AI: The Somnium Files

If I recall correctly I finished two routes of this game. I might go back and finish the others at some point but I just don’t have the time commitment in me at the moment. With that in mind, here are my thoughts. Gameplay The gameplay loop SEEMS interesting. Finish one route and take that information to complete another one and go from there. Despite that being interesting theoretically, I didn’t enjoy the execution. This is mainly due to the game forcing you to do some endings before others. Especially early on, as I found most of the routes I took led me to temporary dead ends. I’d rather finish an entire route first or not have had the option to go there in the first place at that point. In addition to this, we also have to acknowledge the actual somniums. I’ll admit, artistically I found them very fascinating. The idea of how they’re structured and all of the things they can symbolize. The potential is limitless, but unfortunately people still are as. While conceptually they were very cool, I disliked their gameplay. Most of the decisions within them felt too random. This led to me making several incorrect decisions because I had nothing to speculate on. The somniums should have a way for us to grasp what the right things to do and answer are, rather than making guesses based on time penalties/benefits. They feel like you always have to try everything to find the answer and that made me disengage from them. I wanna piece it together, not have the game do it for me, or else I’d rather it be a cutscene. Story The story I’m quite mixed on. I think it has some really great moments, and take itself seriously at times. My issue is when it doesn’t. I don’t mind fan service or sex jokes (although I do find them often unfunny and lazy,) but this game ruined SO many moments with it. The yakuza falling for the same trick over and over made me sick of it. Panties are not a resolution for every serious issue and scenario the main characters encounter. Every shoot out, this would play out. I got so over it and quit. They were never funny to me. Otherwise ignoring that, the majority of the game is well written, but these types of moments soured most of them. I like to be engaged and locked in. Comedic relief is fine until it pushes so hard in another direction every cut scene becomes a joke. Our character is insufferable due to this. The writers should’ve dropped the jokes or made them feel more contextually relevant. Or even just had them in better spots. Visuals were great but nothing special. I think the somnium visuals were quite interesting and engaging. Tackling different ideas and making you think about things differently. They never pushed as far as they could with the concept of the somniums but they kept things intriguing stylistically. The soundtrack has some fun tracks, I like how ethereal it is, it usually did a good job of stating the tone. The soundtrack never did too much, it did just enough to get you locked in.