PSYNCIN' IN THE REFRaiN

## Chapters

*-Open the Door to Boss's Truth!-*
*"Boss is hiding something. Reveal the truth of the New Cyclops Serial Killings."*
—Somnium description
**PSYNCIN' IN THE REFRaiN**is a dreamworld featured in *AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES*.

It is a Somnium world created from Boss's dream by the Psync Machine. Kaname Date and Pewter investigated her Somnium to learn of her connections to the New Cyclops Serial Killings.

## Mental Locks

This Somnium contains a large number of exaggerated time-consuming options, high multiple of negative TIMIEs, and the entire map is divided into three floors, and each floor is divided into separated sections accessible through different doors. To travel between floors, the player needs to visit the **Door marked with a letter**, enter through this Door and leave through the Door opposite it. For example, if the player enters **Door A**, they will exit through **Door A'**. The complex map structure and strict TIMIE combination requirements make this Somnium the most difficult one in the whole series so far.

### Mental Lock #1 - Open the first door.

The requirement to unlock each Mental Lock is to open the Large Door on the edge of the factory, the player starts in the large section of 1st floor. Besides the large section, where **Door 0**, **Door A**, **Door 1** are located, the 1st floor has an isolated part at upper right, where **Ladder (1F)** and **Cord** are located, but the player is yet unavailable to access it. To unlock Mental Lock #1, **Door 1** needs to be opened, the correct option is *Break Lock with Pick*, which consumes 66s. After each door is opened, the player will witness a murder scene that appeared in the previous episode, and get x10 TIMIE.

**Door 0** is inspectable during this time, but it has absolutely nothing to do with clearing the Somnium, and costs 999s, bringing the x999 TIMIE to the player. It means that even if the player can use TIMIE to safely execute this option, the acquisition of x999 TIMIE has declared a complete failure, so neglect it.

Before executing *Break Lock with Pick*, first find a TIMIE that reduces the time it consumes. The best solution is to find the nearest **Door A** and choose *Open*, which only consumes 1s and can get a 1/6 TIMIE. After attempting to open it the player will discover that it requires a key to unlock it, which will appear after a while.

In summary, to unlock Mental Lock #1:

* *Open* on **Door A** (1s, 1/6) -> *Break Lock with Pick* on **Door 1** (66s1/6, x10)

### Mental Lock #2 - Open the second door.

After opening **Door 1**, the player needs to select one of the correct keys among the keys dropped nearby to open **Door A**. The correct one is **Key 1**, the one with the ice pick inserted. However, the player has just obtained a x10 TIMIE, and must first choose an option that only consumes 1s to use it up. Therefore, perform *Pick Up* on **Key 5** first, and then pick up **Key 1**, use it to open **Door A**. After picking up Key 1, all remaining keys disappear.

After entering Door A, the player find themselves on the 3rd floor. The 3rd floor is divided into three parts: the upper part with **Door D'**, **Pipe**, **Control Panel**, the middle part with **Door A'**, **Door B**, and the isolated **Door F** part. In the middle where the player is, the only one that can be investigated is **Door B**. There are three ways to open an unlocked door, one of which takes only 1 second to open directly, but will bring a negative TIMIE; the other two will take more time but will bring a positive TIMIE. If you want to save as much time as possible, choose *Open*. This will get negative TIMIE, but then there is a way to consume it in the shortest possible time later.

After entering Door B, the player find themselves on the 2nd floor. The 2nd floor is divided into two parts: the upper part and lower part. Most objects are at the upper part, which are **Door C'**, **Door D**, **Door E**, **Door E'**, **Shelf**, **Steel Drum**; In the lower part, only **Door B'** and **Door C** exist. The player is located in the lower part and can only access **Door C**. Just like before, choose to open directly, under the effect of negative TIMIE, it only consumes 3s, allowing the player to enter the upper part.

After entering the upper part, the player finds that **Door 2**, have Mental Lock #2 unlocked by opening it, is blocked by **Shelf**. The option to make **Door 2** accessible isn't on the Shelf however, but to push down the nearby **Steel Drum**. In order to consume x5 TIMIE, investigate **Door D** or **Door E** before that, opening them directly only consumes 1s. If you try to open **Door D**, the player will find it locked; if you open **Door E**, the player will return to the original location from **Door E'** next to it. Next, perform *Push* on **Steel Drum**, and then open **Door 2** with [1] TIMIE, because the *Open* option originally takes 999s, and it's impossible to do it safely without using this TIMIE.

In summary, to unlock Mental Lock #2:

* *Pick Up* on **Key 5** (1sx10) -> *Pick Up* on **Key 1** (5s, [1]) -> *Open* on **Door A** (1s) -> *Open* on **Door B** (1s, x3) -> *Open* on **Door C** (1sx3, x5) -> *Open* on **Door D** or **Door E** (1sx5, No TIMIE or [1]) -> *Push* on **Steel Drum** (7s, Random) -> *Open* on **Door 2** (999s[1], x10)

### Mental Lock #3 - Open the third door.

After opening **Door 2**, the player needs to select one of the correct keys among the keys dropped nearby to open **Door D**, but this time all the keys are scattered all over the floor. The correct one is **Key (08:00)**, located near **Door D**. However, like before, the player has just obtained a x10 TIMIE, and must first choose an option that only consumes 1s to use it up. Therefore, perform *Open* on **Door D** or **Door E** first, and then pick up **Key (08:00)**, use it to open **Door D**. After picking up Key (08:00), all remaining keys disappear.

If the player has not executed *Open* option on **Door E** at this time, it is recommended to open it and collect a [1] TIMIE, which is especially important for subsequent actions.

After entering Door D, the player find themselves on the upper part of the 3rd floor where **Door 3** is, but the door is frozen by now. To unfreeze the door, investigate the **Pipe** next to it, and execute *Kick*, it only consumes 7s. If the TIMIEs that the player has obtained are full, and the leftmost one is [1], then one of the TIMIEs that is not [1] must be consumed here, because [1] is very important in subsequent actions and cannot be used recklessly. Once Door 3 is unfrozen, use a [1] TIMIE to *Open* it to unlock Mental Lock #3.

In summary, to unlock Mental Lock #3:

* *Open* on **Door D** or **Door E** (1sx10, No TIMIE or [1]) -> *Pick Up* on **Key (08:00)** (5s, [1]) -> *Open* on **Door D** (1s) -> *Kick* on **Pipe** (7sAny 1/n TIMIE) -> *Open* on **Door 3** (999s[1], x10)

### Mental Lock #4 - Open the fourth door.

Next, the player needs to use the Control Panel to create a new route to the isolated area on the 1st floor and open **Door 4**. To consume the x10 TIMIE, first *Investigate* the **Control Panel**, then *Insert Key*. After inserting the key, two options will appear on the **Control Panel** for the player to manipulate the scaffold nearby. *Rotate Key* will change its scale, executing it the first time will shrink it, and the second time will enlarge it; *Press Switch* will make it move through the direction away from the Control Panel. In order for the scaffold to move in that direction and unfold again, execute *Rotate Key* first, then *Press Switch*, and finally execute *Rotate Key* again. In this way, the scaffold will connect the area where **Door B** is located with the isolated area where **Door F** is located, and the area where **Door A'** is located will be inaccessible. If you execute Press Switch without first reducing the scale of the scaffold, it will be blocked by obstacles on the way because of its large size, and it will not be able to transfer its position.

After the operation succeeded, leave from **Door D'** and return to the 2nd floor, then pass through **Door C'** and **Door B'** in turn according to the prompts that appear when the Control Panel is successfully operated, and return to the middle part of the 3rd floor. The player will appear at the location of **Door B**, and now they can go to the area where **Door F** was isolated before passing through the changed scaffold. What to pay attention to when opening the door this time: all options after passing through the door will require consuming 999s, which requires the player not to be able to obtain any negative TIMIE at this time, but must use [1] TIMIE in following moves. So, using a 1/n TIMIE obtained earlier, perform *Kick Open* or *Tackle* on **Door F** to the isolated area on the 1st floor.

After arriving in this area, the player can no longer return to the area they have been to before, which means that the next actions can only rely on the currently preserved TIMIEs. In order to unblock **Door 4**, the player must try to create an explosion that destroys the slats blocking it. By observing the layout here, it can be seen that the power cord can explode when it comes into contact with the oil in the nearby oil drums. Therefore, *Tackle* the **Ladder (1F)** next to the pile of objects located to the left of the player, to create a chain reaction. Note that this action must use [1] TIMIE to proceed with the following activities, as the action originally consumes 999s.

After the explosion, **Door 4** will be accessible. Although this time you can unlock Mental Lock #4 to clear the Somnium without using TIMIE to open it, but if you want to keep the remaining time at the end, you must use the previously accumulated [1] TIMIE to open the door, as usual.

In summary, to unlock Mental Lock #4:

* *Investigate* on **Control Panel** (1sx10) -> *Insert Key* on **Control Panel** (5s) -> *Rotate Key* on **Control Panel** (2s) -> *Press Switch* on **Control Panel** (2s) -> *Rotate Key* on **Control Panel** (2s) -> *Open* on **Door D'** (10sAny 1/n TIMIE, [1]) -> *Open* on **Door C'** (10sAny 1/n TIMIE, Random) -> *Open* on **Door B'** (10sAny 1/n TIMIE, Random) -> *Kick Open* or *Tackle* on **Door F** (30s or 60sAny 1/n TIMIE, 1/3 or 1/6) -> *Tackle* on **Ladder (1F)** (999s[1]) -> *Open* on **Door 4** (999s[1])

## TIMIE Pool

The following is the pool of TIMIEs that spawn during PSYNCIN' IN THE REFRaiN. Certain choices in the Somnium will drop a random selection of TIMIE from this pool, "**Pool 2**", composed entirely of the TIMIEs 1/2, 1/3, 1/9, and 1/10. During the first 3 minutes, the values 1/2 and 1/3 make up a 90% chance of appearing during drops. From 3 minutes to the last 90 seconds, the values even out, with 1/3 and 1/9 being 30% each, and 1/2 and 1/10 being 20% each. In the last 90 seconds, the 1/9 and 1/10 values, normally rare for any pool of TIMIEs, appear with 90% certainty. This exceedingly small TIMIE pool that provides only positive TIMIEs exists to counter-balance the Somnium's large scope and prevalent cases of present Negative TIMIEs alongside large time-spending choices. Since PSYNCIN' IN THE REFRaiN is very demanding in its use of time, the increase in chance for 1/9 and 1/10 values near the end can help players advance when the timer is dire.

## Objects of Interest

The Somnium is divided into three different floors, with travel from each floor done through traversing different doors around the warehouse. Most doors are open, but two specific doors require keys to enter, each obtained just after Mental Lock #1 and #2 are unlocked.

## Hidden Object

* Once you are done with the **Control Panel**, go through **Door D'**. At 2nd floor, behind your character there should be a bunch of barrels forming the letter L and pointing towards a walkway. That's where you need to go to get the **hidden object**.

## Gallery

Layout of Ruined Chemical Plant's 1st Floor, starting sectionMap of Ruined Chemical Plant's 1st FloorLayout of Ruined Chemical Plant's 2nd Floor, upper sectionLayout of Ruined Chemical Plant's 2nd Floor, lower sectionMap of Ruined Chemical Plant's 2nd FloorLayout of Ruined Chemical Plant's 3rd Floor, upper sectionThe Control Room on 3rd Floor, upper sectionThe shrunk scaffoldLayout of Ruined Chemical Plant's 3rd Floor, middle sectionLayout of Ruined Chemical Plant's 3rd Floor, isolated sectionMap of Ruined Chemical Plant's 3rd FloorMap of Ruined Chemical Plant's 3rd Floor, after resetting the scaffoldLayout of Ruined Chemical Plant's 1st Floor, final isolated section
## Trivia

* There exists a save corruption glitch in PSYNCIN' IN THE REFRaiN, reported specifically for the PlayStation 4 version of the game. Attempting to save during the Somnium may result in an ERROR message appearing on screen preventing the ability to save. In the event that the game *does* save during the Somnium, the created save file is ultimately corrupted and cannot be loaded up again, requiring the player to use another, if any, save file to continue playing.
* PSYNCIN' IN THE REFRaiN contains the most examinable Objects of Interest in any Somnium in the game, at 32 different objects to inspect.
	+ However, depending on how the objects are counted, PSYNCIN' IN THE MaiN: 2 could potentially be tied at 32 objects with REFRaiN, as there are certain objects that change properties and are given new names within that Somnium (such as "Guardian Dog (Peach)" being renamed to "Guardian Dog (Left)"). Additionally, there are certain objects in MaiN: 2 that don't get renamed but bear completely different functions and choices depending on which phase of the Somnium the player is currently at, such as Iris, the Chozuya, and the Arch, rounding up to 35 examinable Objects total.
* The various doors with letters written in blood found throughout the Somnium are a reference to the video game *Zero Escape: Nine Hours Nine Persons Nine Doors*, which was written and directed by Kotaro Uchikoshi, the writer and director for *AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES*. In that game, the characters must pass through various doors labeled 1 through 9, and marked in blood (or red paint) in the same style as the doors in PSYNCIN' IN THE REFRaiN.
	+ Additionally, all the various x999 TIMIE that can be found throughout the Somnium are most likely a reference to the game as well, as it is often shortened to simply *Zero Escape: 999*.

## Navigation

Hitomi Sagan • Mayumi Matsushita • Renju Okiura • Mama • Shoko Nadami • So Sejima • Moma Kumakura • Rohan Kumakura • Cyclops Serial Killer