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At the Spike Chunsoft Anime Expo panel, Zero Escape series Director/Scenario Writer Kotaro Uchikoshi unveiled AI: The Somnium Files, set for a worldwide release on the PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Steam! The game will take place in a more technologically-advanced Tokyo, Japan. The first teaser trailer introduced detective Kaname Date. Yusuke Kozaki (Fire Emblem Awakening, NO MORE HEROES) is the lead character designer for the title.

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About Kotaro Uchikoshi

A director and scenario writer, his skills shine in his adventure titles, such as the Zero Escape series (incl. the award-winning Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors), Punch Line, and Ever17 -the out of infinity. He is well-known for his unconventional plot twists and offbeat humor and has been actively working on many genres, many games, and many stories.

 

[Flirkyn]

OH YESH!!! Love that guy game and story!

 

[frogboy]

day-one buy, no questions asked. i trust uchikoshi to deliver an excellent story, even after the madness that was zero time dilemma

 

[Hells Malice]

Kotaro Uchikoshi's involvement means insta-buy. Zero Escape, Ever 17, Never 7 and Remember 11 are all fantastic. Have never been disappointed by this guy.

Man. I'd love to go to Anime Expo one year, they always get some good stuff there.

 

[Beerus]

Oh boy this game sounds too good fe character designer and director of zero escape holy shit yes please loved zero escape and love fe designs this game is a must so far only time will tell wish we got gameplay

 

[Chary]

Heck yes. Anything with Uchikoshi or Kodaka's name on it is golden.

 

[Sakitoshi]

After the disappointment that was that trainwreck called zero time dilemma I would be cautious about Uchikoshi's work.

 

[Foxi4]

Yes, yes, yes - day one purchase right there.

 

[Hells Malice]

After the disappointment that was that trainwreck called zero time dilemma I would be cautious about Uchikoshi's work.

There was no trainwreck, just people not understanding that the game was made to give answers. Of course it's not as good as the first two, because it removed a lot of the mystery by actually explaining wtf was going on. Still a solid title in its own right. It's like season two of When They Cry (or Kai for the VN). People hated it but only because it just existed to give answers, which are far less exciting.

 

[Foxi4]

There was no trainwreck, just people not understanding that the game was made to give answers. Of course it's not as good as the first two, because it removed a lot of the mystery by actually explaining wtf was going on. Still a solid title in its own right. It's like season two of When They Cry (or Kai for the VN). People hated it but only because it just existed to give answers, which are far less exciting.

It tied a nice bow on the series while leaving some questions open to fill the gaps in with the player's imagination, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The only departure I picked up on was a greatly reduced level of gore, the stakes felt lower.

 

[Flirkyn]

Tbh, it was pretty apparent that ZTD had a lot of trouble to come to life. It's not the best game (and the prettiest ahem) of the saga but style à nice one with a good conclusion (Uchikoshi always liked those wtf twist).
And I was really happy to get a conclusion to the saga, which answer about all question

 

[Arras]

It tied a nice bow on the series while leaving some questions open to fill the gaps in with the player's imagination, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The only departure I picked up on was a greatly reduced level of gore, the stakes felt lower.

Reduced? If anything, it felt like it had excessive amounts of it to the point where it lost most of the impact, to me. The somewhat goofy low budget visuals certainly didn't help though. The first door scene in 999 felt much worse than anything in ZTD just because of the descriptive writing.

 

[MeowMeowMeow]

Finally a game to look forward too for the switch. Zero Escape games were awesome af

 

[Essometer]

Easy day one buy, but IMO detective on a murder case is a bit generic. We'll see how that will play out.

 

[jumpman17]

I freaking love the Zero Escape series. I'll pick this up for sure.

 

[Sakitoshi]

There was no trainwreck, just people not understanding that the game was made to give answers. Of course it's not as good as the first two, because it removed a lot of the mystery by actually explaining wtf was going on. Still a solid title in its own right. It's like season two of When They Cry (or Kai for the VN). People hated it but only because it just existed to give answers, which are far less exciting.

I agree that the game is good but falls too short compared to the first two.
The puzzles were good as well as the technical aspects but the story was full of questinable decisions, but not because it tries to answer everything, but stupid things and asspulls.

My gripe is that ZTD converted smart characters into complete idiots.
Sigma, Phi and Jumpei aren't even half as smart as they were in the previous games. This is even more aggravating in the case of Sigma and Phi since they were on a mission but did nothing about it.
Also wasn't Sigma supposed to be his young self most of the time? If I remember VLR plot correctly they were preparing Sigma and Phi to go to the incident knowing just enough to not know how things happened so they can change the outcome schrodinger cat style, but Sigma was (AFAIK) almost always his old self.
Things happened too conveniently too, Carlos didn't knew he could jump and mastered it on a few hours while Sigma and Phi had to spend a whole nonary game to do it. That also applies to Jumpei and Akane that suddenly and without any reason were able to jump.
Delta's intentions were so "complex" that not even Uchikoshi knew them apparently and are never explained.
I'm sure there were some plot holes too but I can't remember anymore and if I could I'm sure I could go on and on.

 

[chartube12]

Skipping past the above drama....

Trying to figure out the game type. Judging by the teaser alone, i’d Say an rpg of some kind.

 

[Bimmel]

I agree that the game is good but falls too short compared to the first two.
The puzzles were good as well as the technical aspects but the story was full of questinable decisions, but not because it tries to answer everything, but stupid things and asspulls.

My gripe is that ZTD converted smart characters into complete idiots.
Sigma, Phi and Jumpei aren't even half as smart as they were in the previous games. This is even more aggravating in the case of Sigma and Phi since they were on a mission but did nothing about it.
Also wasn't Sigma supposed to be his young self most of the time? If I remember VLR plot correctly they were preparing Sigma and Phi to go to the incident knowing just enough to not know how things happened so they can change the outcome schrodinger cat style, but Sigma was (AFAIK) almost always his old self.
Things happened too conveniently too, Carlos didn't knew he could jump and mastered it on a few hours while Sigma and Phi had to spend a whole nonary game to do it. That also applies to Jumpei and Akane that suddenly and without any reason were able to jump.
Delta's intentions were so "complex" that not even Uchikoshi knew them apparently and are never explained.
I'm sure there were some plot holes too but I can't remember anymore and if I could I'm sure I could go on and on.

Do you remember Eric and Mira, the awesome plot tools?

For the game: I see nothing, yet I want everything. The art alone makes me want to buy it. Sorcery!

 

[fatsquirrel]

Looks really interesting!

 

[Pandaxclone2]

Also wasn't Sigma supposed to be his young self most of the time? If I remember VLR plot correctly they were preparing Sigma and Phi to go to the incident knowing just enough to not know how things happened so they can change the outcome schrodinger cat style, but Sigma was (AFAIK) almost always his old self.
Things happened too conveniently too, Carlos didn't knew he could jump and mastered it on a few hours while Sigma and Phi had to spend a whole nonary game to do it. That also applies to Jumpei and Akane that suddenly and without any reason were able to jump.

No, young Sigma got sent back into his body shortly after the events that took place in ZTD. The only version of him that winds up knowing those events is the Sigma that fails to prevent VLR's events, by which point he's sent back to that future and it becomes too late for him to do anything. Sigma was always going to go into the Mars testing site as an old mind with little information on what took place there.

Alice in VLR was able to conveniently jump when you choose Ally or Betray, as was the case with Junpei. They also explicitly remind you in VLR that exposure to other Espers for long enough allows you to gain the ability yourself, which was the entire point for Sigma and Phi. So why is it an asspull that Carlos and Junpei also end up jumping when exposed to the same conditions? (Note that Junpei and Carlos have shown signs of esper abilities before, while both young Sigma and Phi initially did not) Also, why is Akane grouped with that question when we know her esper power is quite, well, powerful?