Two protagonists, two investigations, and two fresh halves of the same body found six years apart

That is the simplest way to describe this game, and to be honest, that was enough to hook me in. I was expecting something similar to the first game, but what I got was a borderline ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ insane journey, full of twists and turns and a gamut of emotions. But let's start from the beginning.

AI Somnium Files Nirvana Initiative is a detective, mystery, and adventure game-visual novel mix. You play as both Ryuki and Mizuki (from the first installment) and their AI companions, Tama and Aiba, who are replacing their left eye. Thanks to that, they have access to many cool sci-fi functions, such as X-ray or virtual reality. What begins as a simple murder mystery quickly spirals into a world-wide conspiracy as you begin to question the reality around you. You will dive into people’s dreams, recreate murders step-by-step, and start suspecting even your closest friends.

The gameplay is that of a generic visual novel: reading text, quick-time events, and answering questions. You have some control over dialogue since you can choose talking points and what to examine, but you do not have any control over the story. The game itself is very linear, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. Different story paths can make your experience more unique, but having one clear path allows the plot to be more polished.

Where the adventure game part comes in is in the Somnium parts. Every time we need to extract information from someone who does not want to share it with us, we jump into that person’s dreams, or as this game calls it "Psync". In those dreams, we control our AI companion, and we have to solve and explore this bizarre world. The dreamer’s secrets are hidden behind mental locks, which we will have to get rid of by making the right combinations of interactions with many different things scattered around. Keep in mind that this is, in fact, a dream, meaning solutions often require illogical and out-of-the-box thinking. While this was a serious issue in the first game, this time these segments are designed rather perfectly. No longer do we have to try different interactions over and over again if we don't get the solution instantly. In this game, every dream has its own hard rules, making puzzles MUCH easier. Not only that, but they often consist of playing completely different minigames as well—Pokémon, escape rooms, quiz shows, just to name a few.
These segments went from annoying to something I was very looking forward to, even just to see what crazy gimmick they would come up with this time.

The story is absolutely unhinged; every time I thought I had a general grasp of the plot, the game did a complete 180. After every grand reveal, you can expect another two that are just as important. Kotaro Uchikoshi (the main writer) outdid himself once again. Nirvana Initiative is just as insane and convoluted as his last two Zero Escapes, but WAY easier to follow. No matter if you usually wait for protagonists to solve the mystery for you or are the person who takes notes and makes theories, the story and mystery are absurdly enjoyable either way. Though it is not without its flaws, my main two problems are as follows:
The first half of the game can get a tiny bit boring; most big reveals are saved for the other half.
To solve the mysteries on your own, you will need to write down absolutely everything about what happened, including when, where, and who we saw there. The summary section in the flowchart could be much more detailed in that aspect.

The characters, on the other hand, are much better than in the first installment. Every new addition to the roster has a great plot, believable motivations, acts logically, and is very likable. The game also embraced goofy character designs from the first game; many people we meet look simply bizarre. It adds surprisingly much to the atmosphere, but sometimes it's hard to take some characters seriously. I would consider protagonists an upgrade as well. While Date was very funny in the original, I must admit that having more serious main characters is much more fitting (though not always, but more on that later). Ryuki is very sympathetic, but he also has his struggles and mysteries. His AI eyeball, Tama, is the direct opposite of him, making them an enjoyable and dynamic duo. Mizuki is still great—confident, sarcastic, and just a blast to play as. And yet she still has her own plots, which take her character in a very interesting direction.

The graphics are great. Every location, both real and in a dream, is full to the brim and really fun to explore. The UI is a bit worse, I would say; the original had its charm, and this one looks more shallow, but it's not that big of a deal. However, what is a big deal are the animations, which are once again lacking. Not as much as in the first installment, but still. They are sometimes very stiff and lifeless, though action scenes look much better in that aspect. Mimicry is also inconsistent; sometimes it's fine, but other times it's very unexpressive. Sometimes it really broke my immersion, but at some point I just got used to it.

Music, on the other hand, is amazing. Always very fitting, creating an amazing atmosphere, especially in the dream sequences. Every character is fully voiced, which adds unbelievably much. Some performances are better than others, but they are always at least good. (I'm talking about the English version.)

What I would say turned out worse in the Nirvana Initiative was the humor. A very important aspect of the original is now done very poorly. Ryuki and Mizuki are more serious protagonists, making the jokes coming out of their mouths sometimes weird. Ryuki has Tama as a comedic relief, and it just about works out. But Mizuki is straight up not the same person she was previously. Making her spit pervasive jokes right and left completely sabotages her character. Action scenes were done dirty as well. Tension is higher; the game wants you to take them more seriously, but the problem is that they are completely unrealistic. It was fine in the first game, since they were supposed to be solely comedic and goofy scenes. But here, they were crossing the line of being obnoxious. If you want a more serious story, you've got to make fight scenes at least slightly believable. Of course, the game still has many jokes that sometimes made me laugh out loud, but the general theme is very often cringe and off-putting.
This whole paragraph may sound weird, but the comedy was such a strong point of the original that I was very sad to see it handled so poorly.

The last thing I would like to add is that the game implies that you can play it without knowing the previous title. While it is true that the second installment does not require any knowledge of the original and does not spoil it, it simply takes away so much. I would even go as far as to say that to truly appreciate some more meta and subliminal plots, you should play the Zero Escape trilogy as well. You'll get your expectations blown away even more, and you'll see things other players would not pick up on, but I digress. What I'm getting at is that you should still play the original game first, as it adds a lot to the general experience.

AI Somnium Files Nirvana Initiative is a very strong contender for this studio’s best game and an almost perfect sequel. While it still has some problems, a very unique and shocking story, really engaging gameplay, and a ton of likable and interesting characters more than make up for them. It's one of those games that you won't be able to put down once you start. It's an unforgettable adventure, fully worth your time and money. From time to time, I'm still realizing things about the story that I did not pick up on, making me appreciate the genius of the writing more and more. Play it; you won't regret it.