No Sleep For Kaname Date – From AI: The Somnium Files review

Metro

3 days ago

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.
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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
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