Uchikoshi does it again folks. Although it's tamer than Zero Escape, AI manages to have a fun murder mystery narrative and keeps the charms of Uchikoshi's previous works. I wasn't too sure what to think going in, and even for the first few hours I was left wondering how the story would unfold mechanically due to his previous works. Once I hit the first locked route forward and saw the timeline, I remembered who made this game. Never7, Ever17, Zero Escape, this man NEEDS sci-fi and timeline shenanigans in his games or else he'll explode, I swear.
Anyway, lots of small graphical glitches in my playthrough, but nothing major. Artstyle is alright? Voice acting is surprisingly great, but the script is just alright. Characters are hit or miss as well. Might be a consequence of the writing, but some characters are engaging, and others are just tolerable at best. Overall, the narrative has cool ideas but leaves a lot on the table by the end of it, and I wish there was more done.
The puzzle segments are a similar to Zero Escape but with their own twist due to the time mechanic involved and the wacky dreamscapes you're in. Had fun with them for sure, but again feels like there could be more meat and potatoes in this narrative heavy game. The quick time & detective minigame-esque portions helped though.
Overall, weaker than Zero Escape but interesting enough to give me a good time and have me eyeballing the sequel. Felt like this could be better executed, but after Zero Time Dilemma I'm just happy Uchikoshi could make more games.