедливыми по отношению к игроку загадками и интересным геймплеем
  24. 7megumin7
    Aug 15, 2022
    8
    This is not really a review of the whole game but rather a rant about what this game calls the true route and how it treats one of the characters on said route.

    Upon finishing the game I already had mixed thoughts on it, but after knowing that you play with Mizuki on the sequel, it got worse. I think that between all possible branches, the Mizuki END is easy the best one for a lot of    This is not really a review of the whole game but rather a rant about what this game calls the true route and how it treats one of the characters on said route.

    Upon finishing the game I already had mixed thoughts on it, but after knowing that you play with Mizuki on the sequel, it got worse. I think that between all possible branches, the Mizuki END is easy the best one for a lot of reasons, but mostly about how Date really takes up the role of a parental figure and how his and Mizuki dynamic develop. Now, it's not like I didn't enjoy the true route, on the contrary, Iris and Hitomi, which are arguably the focus of the route are really interesting characters and I had a blast with the plot twist and the way this game slowly fed me information, bonus points for the annihilator route. My real grip with the revelation route being the true one is that in this branch Mizuki is neglected through all the 6 days, as is stated by most characters, the amazing Somnium she did to wake Date never happened and they basically didn't bond, also the game never really acknowledges that her dad who supposedly was just hiding in the last few days, is now dead. We instead get a epilogue where Date can't event commit to his promise of eating stew with Mizuki and they seem to have a deteriorating relationship.

    Again, my only problem with this route is that it's the "canon" end, I really liked the plot twist of Date being Iris "uncle" and how they met again. It's just wild that you play as Mizuki in the sequel even though if they had made a mix of revelation and Mizuki's, you would have a way stronger relationship formed.    … Expand
  25. TianLong1
    Mar 31, 2023
    10
    Great detective story with an event tree which reminds me of the Zero Escape : Nonary games since you are living every branching possibility in the story in order to find out the truth behind the mysterious murders. The characters, dialogue and voice acting are great, the story is engaging and makes you want to get to the bottom of it. This game strikes a perfect balance between thriller,Great detective story with an event tree which reminds me of the Zero Escape : Nonary games since you are living every branching possibility in the story in order to find out the truth behind the mysterious murders. The characters, dialogue and voice acting are great, the story is engaging and makes you want to get to the bottom of it. This game strikes a perfect balance between thriller, drama and comedy.… Expand
  26. sailorknight
    Feb 8, 2020
    8
    This game has recently been review bombed for unknown reasons. Don't take the negative scores seriously as they all happened within a short amount of time as a coordinated effort (notice how there are no actual negative reviews at this time, just scores). This is a good game if you like visual novels and detective stories.
  27. SoupWS
    Feb 9, 2020
    10
    This game is being reviewbombed and I personally loved it, so I'll just fill the character limit with this:

    Cock and ball torture (CBT), penis torture or dick torture is a sexual activity involving application of pain or constriction to the penis or testicles. This may involve directly painful activities, such as genital piercing, wax play, genital spanking, squeezing, ball-busting,    This game is being reviewbombed and I personally loved it, so I'll just fill the character limit with this:

    Cock and ball torture (CBT), penis torture or dick torture is a sexual activity involving application of pain or constriction to the penis or testicles. This may involve directly painful activities, such as genital piercing, wax play, genital spanking, squeezing, ball-busting, genital flogging, urethral play, tickle torture, erotic electrostimulation, kneeing or kicking.[1] The recipient of such activities may receive direct physical pleasure via masochism, or emotional pleasure through erotic humiliation, or knowledge that the play is pleasing to a sadistic dominant. Many of these practices carry significant health risks.    … Expand
  28. Zer0TheHer0
    Oct 10, 2021
    0
    You can't change the keyboard binding. Are you kidding me? This is unacceptable.
  29. ParkerDk
    Feb 11, 2020
    10
    So good game.It's better than Zero Escape 999.And the The quality of the game performance has improved a lot.And a set is so sweet Ai that I love her.
  30. valenti
    Feb 8, 2020
    10
    Amazing game and easily one of the highlights of 2019. One of the best Visual Novels I've ever played.
  31. JoueurCitoyen
    Feb 11, 2020
    10
    Thank you Mr. Uchikoshi! I subscribed to Metacritic to share nice words about your games. AI is incredible, it's beautiful, well-written and surprising too. Cheers!
  32. UberDad
    Feb 16, 2020
    10
    Great game, amazing voice acting, and an absolutely crazy story. I thoroughly enjoyed this game.
  33. GraysonWayne
    Sep 21, 2019
    10
    To start, this game is well directed with loads of good work done into characters and the comfortable flow of what they put into the gameplay style in terms of concept. Despite it being what most would call a visual novel, AI: The Somnium Files takes the concept of it to another level by putting in interactive segments that are full of humor, character, symbolism, and aesthetic while stillTo start, this game is well directed with loads of good work done into characters and the comfortable flow of what they put into the gameplay style in terms of concept. Despite it being what most would call a visual novel, AI: The Somnium Files takes the concept of it to another level by putting in interactive segments that are full of humor, character, symbolism, and aesthetic while still retaining it's full value of being a "Visual Novel" style story and character driven game that will throw you for loops with branching paths. Like many visual novels, it's a very laid back experience and it pulls off what it's supposed to do really well while somehow still having you on your feet with highly unique and dialogue centered interactions that you wouldn't want to miss.

    Gameplay: Consistent, Voluntary and Detail Oriented:
    In most parts of the game, you're playing a social first person dialogue oriented point and click interactive novel. For the people who like design and detail, the amount of interactions you can have within these areas and scenarios is done perfectly and done well enough to keep you interested into every single detail of every frame of the game. Plus, with me personally, I had fun with just the characters dialogue and the personalities alone.

    You can choose to blaze through the story like a regular visual novel, or you can choose to take in the small details in the environment and take in more of the personalities of the characters that I am sure many players would grow to enjoy. There are segments that are physically interactive in the third person as you roam the Somnium (deep sleep recess of the mind), and interact with items in the room that you move in while controlling Aiba, your AI False Eyeball Companion that literally lives in your head. Explore the Somnia, interact with items, and solve puzzles. It's quite simple and the developers did it well.

    The soundtrack is amazing. The characters are unique and amazing, and although there are some that are "cliche" in scenario, the way that they are interpreted and put into the story is well done. The physically interactive segments are a really good fun new touch to what one would expect from a Spike Chunsoft "Visual Novel". In all fairness, it's an interactive dialogue centered game that is a rare combination of being BOTH character (in terms of interactions and personality) and story driven. I am very happy I got this game. Definitely a must buy for anyone who is looking for a laid back yet highly enjoyable mystery solving aesthetically pleasing AND YET on your toes unique experience. Another amazingly directed game, and I hope it gets the recognition it deserves in my opinion.    … Expand
  34. cardgrey
    Feb 16, 2020
    0
    this game is a waste of money and lackluster at best. i don't even know were to start when tearing apart the creators crack induced dream of a game. i do wanna say if you like this sort of thing that's fine enjoy not hate bashing on fans as everyone has likes and dislikes. that said the crashing of it is unacceptable.
    as some people have said it needs a i7 and that that's the main cause    this game is a waste of money and lackluster at best. i don't even know were to start when tearing apart the creators crack induced dream of a game. i do wanna say if you like this sort of thing that's fine enjoy not hate bashing on fans as everyone has likes and dislikes. that said the crashing of it is unacceptable.
    as some people have said it needs a i7 and that that's the main cause well here's mine
    i have a intel core i9-9900kcpu@3.60ghz 32gb of ram and a nvidia 2080 super =p you telling me its my system requirements???    … Expand
  35. TBWolf
    Feb 8, 2020
    10
    This game did not deserve a review bomb.

    AI: The Somnium Files is a high quality game from the developers of The Nonary Games. The story and twists are very nice, and every single route of the flowchart (the game's method of progression that allows it to have several different endings) is satisfying in its own way. The characters are also solidly developed and fun to explore in their    This game did not deserve a review bomb.

    AI: The Somnium Files is a high quality game from the developers of The Nonary Games. The story and twists are very nice, and every single route of the flowchart (the game's method of progression that allows it to have several different endings) is satisfying in its own way.

    The characters are also solidly developed and fun to explore in their different routes.

    I can't recommend AI:TSF enough-- its price tag of $60 is a bit much but that comes from a frugal gamer who doesn't like buying fully priced games in general. It's definitely worth $60 more than many other newer games, and it takes quite a few hours to get through the game-- none of which feels slow or boring (in my opinion). It's a good value even without a sale, but a great value if you do manage to pick it up on a Steam sale or something.    … Expand
  36. Mooncrosser
    Sep 27, 2019
    8
    The game is pretty fun, but sometimes can be really inconsistent with it's themes. You get a heartbreaking story just to be interrupted by a tasteless sexual joke. The shooting sequences are pure **** where a school girl with a pipe goes head on in a fight with an army of armed mercenaries. If you can ignore these flaws, the game is quite enjoyable.
  37. aditya1101
    Jul 16, 2020
    7
    At its core, I really enjoyed this game - the main mystery was compelling and satisfying, and i really liked the pacing of the story. However, there were a bunch of aspects of the gameplay that were annoying, and my game kept on crashing during certain parts. There were also quite a few deus ex machinas and plot holes, but they were mostly easy to ignore because the main mystery wasAt its core, I really enjoyed this game - the main mystery was compelling and satisfying, and i really liked the pacing of the story. However, there were a bunch of aspects of the gameplay that were annoying, and my game kept on crashing during certain parts. There were also quite a few deus ex machinas and plot holes, but they were mostly easy to ignore because the main mystery was wrapped up in a satisfying way.… Expand
  38. Andrudis
    Sep 29, 2019
    10
    It's a Visual Novel, so there is not much about game-play naturally. It's more like watching interesting anime with you being somewhat involved in what will happen next and see everything from the first person (except cut-scenes).
    Excellent detective story with unpredictable turns. Deep distinctive characters. You naturally get this "just one more dialog/scene/chapter" and its hard to    It's a Visual Novel, so there is not much about game-play naturally. It's more like watching interesting anime with you being somewhat involved in what will happen next and see everything from the first person (except cut-scenes).
    Excellent detective story with unpredictable turns. Deep distinctive characters. You naturally get this "just one more dialog/scene/chapter" and its hard to stop once you get immersed into the story - and that happens extremely fast with each of story branches.
    There are really few games that can match that.
    Definitely can recommend it to anyone interested in highly enjoyable anime-like story experience.    … Expand
  39. SplitMind
    Aug 27, 2022
    5
    Far too repetitive, Metacritic won't let me give full reviews for some reason.
  40. worm4real
    Feb 11, 2020
    5
    While it's true this game got unfairly review bombed the PC version should be lower than the other version. Not only does it have a bunch of crashing issues during the Somnium segments (the main gameplay aspect of the game) it also has ridiculous minimum requirements of needing an i7 processor, which the tech support is using as an excuse for the crashing.

    Beside the bugs the game is a    While it's true this game got unfairly review bombed the PC version should be lower than the other version. Not only does it have a bunch of crashing issues during the Somnium segments (the main gameplay aspect of the game) it also has ridiculous minimum requirements of needing an i7 processor, which the tech support is using as an excuse for the crashing.

    Beside the bugs the game is a pretty good visual novel and the little Somnium adventure segments are cute and fun to play through, However I'd definitely say you should avoid this on PC because it's been out for months and still has a crashing issue.    … Expand

Critic Reviews

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No score yet - based on 1 Critic Review

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. Adventure Gamers
    Jan 28, 2022
    70
    Though its gameplay strains a bit under the weight of some cumbersome design decisions, Spike Chunsoft’s AI: The Somnium Files nonetheless succeeds in crafting a worthy spiritual successor to the Nonary Games, putting its own compelling spin on the visual novel-styled mystery thriller.
    Read full review