Creator of Zero Escape unveils new title AI: The Somnium Files

Game designer Kotaro Uchikoshi announced his new game AI: The Somnium Files at this year’s Spike Chunsoft’s Anime Expo panel. The reveal comes after Uchikoshi teased the project last year. The mystery-adventure game is coming to PC, PS4 and Nintendo Switch, but we sadly didn’t get any info on a release date. Check out the announcement trailer!

During last year’s GDC, creator of cult mystery-adventure games Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, Zero Ecape: Virtue’s Last Reward and Zero Time Dilemma, Kotaro Uchikoshi, teased his new project codenamed Project: Psync. At the time, the game designer couldn’t share much about his new title apart a morbid teaser image showing a gauged-out eye but with his track-record of unique adventure games featuring visual-novel and puzzle elements, it was enough to get fans excited.

Now, we finally get to learn more about Project: Psync. Uchikoshi’s new game is titled AI: The Somnium files and will be once again a mystery-adventure in an anime-aesthetic. The first teaser image also makes more sense now. The protagonist of AI: The Somnium Files is Kaname Date, a detective sporting a cybernetic eye prosthesis.

His artificial eye is more than just a tool to look though, since it allows the detective to see into the memories of characters he meets and learn new information which will help him solve the case of murders and catch the serial killer. These memories, or Somnium Files as the game calls them, will play a major theme in the mystery-adventure game according to Uchikoshi.

During the panel, the game designer also unveiled another character from AI: The Somnium Files. Iris Sagan, a female high-school student who likes to post videos of herself on the internet, doing various activities like dancing. A so-called “net idol”. If Uchikoshi’s past games are anything to go by, we will end up meeting a diverse cast of weird characters with unique archetypes.

No release date was given but AI: The Somnium Files is planned to release on PC, PS4 and Nintendo Switch.