Publisher Spike Chunsoft has announced the AI: The Somnium Files – nirvanA Initiative, the sequel to 2019's successful adventure thriller, will be delayed by two weeks in Europe and Oceania. The game was initially set to release on June 24 worldwide, but issues in the global supply chain caused by the COVID-19 pandemic are still being felt today.
"Due to unforeseen manufacturing delays and global shipping slowdowns, Spike Chunsoft, Inc. and Numskull Games unfortunately must delay the European and Oceania release of this title across all platforms (Nintendo Switch™, PlayStation®4 and Xbox One)," wrote Chunsoft on the official site. "To maintain parity, the digital releases for these regions will be delayed to July 8th as well."
The first game, AI: The Somnium Files, was released in 2019 on PC, Switch, and PS4, only arriving on Xbox One two years later. The game tells the story of a futuristic cyberpunk Tokyo where investigators use the AI-powered Psync machine to enter the minds of witnesses and suspects wanted for murder.
Detective Kaname Date used the Psync machine to enter what's known as the "somnium," a strange and psychadellic dreamscape formed by the memories of the mind being entered. There, the player must search for and interpret clues much like they do in the real world.
Reviews for AI: The Somnium Files were generally pretty good, with Bella giving it four out of five in her review. "It’s a title that isn’t afraid to go from zero to grimdark in sixty seconds, to dump large bits of exposition on the player, or to raise the sorts of questions about humanity that’ll keep you up at night. A stringently focus-tested and accessible game, this is not."
In AI: The Somnium Files – nirvanA Initiative, players will play as two protagonists instead of one. Psyncers Mizuki and Ryuki will use their mind-bending technology to solve the case of the "half-body" serial killings. As for why it's called that, well, you can watch the trailer above to find out.
AI: The Somnium Files – nirvanA Initiative arrives on PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC on June 24, except for Oceania and Europe, which will get it on July 8.