AI: The Somnium Files - Nirvana Initiative is the highly-anticipated sequel to 2019's AI: The Somnium Files, a stellar visual novel and adventure game written and directed by Kotaro Uchikoshi. Over the years, Uchikoshi has developed a reputation for creating games with excellent characters, philosophical concepts, and incredibly dark scenarios with the right amount of levity scattered throughout.
Uchikoshi returned as a scenario writer for Nirvana Initiative and has created another thrilling mystery that stars most of the original game's main cast and some fascinating new characters. Both games feature strange worlds to explore, head-scratching puzzle sequences, and the perfect balance of humor, heart, and suspense. Once you solve the mystery behind the Half Body murders, you might want to continue your detective work, and these games contain similarly intriguing cases.
9 The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story
Released only a few months before Nirvana Initiative, The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story allows you to follow, solve, and eventually connect four murders that take place across a century. It's one of the more distinct games in the genre due to its live-action presentation which features stunning cinematography and fantastic acting.
Due to The Centennial Case's choice to use real people and locations, its story is much more grounded than most. The heroes don't have superstrength or an AI-Ball like Aiba to help them solve the cases, so they rely on classic intuition and perception to see through lies and piece together the evidence needed to unveil the truth behind the Shijima family.
8 Deadly Premonition
Deadly Premonition is still the closest we may ever get to having a Twin Peaks video game. In both the game and the show, you follow an ambitious young detective sent to a small town to investigate a horrendous murder. The two tell very different stories ultimately, but both have unexpected twists, fascinating characters, and a riveting mystery.
The biggest difference between the two games is that Deadly Premonition is more of an open-world adventure game than a visual novel. To solve the case, Detective Francis York Morgan must drive around town, interviewing the locals and manually driving to locations to search for clues. If you enjoyed the humor and characters from Nirvana Initiative and can overlook some not-great gameplay, then you should look into this strange yet charming title.
7 The Wolf Among Us
The Wolf Among Us was released in 2013 and is still regarded as one of the best games in Telltale's library. The game acts as a prequel to the popular Fables series of comic books and stars modernized versions of familiar characters like Snow White, The Three Little Pigs, and more. It's kind of like Shrek, but much darker.
You play as Bigby Wolf, AKA The Big Bad Wolf from Little Red Riding Hood as he tracks down a serial killer. Fabletown is supposed to be a haven for folklore characters, but once they start disappearing, it's up to you to sniff out the truth. Like many other Telltale games, you face a series of decisions that can impact who lives, who dies, and the overall ending.
6 Disco Elysium: The Final Cut
If you're looking for a darker and more abstract mystery to solve after finishing Nirvana Initiative, Disco Elysium should be on your list of games to check out. It's one of the most popular and successful murder-mystery titles in recent memory and is full of compelling characters, sharp writing, and a story that's bound to leave you mesmerized.
While the two games share an intriguing narrative and cast, the gameplay between them is vastly different. Disco Elysium is much more complex and utilizes RPG mechanics to change how your character interacts with the world and affects the story as a whole. While it doesn't contain any puzzles to solve like in Nirvana Initiative, Disco Elysium is an immersive adventure that's worth playing over and over again.
5 Famicom Detective Club: The Girl Who Stands Behind
Famicom Detective Club originally debuted in Japan in 1988 but wouldn't be available to play worldwide until a full remake was released in 2021. The duology of games helped pioneer the visual novel genre and was also one of Nintendo's first attempts with this style. While The Girl Who Stands Behind was released after The Missing Heir, it's actually a prequel that expands the original game's story with a new mystery.
A cloud of tension and horror hovers over the protagonist throughout The Girl Who Stands Behind. After the murder of a freshman student, rumors begin circulating about a blood-soaked ghost terrorizing other people, and it's up to you to solve this terrifying mystery. The remake contains updated graphics, music, and voice acting to help create a more engaging and exhilarating experience.
4 The Ace Attorney Series
Ace Attorney is often one of the first visual novels people check out due to its unique premise and immersive gameplay. Like Nirvana Initiative, each game is split into two sections; investigations allow you to move around and interact with multiple areas, while the courtroom requires puzzle-solving and attention to detail.
The main difference between Nirvana Initiative and the Ace Attorney games is that instead of solving one crime, each game in the Ace Attorney series usually consists of four to five cases with a major mystery looming over the entire adventure. Both series contain excellent writing, memorable characters, and head-spinning cases full of delightful twists and turns.
3 Return Of The Obra Dinn
If exploring Somniums and solving puzzles were your favorite part of Nirvana Initiative, then Return of The Obra Dinn is the perfect game for you. It takes place on a ship that has suddenly reappeared after going missing, and it's up to you to explore it and discover what happened to it and its crew. Its monochromatic style is evocative of older computer games and is used perfectly to create a stellar atmosphere full of intrigue and mystery.
One of your main goals in Return of the Obra Dinn is to determine what happened to all sixty people on board when it disappeared. Using a device known as the "Memento Mortem", you can travel to the time of death of any passenger. Sound familiar? The entire game is like an eight-hour Somnium with a mystery that's incredibly fulfilling to piece together.
2 The Zero Escape Series
Let's face it, if you enjoyed either the original AI: The Somnium Files or Nirvana Initiative, it would only make sense for you to go back and check out the games that helped put Kotaro Uchikoshi's name on the visual novel map. Without the success of his Zero Escape trilogy, these newer games might not have even existed.
All three games in the Zero Escape series revolve around a group of strangers participating in a deadly game. You will be tasked with making decisions that will determine the fate of each character and will lead you to one of several endings. The games are all brutal, funny, and full of unforgettable characters and moments. There are also multiple references to these games throughout Nirvana Initiative, and having the context from Zero Escape only enhances the overall journey.
1 Paradise Killer
Paradise Killer and Nirvana Initiative may look like very different games on the surface, but if you dig deep enough into either one you may be surprised to see how common they are while also offering very different experiences. In Paradise Killer, you play as Lady Love Dies, an investigator tasked with solving the bizarre murders of a council of alien beings. You must navigate the island, interview the locals, and ultimately decide on whom you believe the culprit to be.
Both Paradise Killer and Nirvana Initiative take place in colorful worlds that quickly immerse you into them with intriguing characters and a dark mystery. While the latter rarely lets you explore outside Somniums, Paradise Killer is an open-world game that allows you to go wherever you want, whenever you want. This allows you to tackle the game's events in a non-linear fashion, which is very rare for these kinds of games. Paradise Killer and Nirvana Initiative are both very strange games, but they also provide some of the most abstract, seductive, and mesmerizing mysteries in the genre.