(Very minor and vague spoilers unrelated to any mystery, character, or plot stuff)

I really enjoyed this game. I only have really one major criticism that I felt actively detracted from the experience and that is that all of the action scenes save for one are really bad, and the one not bad one is just serviceable. Good thing, it's the one that actually needs to land for the story to land and the others can be brushed off as gag scenes, but the thing is they are gag scenes which are used to overcome actual problems in certain routes.

It was kind of funny the first time when the fight scene got solved by porno mags but then it happens every. single. time. after.

That's not to even mention how it severely stretches believability how certain individuals can just beat dozens of enemies armed with rifles with nothing more than a melee weapon. Even if there is an attempt to justify their strength, it doesn't work as an actual action scene.

Every single action scene I had to basically go "ok, I guess their budget/time schedule couldn't be used to make these action scenes actually good so they had to resort to making do with what they had time/money for." Because it FEELS in these scenes like they were trying to get around the limitations of what they were working with. IDK the context of the studio or anything like that, but that's the only explanation that makes sense to me otherwise I really want to know what creative director would OK "Lets make all of our action scenes terrible, unbelievable jokes." It took me out of it every time.

Even the serviceable action scene has one problem that I disliked that felt like they were trying to skert by their engine limitations, but it was forgivable in the grand scheme of things.

Besides that, the characters, atmosphere, comedy, is all good. The mystery is fantastic and seeing it all come together the way it does throughout a playthrough is great.

One thing that limited the story from being 9/10 or 10/10 to me was that the main theme of the game isn't particularly complex or interesting. It's done well enough, but this game is definitely not as concerned with having interesting themes than it is having an engaging mystery and lovable characters that you care about. Which is the opposite of what sci fi traditionally is.

Another thing related to platforms, IDK if it's like this on all systems, but the Switch port performance was pretty bad for a visual novel. They have this thing where previous scenes are played in the current scene to remind you of previous events, and it takes time to load every time. Usually this is like -0.5-2 seconds, but for certain scenes characters will stop talking for what feels like 10 seconds before the scene loads and says "damn I really ate fruity pebbles for breakfast" like you didn't already know that. Sometimes the scene isn't even reminding you of anything and it's just showing a location people are talking about. And the loading screens in general can cause the flow of certain scenes to feel off. Probably/hopefully a problem limited to the switch version.

Overall great Visual Novel.

Fun visual novel with an engaging story. When you first play it, it kinda feels like the routes diverge for no reason at all. Pieces don't fit together and you're often felt wondering if this game was well written at all. But once you hit the final route, the pieces start to fit together and you realized you've been played a fool this entire time.

Biggest flaws to this title are that while Date is probably the coolest incel protag, those pervy jokes do get tiring after a while. Also it's rather amusing that the game pushes Iris to be the deuteragonist while Mizuki is just flat-out more interesting. Lastly, the Somnium often feel contrived in their solutions. There's no satisfying aha moment in solving the puzzle. It's mostly just trial and error.

Amidst these flaws, the story is still great and is a highlight amongst the visual novels I have played for sure.

Initially I started this game with intrigue, my mind racing to wonder what in the hell could possibly happen at any corner. As time went on I found my self annoyed, not with the game as a whole, but by the constant urge for the game's dialogue to bust out perverted jokes written by an 8th grader trying too hard to sound cool. For a game so immaculate in its tense atmosphere with the perfect amount of lightheartedness sprinkled throughout to keep you hopeful, having these C tier jokes pop up really was the only thing dampening my spirit every so often. Yet Ai brushes past it as I did and in doing so showcases an amazing sci fi story with lighting fast pacing and charm. It's rare for me to feel like a game has nailed the moment to moment event pacing but it helps because the gameplay interactivity is rather low and really follows the more stricter answer nature of point and click adventure games which by itself really isn't a problem. I had initially kept voices on but as time went on, I was feeling a slight disconnect with how those earlier mentioned perverted jokes popped up and how they were delivered via audio so I had the idea to just turn off voices all together. It immediately clicked to me how much more charm I felt reading the voices to myself while the OST was able to play uninterrupted and by extension became something I actually listened to, instead of it fading into the back of my mind like most OSTs do.

From start to finish, looking past the small amount of hiccups in tension, Ai has a consistent tale it wants to tell and doesn't muck it up with over explanations and keeps you hooked from start to end. It's mostly a novel so there's little to no interruptions and everyone has an amazingly well fleshed out moments that all come together to feel like a real adventure into solving a grizzly murder. Our heroes shined just as they should.

Without Uchikoshi I would never get to experience an anime girl with pink hair explaining Jung's theory of the collective unconscious.

Overall really enjoyed this game. A good story with good twists and didn't feel overly convoluted, and one of the best uses of a flow chart I've personally experienced. It actually felt significant to see these different possibilities play out, although as I always tend to feel with these types of games I did begin to grow tired of working my way through similar feeling content just to get to the end. Some of this is alleviated by a great cast who I was very invested in.

I have to ding the game in a few areas. Again, the flowchart means repeating some of the most annoying content (for me this is stuff like the action sequences - I can only sit through so much of the same joke). The somnium sequences were a bit hit or miss for me, and wow the performance issues on the Switch got quite frustrating. But it really speaks to the quality of the story that I eagerly powered through all of that to get the conclusion to the mystery.

Despite my profile picture, I am not this game's biggest fan. This is the first of Kotaro Uchikoshi's work I've played, and I want to let it be known that my interest in this game was solely gained because of a positive and well-spoken statement regarding the LGBT community as stated by a 12 year old.

I would also like to mention the time I took a Japanese language class, which featured a woman who wore pink cat-ear headphones to class. She did not look very dissimilar to Iris, so I would also like to add compliments the character designer Yusuke Kozaki, for following up on his very non-typical approach to Japanese character designs that I've enjoyed from both No More Heroes and Fire Emblem Awakening. He illustrates this exaggerated yet grounded realism to these characters that indicate a loose inspiration from actually existing figures and personalities. This isn't unheard of, but it's refreshing to see this approach done so well in all 3 games I've mentioned. To add to this, there's a character called Ota, which is short for Otaku, who wears a fanny pack and creates fake Twitter accounts that he gets into arguments with, on his main account, in order to convince himself to show love for his favorite Idol, A-Set. You can bet Date's first instinct is to punch this 24 year old manchild. Note that the design for Ota, looks like a child, referencing the "child" part of the word, "manchild."

That kind of stuff is the unspoken, pun driven, comedy present within the game that compliments Uchikoshi's comedy. The actual dialogue is top notch. You can tell Date's sexual humor works so well because he probably has a better idea of what consent is than most. Raising the eyebrow at the sight of, "probably" is what works so well for the character. Realistically, he's never going to over-step that boundary, but it's funny to see how far he will push his limits before Aiba threatens to pop out off his eye socket and do a dance routine in front of everyone. These 2 run on the Boke and Tsukkomi (Wise guy & Straight man) routine, but has the Straight Man express their frustration through threats of silly violence rather than resort to just physical violence, which I think most will enjoy, as the routine has Aiba and Date switch places; Aiba is a wise guy in the sheets, dealing with a straight man on the streets, and that wise guy is a straight man in the sheets.

What's actually great about AI: The Somnium Files, is that it's self-aware of how bad it can be, which makes it all the more satisfying to see the game pull the right kind of punches while still providing a memorable experience that leaves an impression on you. The spotted, inconsistent, and fading mind of Mayumi's dementia-ridden brain was really heartbreaking to see clash with that little shit Ota.

Upon re-entering Matsushita Diner, I felt this soft, homely, song begins to play a repetitive melody that consists of 3 guitar strings. You can hear that there's a desperate attempt at adding harmony to the song, but it's not about what the song could be, it's about what it was, that really got me.

Did You Know Gaming?: This is the 2nd Japanese detective murder mystery to use eyeballs as its main source for its murders. There also just happens to be mentions of dementia in both games, and Greg Chun is the voice actor for both main characters. This is why I recommend the English voice cast, they do a fantastic job.

i've played this game twice and wanna do it a third time. if you can get past all the adult men being horny over the barely legal minecraft streamer chick you're gonna have your balls blasted straight off.

there's a beautiful story about family and how it isn't defined just by blood. while it does a couple of stuff i don't like with it on the main right branch (oh, mizuki...), and the way they explain the multiple ends this game has is kind of stupid, ultimately it's a hilarious heartwarming and agonizing package all at once. the cast is also awesome and while i can't speak for the original japanese voices the english dub knocks it out of the park :)

as for gameplay, the somnium logic is kind of confusing in those gameplay sections (aside from brAIn pAIn and sustAIn i was either using guides or save scumming a lot) but once again i am a guy who likes story and they tell good stories (sustAIn and captAIn still make me cry on command.) even the most mid ones have something to look back on and be like "yeah that was some cool foreshadowing". also the music is awesome i still go back to it a lot.

go play salami files. and when you play salami files you will understand that mizuki has the best route.