When I first started this game, I was almost immediately hooked on the mystery, and thankfully the core mystery remains strong the whole way through. Unfortunately, the mystery is the only thing in this game that remains strong, as nearly everything else is a direct downgrade to it’s predecessor.
Most every single flaw in this game (aside from the abysmal pacing) has a single point of origin. The decision to make a sequel to Ai:The Somnium files, while trying to make it newcomer friendly and make Mizuki the main character, two choices that directly contradict each other.
As a result of not spoiling the original Ai, nearly every character who appeared in the first game is a shadow of their former self. In the best case scenario, they have very little screen-time, and in the worst case, all nuance is drained from their character and they become a hollow shell designed to make perverted jokes.
Mizuki herself similarly suffers from this issue, though in her own unique way, that being that her arc is laughably mediocre in comparison to the original game. Everything in this game is a completely unnecessary addition to her character, that adds absolutely no depth to her character, and occasionally even retcons aspects of the original game just for a cheap twist. As a result, it’s clear that this isn’t a game that was written for Mizuki to serve as the protagonist, rather a mystery that had already been written for another character to solve, only for Mizuki to become the main character.
If it isn’t clear, the character who this game was truly written for is Ryuki, and he’s honestly one of the only good characters in the entire game.
Without spoiling anything, Ryuki is stellar. He has an incredibly strong introduction, and the mystery around his character only gets more interesting as the game continues, that is, until you start the second half of the game and all the screen-time is shifted onto Mizuki instead, a character who’s arc isn’t nearly as interesting.
Nirvana Initiative has a few flaws I didn’t go into detail about as well. The pacing is incredibly repetitive, the script was incredibly weak at times, and the abundant amount of sequel bait is nearly comparable to VLR, but at the end of the day, it’s not a terrible game, just a disappointing one.
And the worst part is that I’ll probably buy the sequel for full price as well.

AI: The Somnium Files - Nirvana Initiative is the perfect example of why not every game forcibly needs a sequel just because the first one did good.

I absolutely loved the first title. It’s very close to be a masterpiece to me. I rated that game a 5/5 (=10/10).

Its sequel, though? No thanks. I originally shelved it a few days ago, because it failed to thrill me, although the introduction was really good! But the case ended up being way less personal than the Cyclops Killings and it ignored a bit too much from the first game. At the beginning, the game asks you if you’re familiar with the first game and even if you say “yes”, Date appears as Saito Sejima, so he does not have his original body. The explanation for that is omega stupid. As I said, the story did not captivate me even a little.

I also hate how linear Nirvana Initiative is. When I shelved it, I just thought it is only like that with Ryuki’s past six years ago (because you can’t change his past like that, it already happened). But after taking it from the shelve and playing Mizuki’s path, I was just shocked. It’s still linear. The somniums are still linear and god, I hate how overloaded the somniums are now, even with the AI balls. No, I don’t want to explore every corner after every lock, just to make sure I don’t miss an AI ball. This is not Assassin’s Creed Unity.

Also, The likeable characters from the first game do not play a big role this time… which wouldn’t be a bad thing if the new characters were likeable, but Jesus Christ, fvck, they’re the most unlikeable characters I’ve encountered in a very long time. Kizuna and Lien especially. First one is a classist piece of trash and Lien is nothing but a damn groomer. What are the writers trying to tell me? Also, I don’t particularly hate Ryuki, but the trailers promised Mizuki and I didn’t get nearly as much Mizuki as I wanted. I didn’t really need Ryuki.

And while the first game was on constant horny mode, the sequel carries the horny to the extreme and I think it was unnecessary and way too unsubtle. Playing (not even just touching) with a statue’s wiener? Really? Tama being basically a dominatrix? It went from unsubtle horny mode to ugh.

And honestly, they could’ve SPARED me with the tamagotchi thing. I know it’s optional and I can turn it off, but as someone who is a completionist, it’s just annoying popping up every 20 minutes. The options between “complete the game and get annoyed or enjoy the game, but don’t complete it” is just bad design at this point.

To me, this is just a bad game. And I’m glad I’m able to ultimately drop games!

Opinions on this game are pretty spilt, but personally I feel like I slightly prefer this game to the original.
The first game was phenomenal, and I feel like the direction they went in with this game just ended up being more interesting to me personally. Themes regarding dualism and grief were pretty prevalent and intriguing to see played out. The twist was done well, though a few tweaks should’ve been in order.
Honestly the thing I ended up liking the most about this game was Ryuki and seeing how certain events played out with him. I was really invested in learning more about him as a character, though I felt as if he was a little underutilized. The new cast members were pretty great for the most part. I really wasn’t expecting to get as attached to some characters as I ended up being.
As for somniums, while a ton are more linear, I still feel like they’re better overall. I felt like I had more fun this time around and actually had to problem solve as opposed to investigating everything I could until something inevitably worked. The Unlimited Somnium feature was also a neat quality-of-life add on.
Story-wise I just felt more invested throughout. The downtime didn’t overstay its welcome and allowed for the story to progress without ever feeling like a slog.
While the game does have a few glaring flaws, they didn’t end up ruining my experience of the game. The highs felt incredibly high, and the lows only really ended up being more prevalent in retrospect.
I’d say that you should at least give this game a chance and see what it has to offer.
There’s a ton of intriguing messaging hidden within the seams.

Super complicated feelings on the game. Overall I liked it (the more I've thought about the game over the months, the more I grew to not enjoy it), but feels like it's worse than the previous game in every aspect (with the exception of the extra side content and somniums). Ryuki's side feels kind of uneventful until the last split in his route, and Mizuki's feels like there's no downtime at all for the characters to sort of vibe. I appreciated the main twist at the time, but I don't like the twist as it only serves to be a twist to the player, and does nothing for the story. Not only that, the amount of stuff the games has to bend it's back over to actually makes the twist work is comical. For Ai 1, I said that the game felt like it didn't have any fat, the same can't be said about this game, too many characters from the previous game show up here and don't really serve much for the story (and the things they do with some of the returning characters I don't like at all), which leads to the new characters not getting as much screen time I felt like they should, like Ryuki. Also god, the QTE's in this game suck, they're like 5 times as long as the QTEs in 1, but the action is super basic and none of them are funny in the ridiculous fashion as the ones in the first game were. A monkey's paw curled when I asked for Ai 2 having a bigger budget.

This review will be adjusted once the final chapter is released. However, for the time being, Your Turn to Die is genuinely probably my favorite game of all time.
The game offers an incredible amount of content for what it is, and manages to also deliver an outstandingly heartfelt story on top of it. There’s so many aspects of this game that work in tandem with one another in a way that keeps the player engaged at all times. When it comes to other visual novels in the same vein, you tend to get at least some story beats that begin to test your patience. However, I never felt like that happened in Your Turn To Die. Every new chapter feels like it’s better than the last and I continually felt impressed as I went on. This is a point-and-click visual novel so you’d be hard-pressed to find a ton of intuitive gameplay so to speak. However, the gameplay that does exist is implemented incredibly. The game puts the player in situations where they feel like THEY are just as responsible as the main character for the events that happen throughout the story. It really pushes the medium and delivers an exceptional narrative.
This is one of few stories where I can confidently say that I love every member of the cast that you’re first introduced to. Even as they start to trickle off, dead characters stay relevant and in some instances get more characterization than when they were alive. No participant feels useless.
The slight psychological horror aspects aren’t used overbearingly either. They do a good job at building up the dreadful atmosphere that the cast is stuck in. The art and OST are great and supplement this as well.
Everything about this game just feels so, genuine. Characters hold believable levels of trust/distrust for one another, characters are given time to grieve realistically or act certain ways because of said grief, bonds that exist between specific characters don’t feel forced, and so much more.
The game is always 5 steps ahead of you and will trick you no matter how far ahead you think you’re thinking. It toys with your perceived knowledge and plays with your emotions at every turn.
This is a game that deserves to be experienced by all. If you like death games, characters you can get emotionally attached to, psychological horror, great art/music, or hate yourself, please play this game. It is VERY worth your time.

The story didn't have that many hooks for me to latch on, and the playable characters don't really have any chemistry (like i get that's the point cause plot stuff but it didn't really make me care that much even after that plot point). None of the character had enough charisma IMO to carry a scene. This problem gets really bad later on after the halfway point where the character chemistry, is just between an angry character and a metal box. The world feels way to big for the amount of times you have to walk through it. I get the message at the end, but it didn't hit me as I see it did with other people. Also how is it possible for a character action game to not have a move list.

My favorite visual novel of all time and this review is biased as hell. I love the found family relationship between Mizuki and Date, the routes are all varied and gives small hints towards the bigger picture, and the cast is small but super tight and it doesn't feel like there's a bit of fat on the game. The game uses all the characters to it's fullest and they all tie into the main plot in some significant way. (I will say I can understand why people would not like the story that much as I can understand how people wouldn't like how everyone is connected as it does have a lot of coincidences when it comes to character relationships) Also Date says some of the most out of pocket things that made me do a double take when first reading what he had to say. Date is the only character I know in fiction where I can say he is canonically into cuck porn.