Life and dreams expand in latest AI: The Somnium Files – nirvanA Initiative gameplay

destructoid.com:

The sequel to AI: The Somnium Files is fast approaching, and a new gameplayer trailer from Spike Chunsoft shows how the investigation is evolving. The nirvanA Initiative will still have players exploring the world and diving into dreams. But on both sides, it looks like there’s added hurdles to overcome.

The first AI: The Somnium Files starred one protagonist, Date, trying to track down a murderer using both real-world investigations and dreams. In AI: The Somnium Files – nirvanA Initiative, it looks like the dual protagonists will have a few more ways of doing both.

Searching the crime scene is just one aspect. Mizuki calls on her AI-in-eye companion Aiba to use different vision modes to find a hidden clue. This looks to be part of the virtual reality section, as the AI can virtually recreate the scene of the crime.

Wink Psync will let players read a person’s mind and gain the upper hand in conversation. And of course, there are the Somnium sections, where investigators dive deep to unlock Mental Locks in someone’s dream world and find the truth. Think of it like a mix of Phoenix Wright‘s locks and the surreal brain-worlds of Psychonauts.

It looks like they’re back, timers and all. These sections were one of the more contentious parts of the first AI: The Somnium Files. I personally dig the look of them, but got pretty frustrated with the trial-and-error gameplay.

What’s got me interested is the addition of anti-bodies. These presences seem to hinder efforts in the dream world, asking probing questions of the player. Love to get philosophical while I’m hunting for a murderer.

Plus, the story chases after a mysterious killer after two halves of a body appear in different locations and times. It definitely seems like the