AI: Somnium Files

MC, a special investigations officer, is sent to solve a gruesome murder. With a series of clever interrogations, location exploration, character interrogation and an immersive 3D dreamworld, there are a lot of puzzles to solve and a lot of twists to discover before understanding what is really going on. The story was intense, emotional, equal parts endearing and gruesome.

There are some romance elements (you can seduce the busty secretary, by the way), but it is mostly focused on general relationship building (Mizuki’s arch is adorable!) and solving the mystery. The gameplay felt clunky in the beginning, but the story was so gripping that I just sucked it up. Eventually, I got used to the little annoyances of the base gameplay, so at this point I barely even remember what they were. I have no regrets seeing it through to the end though, gore and all.