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Metro
25-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
No Sleep For Kaname Date – From AI: The Somnium Files review
GameCentral reviews the newest AI: The Somnium Files game to see how it fares without series creator Kotaro Uchikoshi as the lead writer. At a time when video games need to be multimillion dollar hits to even get a shot at a sequel, it's refreshing to see a modest success like AI: The Somnium Files continue to receive new entries, despite being far from a household name. Neither the original game nor its sequel sold particularly well when they came out (certainly not enough for developer and publisher Spike Chunsoft to share sales numbers), but they've reportedly enjoyed long-term successes and have cultivated an enthusiastic fanbase. Even so, it was a shock to see a third game be announced at the June Nintendo Switch 2 presentation, as one of the console's first games. As its title indicates though, this isn't a full sequel but a shorter spin-off that puts the first game's protagonist, Kaname Date, back in the lead role. What's most surprising is that series director and writer Kotaro Uchikoshi is only involved in a supervisory role, leaving writing responsibilities to Kazuya Yamada. And unfortunately it shows, as No Sleep For Kaname Date feels like a lesser version of the games that came before. Set in-between the events of the last two games, No Sleep For Kaname Date begins with internet idol Iris (who's dressed as a sexy rabbit for reasons the game barely explains and no one even questions) being kidnapped, seemingly by an alien reptilian woman, and forced to play through a series of escape rooms. While Date can communicate with her to assist with the puzzles, he also has to uncover the truth behind Iris' kidnapping and whether aliens really are involved. Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. Like the other two games, your time is split between Ace Attorney style point 'n' click investigations and escape room style Somnium sections, where you dive into a person's dreams to uncover information they're either unwilling or unable to share. In a series first, you also have traditional escape rooms where you use items to solve logic puzzles, much like Uchikoshi's Zero Escape games It's probably more accurate to say there are really only two gameplay sections, since the investigation scenes take a backseat this time around. There are no puzzles to solve in these and you spend all your time speaking with other characters to gain info and move the plot along, like an ordinary visual novel. As the series' bread and butter, the Somnium sections work the same as previous games. You move around a 3D space, interacting with objects to bypass mental locks while under a six minute time limit, with every movement and interaction you make taking precious seconds off the clock. However, you can earn TIMIEs to help reduce how much time interactions take, providing a layer of strategy to how you progress. Sometimes it can be worth picking the wrong action just to grab a specific TIMIE. Since Somniums are literal dream worlds, their biggest problem in previous games was that, sometimes, the logic you needed to follow didn't always make sense and progressing often required trial and error. That's still the case here but, in what we assume is an attempt to circumvent the issue, the Somnium sections are far more streamlined, with very few incidental items to distract you with. While this does make them more straightforward, this streamlining doesn't really solve the issue and is akin to throwing a rug over a hole in the floor. Visually, The Somniums are still surreal, but they feel toned down and less interesting compared to some of the more warped examples of previous games. There's also a real lack of fun and unique scenarios, like the second game's Pokémon Go inspired Somnium. It's easy to assume this is because more time has been put into the new escape rooms, which are structurally similar to the Somniums but don't rely on weird dream logic or a time limit… except for specific sections where you're given two unfavourable solutions to a puzzle and need to think of a third option before a timer runs out. However, these escape rooms aren't much better than the Somniums and are far more linear than they first appear. Unlike Zero Escape, where you could often solve puzzles in any order, No Sleep For Kaname Date railroads you into tackling them one after the other. This wouldn't be too much of a problem if the puzzles were fun to solve but we found most of them pretty unengaging and a few annoyingly frustrating. Admittedly, the problem with critiquing puzzles is that it's difficult to discern whether they're poorly designed or we're just stupid, but we can say we never got to enjoy that satisfying lightbulb moment where you feel like a genius for cracking a clever puzzle. None of No Sleep For Kaname Date's escape rooms come close to the highs of Zero Escape, which is especially disappointing when they're supposed to both be from the same team. The Somnium and escape room sections have their own hint systems, but the former's are too abstract to be all that useful. The latter's includes a search function that helps point you to what you need to investigate next and can only be used a limited number of times, but repeatedly failing puzzles also prompts discussions from the characters about what the solution should be. For some reason, though, simply looking at an item in your inventory automatically triggers hints from the characters as well, which will be annoying for anyone trying to solve puzzles without assistance. What's more, in our experience, the hints seem to wildly vary between annoyingly vague and outright giving away the answer. However, the game is considerate enough to offer inexperienced players adjustable difficulty options, which provide more generous time limits and hints, while puzzle fiends can try a hard mode that has a more restrictive hint system for the escape rooms. Perhaps the game's greatest sin is how lacklustre the overall story and writing are. This is no doubt a consequence of its short length, as there's less time for a complex mystery to form. Although given how things only get less interesting over time, its short length is ironically a bit of a blessing. Not to be mean to the new guy, but the weak story is clearly because Uchikoshi didn't pen the script this time. His involvement is still felt in the game's sense of humour and how the story broaches topics like the Anunnaki conspiracy theory (although that's quickly dropped), but the core mystery is notably lacking in outrageous twists and gets disappointingly predictable towards the end. 'Predictable' is not the word we should be using to describe a story that opens with multiple UFOs appearing in the sky but some of the game's mysteries are only mysteries because Date's own allies deliberately withhold info from him, for frankly shoddy reasons considering he's investigating a kidnapping. There aren't even any alternate timeline shenanigans, which are a staple of Uchikoshi's writing, in both Zero Escape and the other Somnium Files games. You can unlock some alternate endings throughout the story, but you need to go out of your way to find them and even then they're purely for the sake of comedy, with each one capping off with hilariously abrupt credits. The writing and dialogue throughout can be genuinely funny in places, which is in part thanks to the English voice acting. Even after three games, Greg Chun and Erika Harlacher-Stone are clearly having a ball as the double act that is Date and his AI partner Aiba. Unfortunately, the game seems to think porno mag jokes are the height of comedy, because it repeatedly revisits that well to the point of obnoxiousness. Such jokes aren't uncommon for the series, and Date has always been established as something of a pervert, but it happens so often here that it almost becomes his defining character trait. This is a problem that extends to the rest of the cast. Everybody is consistent with their previous appearances, but they also feel like they've been broken down to their most basic traits. If anybody unfamiliar with the series picks this game up, they'd likely find everyone worryingly one dimensional. Not that we would recommend this game for newcomers. While it barely alludes to the plot of the first game, and its status as an interquel means it can comfortably ignore the second, No Sleep For Kaname Date does the bare minimum to establish who everyone is and what their relationships are. It's very much a game for the fans, but some will struggle to care thanks to the lack of continuity, simplified characters, and no meaningful stakes. Even the very small number of new characters aren't that interesting, despite the game's best efforts. Without spoiling anything, there is one section of the story that serves as a continuation to a subplot from the first game, but it's the only moment where we felt emotionally invested in what was happening. The big climax tried and failed to tug at our heartstrings, and it ties things up far too cleanly, especially when compared to the bittersweet conclusions of the last two games. In an interview with Automaton, Uchikoshi and Yamada explained that, due to the former's busy schedule, there was no clear plan for an AI: The Somnium Files 3. Even so, they wanted to give fans something, but since Uchikoshi wouldn't be leading it, they didn't want to do a proper sequel and instead chose to concoct a more experimental spin-off. While the sentiment is appreciated, No Sleep For Kaname Date feels like the worst kind of filler. From a story perspective, nothing is really gained and from a gameplay perspective it's not as engaging or thrilling as either of its predecessors. More Trending During the epilogue, Date says, 'This case was a whole lot of nothing, wasn't it?' This is clearly supposed to be a cheeky joke, but it comes across as the game throwing its hands up in the air and admitting nothing mattered, as if this level of self-awareness can help absolve it of its problems. Obviously, its status as a smaller-scale spin-off doesn't mean it should get a pass. And whether it's a game, movie, book, or whatever, no audience willl appreciate reaching the end and being told by the story itself that everything they went through was 'a whole lot of nothing.' With any luck, Uchikoshi will be back in the driver's seat for a proper sequel but unless you're extremely desperate for something new starring Kaname Date and friends, you can comfortably skip this spin-off. In Short: A competently made but disappointingly inferior follow-up to the excellent AI: The Somnium Files games, featuring mediocre puzzles and an uncharacteristically simple mystery for a game with Kotaro Uchikoshi's name in the credits. Pros: Can be genuinely funny at times. Generous difficulty options. The Switch 2 version has mouse controls and runs very smoothly. Plenty of post-game bonus content. Mercifully short. Cons: The solid premise is quickly wasted on a core mystery that grows less intriguing and more predictable as it goes. Characters are borderline one-note. Somnium and escape room sections are too streamlined. Too many porno mag jokes. Score: 5/10 Formats: Nintendo Switch 2 (reviewed), Nintendo Switch, and PC Price: £34.99 Developer: Spike Chunsoft Publisher: Spike Chunsoft Release Date: 25th July 2025 Age Rating: 16 Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy review – no reason to object MORE: Master Detective Archives: Rain Code review – the unofficial Danganronpa 4 MORE: Danganronpa 1•2 Reload review – trials by fire
Business Mayor
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Mayor
Last Defense Academy makes confusion part of the fun
The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy starts off by asking a simple question: what happens when you pluck a handful of colorful teenagers from their homes, plop them in a state-of-the-art school filled with every convenience, then force them to fight for their lives? Your guide as you navigate this question is an unsettling and creepy-cute mascot that knows more than it's let on, and there's an overarching mystery to the world that you can't quite put your finger on. If you, like I, answered ' Danganronpa !' — as this premise sounds very much like the plot of the quirky and irreverent murder-mystery series from Spike Chunsoft — then congratulations! We're both totally wrong! And after 45 in-game days with LDA, I still have no idea what's going on, and I love it. I'm going to be gentle with myself and you for thinking LDA is another entry in the genre of high school-themed killing games. After all, it was developed by Kazutaka Kodaka, creator and writer of the Danganronpa franchise, in collaboration with Kotaro Uchikoshi, known for his work on the adventure-puzzle game series Zero Escape . And though LDA oozes with the DNA from both series, it stands so completely apart mechanically and narratively that while I can get a grasp on the former, I'm lost with the latter. The cast of this game is full of great characters. Image: Too Kyo Games The premise is simple enough. You play as Takumi Sumino, who gets whisked away to the Last Defense Academy, where he and a group of others use their newly awakened powers to defend the school from monster attacks for 100 days. Should they fail, the invaders will destroy the school and thereby… because of plot… all of humanity. Usually past a certain point, I can figure out a game's core gameplay loop and rough narrative thrust. When the first body dropped in Danganronpa , I immediately understood that I'd be spending the rest of the game solving my classmates' murders. But I haven't been able to figure out LDA . I understand the gameplay loop easily enough: it's a tactical RPG with visual novel-like relationship-building elements. Combat takes place on a gridded battlefield with each combatant able to attack in a different configuration, similar to chess. One of Takumi's abilities attacks enemies in a straight line. My ally, Gaku, attacks in a rectangular pattern. Each of my allies' attacks contributes to a voltage meter that allows us to use our special abilities when full. And if one of my allies should fall, they'll be revived before the next wave of enemies. I like how the tactical combat isn't like Fire Emblem or Triangle Strategy . LDA is unique, as you're not trying to manage the complex rock-paper-scissors formula of what weapons are strong or weak against each other. Instead, life is the engine that drives combat. Actions you take are determined by how many action points, or AP, you have, and killing certain enemies grants you more AP. On the flip side, allies who are near death can unleash big special attacks that can clear entire battlefields at the cost of losing them for the rest of the wave. Combat is grid-based, and allies can attack in varying configurations. Images: Too Kyo Games Combat then becomes a function of playing with life totals — my enemies and mine. I'll arrange my attacks in such a way that every time I act, I kill an enemy and gain more AP so I can just keep going, denying my enemies the chance to fight back. Then, when I'm out of AP, I can unleash a killing blow that ends the round. My allies get revived the next round, and I can start the process all over again. I've been left so unsatisfied by the crop of tactical RPGs lately, and LDA fills the gaping hole Fire Emblem Engage created and the Advance Wars remakes could not fix. But while I've got a handle on the combat, I still haven't the faintest clue of the story it's trying to tell. My confusion is so thorough that as I go through each new day, my experiences start sounding like wartime letters from the front lines. It's day 33. Our self-proclaimed leader, Hiruko, is still missing. We're starting to suspect she'll never return. Meanwhile, the enemy keeps hurling themselves at our defenses. So far, we've been able to hold them off. Gaku recently developed his power, revealing himself to be a peerless ranged fighter. But our forces are nowhere near full strength, since Ima, Kako, and Shouma refuse to fight. And alas! Our foodstores have burnt up and I fear we'll starve soon. War is grim, but I fight knowing the closer I get to the 100th day is a day I am closer to returning home… or so I hope. LDA 's narrative is so unlike anything I've ever experienced that not knowing what's happening next is part of the fun. I like getting dragged along for the ride, discovering new developments alongside the characters, who are themselves a delight. As other outlets have pointed out, Darumi Amemiya is the physical manifestation of the irony-poisoned and terminally online dirtbag edgel(ady), and I adore her even if her characterization gets uncomfortably familiar sometimes. I am thou, thou art I… unfortunately. Image: Too Kyo Games I also really enjoy how the characters are over-the-top caricatures themselves — Darumi's the creepy murder-obsessed emo girl, Takemaru's the typical fighting-obsessed delinquent — but make decisions like normal people. I often struggle to get into 'transported to another world' stories because none of the decisions made in them have ever made sense to me, a woman who can't turn off her overly logical and reason-obsessed brain in order to just go with the flow. So it's incredibly refreshing to see these characters push back on the circumstances they've been dropped in. Instead of just accepting that they've been taken from everything they've ever known and forced to fight and die (even if that death is temporary), some of my allies maintain a healthy level of skepticism, question everything, and refuse to fight. I know I would! And even better, other characters in the game understand and acknowledge that as a reasonable position. There's no rah-rah speech of 'You must fight!' that convinces them to take up arms. The reluctant characters are given the space to come around on their own time and for their own reasons. That may sound boring. After all, in an isekai-like narrative, the characters are usually forced to get on board quickly otherwise there wouldn't be a plot. So seeing a game take its time with the reluctant characters, letting them work through their hangups in a natural and unforced way, was pleasing to my brain. In the almost 50 days I've spent with LDA , I do have some working theories as to where the overall story will go. How it gets there, though, I have no clue, but I'm excited to see what twists the game will take along the way. The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy is out now on Switch and PC.
The Verge
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Verge
Last Defense Academy makes confusion part of the fun
The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy starts off by asking a simple question: what happens when you pluck a handful of colorful teenagers from their homes, plop them in a state-of-the-art school filled with every convenience, then force them to fight for their lives? Your guide as you navigate this question is an unsettling and creepy-cute mascot that knows more than it's let on, and there's an overarching mystery to the world that you can't quite put your finger on. If you, like I, answered ' Danganronpa!' — as this premise sounds very much like the plot of the quirky and irreverent murder-mystery series from Spike Chunsoft — then congratulations! We're both totally wrong! And after 45 in-game days with LDA, I still have no idea what's going on, and I love it. I'm going to be gentle with myself and you for thinking LDA is another entry in the genre of high school-themed killing games. After all, it was developed by Kazutaka Kodaka, creator and writer of the Danganronpa franchise, in collaboration with Kotaro Uchikoshi, known for his work on the adventure-puzzle game series Zero Escape. And though LDA oozes with the DNA from both series, it stands so completely apart mechanically and narratively that while I can get a grasp on the former, I'm lost with the latter. The premise is simple enough. You play as Takumi Sumino, who gets whisked away to the Last Defense Academy, where he and a group of others use their newly awakened powers to defend the school from monster attacks for 100 days. Should they fail, the invaders will destroy the school and thereby… because of plot… all of humanity. Usually past a certain point, I can figure out a game's core gameplay loop and rough narrative thrust. When the first body dropped in Danganronpa, I immediately understood that I'd be spending the rest of the game solving my classmates' murders. But I haven't been able to figure out LDA. I understand the gameplay loop easily enough: it's a tactical RPG with visual novel-like relationship-building elements. Combat takes place on a gridded battlefield with each combatant able to attack in a different configuration, similar to chess. One of Takumi's abilities attacks enemies in a straight line. My ally, Gaku, attacks in a rectangular pattern. Each of my allies' attacks contributes to a voltage meter that allows us to use our special abilities when full. And if one of my allies should fall, they'll be revived before the next wave of enemies. I like how the tactical combat isn't like Fire Emblem or Triangle Strategy. LDA is unique, as you're not trying to manage the complex rock-paper-scissors formula of what weapons are strong or weak against each other. Instead, life is the engine that drives combat. Actions you take are determined by how many action points, or AP, you have, and killing certain enemies grants you more AP. On the flip side, allies who are near death can unleash big special attacks that can clear entire battlefields at the cost of losing them for the rest of the wave. Combat then becomes a function of playing with life totals — my enemies and mine. I'll arrange my attacks in such a way that every time I act, I kill an enemy and gain more AP so I can just keep going, denying my enemies the chance to fight back. Then, when I'm out of AP, I can unleash a killing blow that ends the round. My allies get revived the next round, and I can start the process all over again. I've been left so unsatisfied by the crop of tactical RPGs lately, and LDA fills the gaping hole Fire Emblem Engage created and the Advance Wars remakes could not fix. But while I've got a handle on the combat, I still haven't the faintest clue of the story it's trying to tell. My confusion is so thorough that as I go through each new day, my experiences start sounding like wartime letters from the front lines. It's day 33. Our self-proclaimed leader, Hiruko, is still missing. We're starting to suspect she'll never return. Meanwhile, the enemy keeps hurling themselves at our defenses. So far, we've been able to hold them off. Gaku recently developed his power, revealing himself to be a peerless ranged fighter. But our forces are nowhere near full strength, since Ima, Kako, and Shouma refuse to fight. And alas! Our foodstores have burnt up and I fear we'll starve soon. War is grim, but I fight knowing the closer I get to the 100th day is a day I am closer to returning home… or so I hope. LDA 's narrative is so unlike anything I've ever experienced that not knowing what's happening next is part of the fun. I like getting dragged along for the ride, discovering new developments alongside the characters, who are themselves a delight. As other outlets have pointed out, Darumi Amemiya is the physical manifestation of the irony-poisoned and terminally online dirtbag edgel(ady), and I adore her even if her characterization gets uncomfortably familiar sometimes. I also really enjoy how the characters are over-the-top caricatures themselves — Darumi's the creepy murder-obsessed emo girl, Takemaru's the typical fighting-obsessed delinquent — but make decisions like normal people. I often struggle to get into 'transported to another world' stories because none of the decisions made in them have ever made sense to me, a woman who can't turn off her overly logical and reason-obsessed brain in order to just go with the flow. So it's incredibly refreshing to see these characters push back on the circumstances they've been dropped in. Instead of just accepting that they've been taken from everything they've ever known and forced to fight and die (even if that death is temporary), some of my allies maintain a healthy level of skepticism, question everything, and refuse to fight. I know I would! And even better, other characters in the game understand and acknowledge that as a reasonable position. There's no rah-rah speech of 'You must fight!' that convinces them to take up arms. The reluctant characters are given the space to come around on their own time and for their own reasons. That may sound boring. After all, in an isekai-like narrative, the characters are usually forced to get on board quickly otherwise there wouldn't be a plot. So seeing a game take its time with the reluctant characters, letting them work through their hangups in a natural and unforced way, was pleasing to my brain. In the almost 50 days I've spent with LDA, I do have some working theories as to where the overall story will go. How it gets there, though, I have no clue, but I'm excited to see what twists the game will take along the way.
