CHOP CHOP

Another slice of cyber-mystery in AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES—NIRVANA INITIATIVE

- Tom Sykes

NEED TO KNOW

WHAT IS IT? A dream-diving visual novel where you solve a murder mystery in near-future Tokyo

EXPECT TO PAY $60

DEVELOPER Spike Chunsoft

PUBLISHER In-house

REVIEWED ON Intel Core i7-10750H, 16GB RAM, GeForce RTX 2060

MULTIPLAYER No LINK bit.ly/SomNirvana

Jin Furue has been murdered. Someone has sliced the CEO in two and left one half at a TV studio, where a quiz show is being recorded. The other half of Jin won’t show up until six years later, having seemingly died just a few hours earlier. That’s the setup for AI: The Somnium Files—nirvanA Initiative, an out-there anime visual novel, but with a compelling mystery at its core.

You’d be forgiven for thinking otherwise, given how odd this sci-fi adventure can get. Your constant companion—at least for half of the game—is a smutty AI who lives in a fake eyeball where your left eye should be. With her help, you’ll solve the mystery of the Half Body Serial Killings, while swatting off conspiracy theories, creepy viral videos, and a cult that believes the world is a simulation. That is, when you’re not battling goons to quick-time prompts, in one of a handful of preposterous action scenes.