kotaro uchikoshi is, depending on who you ask, either one of the greatest writers presently working in the point 'n' click/visual novel/puzzle adventure genre or a complete and total hack whose works are deranged balderdash rehashing the same twists and plot elements for the entirety of his career. i am here to say with confidence after having played his second-most recent work that i lean way more toward the former than i had after the insanely disappointing Zero Time Dilemma. ztd was a complete and total mess, crippled by the sheer weight of having to resolve the hanging plot threads of virtue's last reward compounded by a troubled production and at least in my opinion, the presence of multiple writers. while i still enjoyed ztd attempting to do the writing equivalent of eating a car, a task so herculean that even to try is engrossing, the game soured me on the series and the writer behind it. zero escape is an incredibly fascinating series, laden with as much occult and pseudoscientific narrative intrigue as it is genuinely strong character writing, and anyone who enjoyed all or some of them can easily hop into this without reading any further. ai the somnium files is uchikoshi doing what he does best while still feeling as fresh and new as 999 did when i first played it.
the plot starts simply enough, you are Kaname Date, a special kind of detective who can enter people's dreams with the help of his partner, a sentient ai implanted in his left eye socket. date is investigating the murder of his good friend's ex-wife, whose brutal murder included the removal of her left eyeball. from there the story weaves through multiple routes, some focused on specific people of interest he meets in his investigations while others tease deeper layers to the mystery at hand. uchikoshi deftly keeps the player guessing, and just when a revelation threatens to unravel the mystery, it only proves to go deeper than ever.
uchikoshi is incredibly good at writing nonlinear "puzzle box" narratives like these, and the detective angle makes it all the better. one half of the narrative involves the murder going serial, the killer thwarting date and AIBA at every step, while the other teases a similar twist to VLR only to pull the rug out from the player. like previous works, this complex narrative is buoyed by a great supporting cast, including the minecraft youtuber/conspiracy theorist/d-list idol Iris and mizuki, whose every action made me laugh out loud or tug at my heartstrings. the latter two ZE titles, i feel, struggled to have a cast as beloved as 999 but ai manages to match it with a great bunch of characters i couldnt get enough of.
the gameplay sections are divided into unequal chunks, primarily cut between the visual novel conversating and item examining and somnium, puzzles taking place in dreams where the player (mostly) assumes control of AIBA as she peels back the subject's psyche. the somniums, like the rooms in ZE, very hit and miss. for the first two thirds of the game they offer almost no challenge besides figuring out the predetermined right path to solve them, and the more clever twists on them in the back handful of somniums feel too little and too late. they never frustrated me but they also never felt engaging beyond watching AIBA do funny things or learning more about the characters. this is definitely an improvement over past works, god fuck the bomb puzzle in ZTD and the dice puzzle in VLR, but i still think "not making me actively upset" isn't an impressive bar to clear.
i dont wanna dive too deep into spoiling the game because that kinda kills the fun of an uchikoshi game. but i will say this one had the most satisfying ending since 999. the trademark "brain melting" twists are here, but they feel far more earned and far less integral to the enjoyment as opposed to zero escape. by the end i felt like the mystery was set up and executed in a really satisfying way and left room to play around in this world, but more importantly it left me wanting more. i was skeptical about this title for a long time, and im glad the sequel finally pushed me to play it. uchikoshi is brilliant, and i really am so happy to see him have his own studio with kodaka where the two can experiment and take risks and make cool shit. i may never forgive him for the twist in ztd about phi, but i have to respect him as a Player.
the plot starts simply enough, you are Kaname Date, a special kind of detective who can enter people's dreams with the help of his partner, a sentient ai implanted in his left eye socket. date is investigating the murder of his good friend's ex-wife, whose brutal murder included the removal of her left eyeball. from there the story weaves through multiple routes, some focused on specific people of interest he meets in his investigations while others tease deeper layers to the mystery at hand. uchikoshi deftly keeps the player guessing, and just when a revelation threatens to unravel the mystery, it only proves to go deeper than ever.
uchikoshi is incredibly good at writing nonlinear "puzzle box" narratives like these, and the detective angle makes it all the better. one half of the narrative involves the murder going serial, the killer thwarting date and AIBA at every step, while the other teases a similar twist to VLR only to pull the rug out from the player. like previous works, this complex narrative is buoyed by a great supporting cast, including the minecraft youtuber/conspiracy theorist/d-list idol Iris and mizuki, whose every action made me laugh out loud or tug at my heartstrings. the latter two ZE titles, i feel, struggled to have a cast as beloved as 999 but ai manages to match it with a great bunch of characters i couldnt get enough of.
the gameplay sections are divided into unequal chunks, primarily cut between the visual novel conversating and item examining and somnium, puzzles taking place in dreams where the player (mostly) assumes control of AIBA as she peels back the subject's psyche. the somniums, like the rooms in ZE, very hit and miss. for the first two thirds of the game they offer almost no challenge besides figuring out the predetermined right path to solve them, and the more clever twists on them in the back handful of somniums feel too little and too late. they never frustrated me but they also never felt engaging beyond watching AIBA do funny things or learning more about the characters. this is definitely an improvement over past works, god fuck the bomb puzzle in ZTD and the dice puzzle in VLR, but i still think "not making me actively upset" isn't an impressive bar to clear.
i dont wanna dive too deep into spoiling the game because that kinda kills the fun of an uchikoshi game. but i will say this one had the most satisfying ending since 999. the trademark "brain melting" twists are here, but they feel far more earned and far less integral to the enjoyment as opposed to zero escape. by the end i felt like the mystery was set up and executed in a really satisfying way and left room to play around in this world, but more importantly it left me wanting more. i was skeptical about this title for a long time, and im glad the sequel finally pushed me to play it. uchikoshi is brilliant, and i really am so happy to see him have his own studio with kodaka where the two can experiment and take risks and make cool shit. i may never forgive him for the twist in ztd about phi, but i have to respect him as a Player.