This review contains spoilers
If there’s one thing I’ve learned this year, being lied to is awesome—in media anyways. Going into the Scott Pilgrim anime, knowing that it wouldn’t follow the exact plot of the books but still expecting an adaption akin to what the movie did. Then at the first episode’s closing, I was strapped in for 3.5 hours of a brand-new story my mind was not prepared for. Such a jolt of emotion unexpectedly thrust upon me, leaving such an awesome, intensely memorable experience in its wake.
The first Somnium Files game built up an incredibly engaging mystery, peeling back layer after layer of reveals as it developed a cast I fell in love with. But within all of that, one of the most memorable moments was falling down the Annihilation Route, watching the murders therein take place, hitting the lock, and getting whisked to the timeline screen I had never visited before then. Finding out solving the mystery involved hopping across timelines completely changed the dynamic of the game. It is really, really cool to get expectations shattered in such a way you never even considered a possibility. Then I finally get around to Nirvana Initiative and hearing from several friends it's got some really audacious twists in store. What a word to use for it: audacious.
Obviously, I knew going in about the game's general structure: hopping between multiple timelines to solve the Half Body Serial Murders, following a co-protagonists Ryuki and Mizuki. Yet, I was unaware them two make up near-completely disparate halves of the game, separated by 6 years*. But whatever, it's a cool setup to explore more of the detective goodness from the first game!
The immediate standout is how monumental of an improvement the Somnium gameplay segments are. While I get the concept of the first's fairly nonsensical Somniums are meant to reflect the reality of subconscious, as it turns... nonsensicality does not facilitate itself to a good gameplay experience. Who woulda thought. While this game's Somniums skew a bit to the linear side, they're filled with so many fun concepts and (surprisingly) a couple of genuinely good puzzles that make even the least notable Somniums here better than the vast majority of the first game's. Particular shoutouts to Tearer's Somnium for its cool number puzzles integrated into a series of really interesting discoveries, and the incredible symmetry of Amame's two Somnium's.
Even with the first game's dogwater gameplay, the main appeal was the characters and story, which is really where Nirvana Initiative felt like it faltered. The new cast in particular was the weakest link, with so many different characters both new and returning that it just couldn't juggle as efficiently as the first game's core set of 4 main characters. I grew attached to Shoma, Komeji, and Gen large in part thanks to their really well done ends, but no matter how many times the game shoved it in my face, I was not going to like Lien and Kizuna (aside from the cute dance he did holding her). Regardless of who it was though, a lot of their development felt really... weird... despite there being a 6 year time skip right down the center, it felt like they had really inconsistent development**. And why do none of them get timeskip redesigns?
Still, there was a lot portrayed that I did get fairly invested into. The new cast slowly unveiling to be essentially a support group of genetic abnormalities was really cool, and carried a lot of the most emotional moment of the game. Then it was really interestingly wrapped up with Naix, showcasing not only a really cool fleshed out cult integrating so much historic/mythological/spiritual precedent into its ideology, but also how cults like this end up trapping the most vulnerable in our society. Funnily topical too, considering this game released like 2 weeks after Shinzo Abe got owned. I'm always down for seeing what topics Uchikoshi did a Wikipedia binge in the middle of a writing session.
And, hey... the writing in general, while mostly really charming and funny, also felt a tad sloppy? A lot of seemingly important plot moments just being lost to the aether, or not fitting together in a way that didn't make a ton of sense. What happened to Ryuki's demotion? Or the supposed event happening on the 15th in the Slayers X video? Why does it feel like I'm being told to watch the same video several times? Something felt off, but eventually all of those strange moments got flooded out with a bunch of new information in the ongoing case.
So I got towards the end of the game, finding out the twist of there being two separate bodies of "Jin" and there being two different Mizuki's. They're certainly twists, but nothing that I didn't at least intuit something close to it leading up to their reveals. Really, most of the game leading up to the end felt like meandering through a pretty decent story, but not one that came within a shot of the first game. I was feeling quite whelmed.
And then. The twist.
The helix twist.
I spent a good 20-30 minutes trying to recover from the shock of finding out the past 20-something hours were spent being totally gaslit by this game into believing I was experiencing the game in linear chronology. The next 30 minutes were followed with the game explaining in every way "hey idiot, remember this thing you found strange a couple hours ago and completely forgot about. You could've figured this out!" And hey, it's right! If I wasn't such a rube that could comprehend the idea of experiencing a story non-chronologically, the pieces were ripe for putting together! I totally get why this twist is so decisive, even amongst the people I've talked about the game with. It's such a ballsy decision, and not everyone is down for media that actively lies to their face. But her in particular, it's mystery clicks so violently into place in such an overwhelming way, in a way I haven't seen any other video game do before, I simply must respect it.
So it creates this really harsh contradiction, where the game leaves itself off on such a strong footing thanks in large part to its twist (and a finale that's just good fun), but as I said before, a game leading up to it that's... enjoyable but nothing really all that special. It's hard to grow an attachment to these characters when so many of the interactions you have with them are purposefully misleading. Not to mention poor Ryuki. Even after the big twist, he's left with absolutely nothing to do in the story beyond continuing to be a little trauma boy. He's just unceremoniously taken out in the final battle! What was that about! I don't want to be all choosing between the twist and better character development, because I don't think it needed to be a choice. Really, if Ryuki was given any sense of closure beyond short peptalk from Date in the cathedral, I'd probably think the game more of a 8/10.
Even if it ends up being a game I respect more than I like, I still did like Nirvana Initiative. The game took a massive swing and hit it for me, and everything else worked well enough even if it wasn't as well as I truly hoped for it to be. I'll much sooner take a game that fails in some places and remains on my mind long after than an unremarkable experience. If Uchikoshi and the rest of the devs want to take a similarly bold swing with Somnium Files 3 (assuming it happens), I'll be their strongest soldier.
The first Somnium Files game built up an incredibly engaging mystery, peeling back layer after layer of reveals as it developed a cast I fell in love with. But within all of that, one of the most memorable moments was falling down the Annihilation Route, watching the murders therein take place, hitting the lock, and getting whisked to the timeline screen I had never visited before then. Finding out solving the mystery involved hopping across timelines completely changed the dynamic of the game. It is really, really cool to get expectations shattered in such a way you never even considered a possibility. Then I finally get around to Nirvana Initiative and hearing from several friends it's got some really audacious twists in store. What a word to use for it: audacious.
Obviously, I knew going in about the game's general structure: hopping between multiple timelines to solve the Half Body Serial Murders, following a co-protagonists Ryuki and Mizuki. Yet, I was unaware them two make up near-completely disparate halves of the game, separated by 6 years*. But whatever, it's a cool setup to explore more of the detective goodness from the first game!
The immediate standout is how monumental of an improvement the Somnium gameplay segments are. While I get the concept of the first's fairly nonsensical Somniums are meant to reflect the reality of subconscious, as it turns... nonsensicality does not facilitate itself to a good gameplay experience. Who woulda thought. While this game's Somniums skew a bit to the linear side, they're filled with so many fun concepts and (surprisingly) a couple of genuinely good puzzles that make even the least notable Somniums here better than the vast majority of the first game's. Particular shoutouts to Tearer's Somnium for its cool number puzzles integrated into a series of really interesting discoveries, and the incredible symmetry of Amame's two Somnium's.
Even with the first game's dogwater gameplay, the main appeal was the characters and story, which is really where Nirvana Initiative felt like it faltered. The new cast in particular was the weakest link, with so many different characters both new and returning that it just couldn't juggle as efficiently as the first game's core set of 4 main characters. I grew attached to Shoma, Komeji, and Gen large in part thanks to their really well done ends, but no matter how many times the game shoved it in my face, I was not going to like Lien and Kizuna (aside from the cute dance he did holding her). Regardless of who it was though, a lot of their development felt really... weird... despite there being a 6 year time skip right down the center, it felt like they had really inconsistent development**. And why do none of them get timeskip redesigns?
Still, there was a lot portrayed that I did get fairly invested into. The new cast slowly unveiling to be essentially a support group of genetic abnormalities was really cool, and carried a lot of the most emotional moment of the game. Then it was really interestingly wrapped up with Naix, showcasing not only a really cool fleshed out cult integrating so much historic/mythological/spiritual precedent into its ideology, but also how cults like this end up trapping the most vulnerable in our society. Funnily topical too, considering this game released like 2 weeks after Shinzo Abe got owned. I'm always down for seeing what topics Uchikoshi did a Wikipedia binge in the middle of a writing session.
And, hey... the writing in general, while mostly really charming and funny, also felt a tad sloppy? A lot of seemingly important plot moments just being lost to the aether, or not fitting together in a way that didn't make a ton of sense. What happened to Ryuki's demotion? Or the supposed event happening on the 15th in the Slayers X video? Why does it feel like I'm being told to watch the same video several times? Something felt off, but eventually all of those strange moments got flooded out with a bunch of new information in the ongoing case.
So I got towards the end of the game, finding out the twist of there being two separate bodies of "Jin" and there being two different Mizuki's. They're certainly twists, but nothing that I didn't at least intuit something close to it leading up to their reveals. Really, most of the game leading up to the end felt like meandering through a pretty decent story, but not one that came within a shot of the first game. I was feeling quite whelmed.
And then. The twist.
The helix twist.
I spent a good 20-30 minutes trying to recover from the shock of finding out the past 20-something hours were spent being totally gaslit by this game into believing I was experiencing the game in linear chronology. The next 30 minutes were followed with the game explaining in every way "hey idiot, remember this thing you found strange a couple hours ago and completely forgot about. You could've figured this out!" And hey, it's right! If I wasn't such a rube that could comprehend the idea of experiencing a story non-chronologically, the pieces were ripe for putting together! I totally get why this twist is so decisive, even amongst the people I've talked about the game with. It's such a ballsy decision, and not everyone is down for media that actively lies to their face. But her in particular, it's mystery clicks so violently into place in such an overwhelming way, in a way I haven't seen any other video game do before, I simply must respect it.
So it creates this really harsh contradiction, where the game leaves itself off on such a strong footing thanks in large part to its twist (and a finale that's just good fun), but as I said before, a game leading up to it that's... enjoyable but nothing really all that special. It's hard to grow an attachment to these characters when so many of the interactions you have with them are purposefully misleading. Not to mention poor Ryuki. Even after the big twist, he's left with absolutely nothing to do in the story beyond continuing to be a little trauma boy. He's just unceremoniously taken out in the final battle! What was that about! I don't want to be all choosing between the twist and better character development, because I don't think it needed to be a choice. Really, if Ryuki was given any sense of closure beyond short peptalk from Date in the cathedral, I'd probably think the game more of a 8/10.
Even if it ends up being a game I respect more than I like, I still did like Nirvana Initiative. The game took a massive swing and hit it for me, and everything else worked well enough even if it wasn't as well as I truly hoped for it to be. I'll much sooner take a game that fails in some places and remains on my mind long after than an unremarkable experience. If Uchikoshi and the rest of the devs want to take a similarly bold swing with Somnium Files 3 (assuming it happens), I'll be their strongest soldier.