AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative Post Game, Nil Number, and remaining secrets guide

AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative has a compelling, winding narrative with twists and turns. When reaching the end of your journey, you might be left with a few lingering questions. Depending on a seemingly random and incidental choice early on, there could be one big question on your mind: “What was that about a Nil Number again? Frayers? What??”

Unlike its predecessor, nirvanA Initiative has a post game, even if it's a short one. There’s a chance you made a beeline for it as soon as you discover the number in the game’s epilogue, but there’s also a chance that those numbers just confused you immensely. No worries, we’ll point you in the right direction.

Everything that follows will feature HEAVY end game/post game spoilers for AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Iniatitive. Proceed with caution, and do not read any further until you have finished the game.

During the epilogue, Mizuki and her new friend will revisit the main areas and talk to the characters that typically inhabit them. It’s sweet stuff, and a good follow-up to the original. One of these events will be a massive tonal departure. Back at Naix HQ, a hologram of Tokiko will speak to Mizuki. Well, to be more specific, through Mizuki and to you. She will display a six digit number, before leaving you to finish up and enjoy your charming dance number and get your credits.

Write this number down, this is the Nil Number. We can’t provide you this number either, because it is unique to every single playthrough. Your Nil Number will not be the same as your friend’s, and the game will only accept yours. 

But where do you put this number in? Remember back to a moment in Ryuki’s side of the campaign, where he met with her early on. 

Specifically, the timeline node you want to jump back to is Ryuki Chapter 1, February 11th (Mon) - Ought to Know. Specifically, at the Naix Japan President’s Office.

Talk to her for a bit (skip through dialog if you feel like it, but it won’t take long), and then check the Nonuple-X logo behind her, until she asks you a question

“Are you a Frayer?”

Answer “Yes” to her questions twice, and she will then ask you for the Nil Number. Type in the number you wrote earlier, and hit enter.

This is your last chance to turn back, the ride starts now. There are some more hidden aspects to uncover that you might not find yourself after the moments that follow however, so be sure to come back later once you experience what’s about to play out.

Congrats, you’ve now reached what I like to call, the secret “Nil Route”. More officially though, it is called “Ryuki Chapter Diverge”. The world will begin to break down, and you’ll be treated to a scene that defies reality. You’ll have control of Ryuki again, in third person, and all that’s left is to quite literally walk through the level geometry. Head straight through, and keep going until you meet Tokiko. After having a chilling conversation with Tokiko, she will ask you a question. Do you want to share the information with him? Choose Share. No worries, there will not be any negative consequences of this.

After this you will unlock a new branch, showing a world that could have been. It won’t be long until you finish this up. 

There are more secrets to find, however. The immediately unlocked one is found in the Bonus menu, and is only unlocked after clearing this ending. This is the 3rd Class Cabin, which will immediately jump out to fans of Uchikoshi’s previous work: This is the first escape room of his breakout game 999 - Nine Hours Nine Persons Nine Doors. 

What’s more, this has been fully remade in 3D as a Somnium for Aiba to explore! Same dialogue, sound effects, cutscenes, and general mechanics tweaked slightly to work as a Somnium. This mode will end as soon as you reach the end, but what a cool extra mode. Completing it will unlock the Nonary Bracelet for Tama and Aiba, for which they’ll have fun dialogue in reference to 999 when putting it on.

This will leave you set for your post game clean up in style, but it’s not the only secret nirvanA Initiative has waiting. There’s a far more tucked away one a lot of players will miss. In the Appendix menu, at the very end, will be a new entry called “Nirvana Spell”. The only thing displayed here is: Fray Dumb Letter.

Here’s some context. For those who weren’t following closely to the marketing of this game before release, there was an ARG called Hidden Bats. This was done through a variety of in-universe twitter accounts and a hub site found here. If you missed out on this, and would like to catch up on all of it, the ARG has been compiled on the AI fan wiki here. 

After it concluded, there was still a TV screen at the bottom of the main page with the word Answer displayed. Clicking this would ask for a Nirvana Spell, where inputting that Appendix entry will crack the code.

For preservation purposes, we will be displaying the entire message here:

I congratulate you for reaching this point.
As promised, I will reveal to you the truth of this experiment.

Aine Ichirai and Binato Sotobara.
Mariha Monzen and Lumina Rikujo.
Kairo Goshiki and Iris Sagan.

These six individuals had an extraordinary power.
The power to create a "tear" in this world and interface with existence beyond it.

However, in order to manifest this ability, they had to be driven into an extreme state of mind.
This was necessary to stimulate the prefrontal cortex of the brain to a heightened state.
This increased the probability of being able to recognize the existence of another world, and even information exchange became possible.

Why did we need your participation?
We needed your thoughts, your desire: "I want to save them."
All of them converged into a single wavelength and amplified.
This became the key to opening the Multidimensional Portal, which furthered their ability to interface.
It was vital to unify the vector of your wills, decoding the puzzles.

Now, one pivotal question remains, doesn't it?
“Why doesn't Iris Sagan have any memory of this disappearance?”
The answer can be explained by the fact that there are countless simulated worlds.

There are worlds in which she disappeared, and there are worlds in which she did not.
That simulated world you have acquainted yourself with, let us call that the "AI 2 world."
Your AI 2 world and the AI 2 world that another may have experienced are completely different.
Your AI 2 world was simply one in which Iris Sagan did not disappear.
But what of another's AI 2 world? Could they have experienced a world in which Iris Sagan did in fact disappear?
The story in that world will have developed differently from the one you experienced.
This is no coincidence.
We knew that your experience would lead you to this exact point.

All of this was part of our vision, our plan.
Making contact with your world was necessary in achieving our goal.
The fact that you are reading this now is proof that we reached the final stage.
You should know what this means.
Thank you for your cooperation.

You have reached a number of endings, and yet you are here because you are not yet satisfied.
It appears you hunger for a deeper truth.
It is your gift.
I knew I was right to believe in you.

Now it is your turn.
You may suffer the same fate as the six subjects of our experiment.
But there is no need to worry.
For you can change the workings of the world itself.
You are a Frayer.
You can tear at the seams of this world…

The sequel of AI: The Somnium Files turned out to be a far more mind boggling game than we could have ever expected. We hope we set all you Frayers on the right path to breaking out of the simulation!