The Nonary Games duology includes the first two Zero Escape games and serves as an excellent gateway for anyone wanting to try out Uchikoshi's visual novels.
Complex intertwined storytelling between the games, insane twists and creative puzzles make the Zero Escape games a must-play for every Visual Novel fan out there.
Complex intertwined storytelling between the games, insane twists and creative puzzles make the Zero Escape games a must-play for every Visual Novel fan out there.
999 was really good! i cant wait to get around to VLR
999 is a perfect game in my opinion. The story didn't overstay its welcome and everything was pretty much straight to the point and the twists were interesting and well timed if I can say so. The puzzles were easy and quick, it would be nice if they were just a little bit more challenging. Also wish we could skip escape rooms while doing other routes. The cast is amazing and honestly I think Akane is one of the best written female characters. Some characters, like Lotus for example, were a bit sidelined so I couldn't really form an opinion but other than that it truly is a 10/10 game for me.
VLR on the other hand is a bit of a mixed bag imo. I didn't really get attached to the cast like I did with the 999 one and some branches were a chore to play. The puzzles were challenging I gotta admit and the story and endgame twists were truly intriguing while some early game parts were just... boring :/ I'm a bit dissappointed in the character models and UI considering this is a remaster of sorts, I expected a more polished look, it looks poorly aged otherwise.
All in all, I'm glad I got into Zero Escape, I very much enjoy Uchikoshi's writing and it's a warm recommendation from me~
VLR on the other hand is a bit of a mixed bag imo. I didn't really get attached to the cast like I did with the 999 one and some branches were a chore to play. The puzzles were challenging I gotta admit and the story and endgame twists were truly intriguing while some early game parts were just... boring :/ I'm a bit dissappointed in the character models and UI considering this is a remaster of sorts, I expected a more polished look, it looks poorly aged otherwise.
All in all, I'm glad I got into Zero Escape, I very much enjoy Uchikoshi's writing and it's a warm recommendation from me~
WHY DO PEOPLE
Two excellent games that tell a wild and wonderful story. I loved the twisting and surprising storylines, and really enjoyed the puzzles.
this is one of those games that makes you close your eyes and try to visualize exactly how much crack cocaine was inhaled for the plot to go anywhere, much less be one of the best-written games i've ever played. without giving too much away, most stories travel forwards. sometimes, with time travel plots, the story travels backwards. but I assure you, until you play these games, you will never experience a story that moves side-to-side.
also something something fuck the dice puzzle
also something something fuck the dice puzzle
A collection of two incredible visual novels that make great use of the medium.
There's not much to say about Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors except that it's really damn good. Great mysteries, great characters that all get a good amount of time to shine, incredible atmosphere, there's really not much fault I can find with the story at all. This version of the game is a slightly different matter, though; with how the game made use of the Nintendo DS, some compromises would be unavoidable in translating it to one screen, but the decision to split the game into "novel" and "adventure" modes is baffling. I get what they were going for, but in practice there is basically no reason to use Adventure due to just how much narration you're missing- the narration is crucial in developing the game's atmosphere among other things, and a lot of that is just lost in Adventure (plus the existence of Adventure also has a negative effect on the prose in Novel due to the additional dialogue needed to make it work). It's a very unwieldy way of handling things, and in fact the lost iOS-only "The Novel" version of the game already had a much better solution to the problem. This remaster isn't all bad, though- the flowchart is a really nice QoL feature that really cuts down on repetition, and the newly added voice acting is some of the best I've ever heard and really enhances some of the game's scenes. It's a shame the modes were handled so awkwardly and that there wasn't a 3DS version that featured the best of both worlds, but as it is this is still a worthy way of playing 999 as long as you stay on Novel.
Virtue's Last Reward is a certainly more ambitious game, but it's also one that's considerably less of a focused experience. The game's nonlinear approach to storytelling is very creative and leads to some incredible moments, but it also makes the first half of an average playthrough a pretty slow burn with a lot of repetition while the second just hits the player with twist after twist. This works for some people, it won't for others, I guess I'm somewhere in the middle- I don't mind slowly unraveling a mystery, going through slight variations of the same scenes again and again not so much. Still, I was engaged throughout and it's very satisfying once everything comes together, even if a few things are kind of a stretch. The atmosphere isn't really as good as 999's either, the setting feels a lot less interesting and the sense of danger and urgency that game had is a lot less present here (supposedly due to executive interference), and the cast isn't quite as good or well-balanced in terms of screentime as 999's (Sigma in particular is a far inferior main character to Junpei), but it's still another outstanding experience overall that's definitely worth playing especially if you enjoyed the previous game.
There's not much to say about Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors except that it's really damn good. Great mysteries, great characters that all get a good amount of time to shine, incredible atmosphere, there's really not much fault I can find with the story at all. This version of the game is a slightly different matter, though; with how the game made use of the Nintendo DS, some compromises would be unavoidable in translating it to one screen, but the decision to split the game into "novel" and "adventure" modes is baffling. I get what they were going for, but in practice there is basically no reason to use Adventure due to just how much narration you're missing- the narration is crucial in developing the game's atmosphere among other things, and a lot of that is just lost in Adventure (plus the existence of Adventure also has a negative effect on the prose in Novel due to the additional dialogue needed to make it work). It's a very unwieldy way of handling things, and in fact the lost iOS-only "The Novel" version of the game already had a much better solution to the problem. This remaster isn't all bad, though- the flowchart is a really nice QoL feature that really cuts down on repetition, and the newly added voice acting is some of the best I've ever heard and really enhances some of the game's scenes. It's a shame the modes were handled so awkwardly and that there wasn't a 3DS version that featured the best of both worlds, but as it is this is still a worthy way of playing 999 as long as you stay on Novel.
Virtue's Last Reward is a certainly more ambitious game, but it's also one that's considerably less of a focused experience. The game's nonlinear approach to storytelling is very creative and leads to some incredible moments, but it also makes the first half of an average playthrough a pretty slow burn with a lot of repetition while the second just hits the player with twist after twist. This works for some people, it won't for others, I guess I'm somewhere in the middle- I don't mind slowly unraveling a mystery, going through slight variations of the same scenes again and again not so much. Still, I was engaged throughout and it's very satisfying once everything comes together, even if a few things are kind of a stretch. The atmosphere isn't really as good as 999's either, the setting feels a lot less interesting and the sense of danger and urgency that game had is a lot less present here (supposedly due to executive interference), and the cast isn't quite as good or well-balanced in terms of screentime as 999's (Sigma in particular is a far inferior main character to Junpei), but it's still another outstanding experience overall that's definitely worth playing especially if you enjoyed the previous game.
999 and VLR are both absolute classics, I love Uchikoshi's work. The VLR port is stellar, but 999 really really kind of relied on the DS, and the transition isn't pretty, especially with arbitrary and unnecessary script changes.
Just finished the first game so i’ll write its review before i forget everything. WOW. Such a crazy game. got this game recommended since it “was like danganronpa” even tho i don’t see the similarities, but i was NOT disappointed.
What i liked : (1) characters felt very human to me, no exaggerated personalities which surprisingly felt very refreshing. (2) the facts, I LOOOVE being fed random facts and knowledge like come on. Om nom nom. (3) the ending, SUCH a COOL messed up twist, sure it honestly took me a while to digest and i needed extra internet explanation but it was beyond insane. (4) the puzzles, not too hard and not too easy. (5) the scientific concepts : the number 9, digital roots, hexadecimals, its all pure genius i could never come up with this concept
What i hated: (1) yes all pure genius but i am still pretty dumb in maths 💀 puzzles that required that extra mathematical mile lost me (2) very petty but skipping text isn’t fast enough
First game : 4/5
What i liked : (1) characters felt very human to me, no exaggerated personalities which surprisingly felt very refreshing. (2) the facts, I LOOOVE being fed random facts and knowledge like come on. Om nom nom. (3) the ending, SUCH a COOL messed up twist, sure it honestly took me a while to digest and i needed extra internet explanation but it was beyond insane. (4) the puzzles, not too hard and not too easy. (5) the scientific concepts : the number 9, digital roots, hexadecimals, its all pure genius i could never come up with this concept
What i hated: (1) yes all pure genius but i am still pretty dumb in maths 💀 puzzles that required that extra mathematical mile lost me (2) very petty but skipping text isn’t fast enough
First game : 4/5
999 > VLR
I'm going to treat this small review as a comprehensive one for every game for the sake of posterity. The Zero Escape games are masterclasses of narratives, filled with insane twists and turns, incredible characters and mind-bending puzzles. It's so, so good, absolutely an inspirational game for me.
This contains both 999 and Virtue's Last Reward, which are both excellent Visual Novels and Escape Room puzzles, if you like both things, this game is a must play.
Normally, 999 is the one that is the most praised, but I actually enjoyed VLR more, so I would say liking one or the other depends if you prefer more the story (999) or the Escape room puzzles (VLR), but that doesn't mean that VLR's story is bad by any means.
Normally, 999 is the one that is the most praised, but I actually enjoyed VLR more, so I would say liking one or the other depends if you prefer more the story (999) or the Escape room puzzles (VLR), but that doesn't mean that VLR's story is bad by any means.
WHY IT'S SOO HARD TO GET THE GOOD ENDING?!!
Beat 999, abandoned halfway through VLR. Waaaay too slow and neither the puzzles nor the story were good enough to justify
Good plot and characters , kinda hate how i have to get all endings to understand the story but still amazing
Would be a 5 star if VLR was absent from this
A hell of a incredible couple of games that play with some interesting theories I've never heard of before, but needlessly, make a far more interesting interaction all together. These two games were out before the other Zero escape game that was released first on Steam.
Not only due to have multiple paths based on your choices and where you go, but due to the Morphagentic Field, it makes perfect story sense that you could view one timeline, pick up some information, then take with with you for consecutive timelines to unlock the true ending.
Both games have very interesting set ups and some very difficult puzzles, though not unfairly difficult. I recommend this to any fan of the escape room kind of game where you need to look around and attempt to find a way out of wherever you are trapped.
Not only due to have multiple paths based on your choices and where you go, but due to the Morphagentic Field, it makes perfect story sense that you could view one timeline, pick up some information, then take with with you for consecutive timelines to unlock the true ending.
Both games have very interesting set ups and some very difficult puzzles, though not unfairly difficult. I recommend this to any fan of the escape room kind of game where you need to look around and attempt to find a way out of wherever you are trapped.
if you play this version of 999 i will find you and i will beat your ass
Does it adapt 999 perfectly? No. Does it adapt 999 the best it can? Yes. Moving on, I can’t recommend The Nonary Games enough; Uchikoshi is a brilliant writer with some wild twists that perhaps aren’t for everyone but that I think everyone should at least give a shot. The games in this collection are both unique and fascinating, and the gameplay is very, very engaging. The characters are great. Perhaps some jokes are off-color, and VLR can be described as tedious, to say the least, but trust me when I say you’ll be delivered an experience like no other.
This game changed my life. Play it without being spoilered.
Both games are amazing and well voice-acted you can buy the game for full price its well worth it
This package gives you the worst version of peak fiction and the best version of mid.
So I'd say it's worth your money
So I'd say it's worth your money
The best narrative ever conceived in a video game.
This review contains spoilers
999: march 10 - march 12, 5/5
fun, charming, intriguing, and really well written!!!! everything wrapped together so nicely. i had so many questions throughout the game and was hanging on every word, and every time the characters went into some shit like Well have you heard of i was like oh fuck here we go
like the science and anecdotes all feel random but theyre so fascinating and elevate the story of the game
created an almost scary atmosphere for me every time it happened
loved the characters so much and thought they had so much personality, wish lotus's design was different and that there werent as many perverted jokes but hey what can you do. i like the rest quite a bit.
i was enjoying the game a lot already but when the true ending hit and the game revealed its hand i fell completely in love
though i wish akane and junpeis relationship was presented a little nicer bc its really heavy on the cheese early on to the point that its almost insufferable but the ending changed my mind about them almost completely. love prevails and love is all powerful
the whole story is really good overall and i think hongou's motivation makes a lot of sense!!!! dude is fucked up!!!!!!!
puzzles were really really fun i have to say the cargo hold was my favorite to do and figure out but the digital root system as a whole was so fucking fun as the thing the puzzles shaped themselves around. solid, dependable, and wraps into the story well too!!
the way the gameplay as a whole wraps into the story with the replays, door choices, and novel/adventure mode is so well done too and im sure its even better in the ds version
good aesthetic, really nice 3d visuals that feel creepy like a 3d adventure game from the 90s
good and catchy music, wasnt crazy but it was a nice backdrop to the whole game
fantastic voice work (JP) as well
doesnt outstay its welcome with the replay factor and wraps up quickly and nicely
i hope what im writing gets across how much i loved this game
vlr: march 12 - march 16, 2/5
i wanted to like this game much more than i did so so bad
i couldnt help comparing it to 999 bc vlr is its own game (although connected) but 999 just did everything vlr was going for so so so so much better
the need to replay to get information for other endings was one thing and i liked it at first, loved it in 999, but you have to do it so goddamn much in this game its ridiculous
i understand its essential to the story but fuck i dont even like the story!!!!!!!!! so many things and events repeat just for a few lines to be different and it gets tiring having to skip through so so much
999 does the same obviously but way less than vlr just bc it has less branches
not to mention
the fucking door/travel animations i was seriously so frustrated with being forced to watch these it had to have made up like half of my playtime
AND the shots of the room from different angles you had to watch almost every time you entered a room! sometimes even between dialogue!
sure theyre fast forwardable! but if i timed it incorrectly i was shit out of luck
it was still fun and i was deeply interested in what the truth was, what the actual story was, but as it went on, i really felt like i was pushing myself to get there. like i didnt want to keep going but i had to to find out what the fuck was going on
and it was not even a little satisfying and didnt feel at all as good as learning 999's true story
i have this problem with plots where it bothers me if things "get too big." if the scale of a problem gets too big and it advances rapidly from endangering a small set of people to endangering humanity, stuff like that
that was probably a big part of my issues with vlr's story and why i didnt enjoy it at all really
and just the sheer amount of things it takes for them to resolve it/try to resolve it
the amount of time travel in 999? perfect. loved that
the amount of time travel in vlr? too much man cmon
i liked the themes it was going for and the scientific elements it had and explained as much as its hard for me to wrap my head around quantum physics but i feel like nothing worked together at all
sure maybe the whole story objectively makes sense in conjunction with its themes but to me it felt like a pile of slop barely held together with glue. i just did not like it and the explanation in the true ending was kind of maddening with everything that kept getting tacked on
the whole "we had to recreate what we saw of the future to fulfill it" thing was crazy in 999 but really good
it is completely fucking ridiculous in vlr
radical-6 as a whole to me is so 30923ut4y93uwifjkwfn fucking stupid i dont wanna talk about it
i felt like 999 revealed its story much more steadily than vlr
while you hear the same set of information over and over throughout many of vlr's branches with maybe an added scientific/philosophical concept here and there
maybe objectively vlr did the same things as 999 and presented its plot and ideas in the exact same way but it really didnt feel like that to me, it felt like an utter mess that i was simply forced to understand in contrast to the seamless way that 999s story and scientific concepts weave together
i did like individual things! i really really love luna! she has to be my favorite part of this game by far, and her story is just really sweet. oh i just realized in her ending she basically died in the arms of her creator my life is ruined
occasional good writing and descriptions, i liked the voices of characters and how they interacted with sigma
i like sigmas personality a lot actually even with his pervertedness 🙄🙄 hes fun, not that different from junpei but you get to see him way way less for obvious reasons so hes not as compelling
the characters from the previous game it wraps into this one was. interesting but i think the best thing we got out of it was learning that snake plays the harp and has a weirdly devoted fan following
i do like clover n alice, tenmyouji to a lesser extent but whatever, i dont really like their presence in the game and what it does to both games plots
i think the characters as a whole are just weaker
i do like them! but theyre weaker than 999s cast
dio is just unlikable even before u find out anything about who he really is and i think he puts a damper on everything
the replay factor and the AB game as a whole weakened the bond i couldve had with these characters just because of the nature of betrayal and all
its purposeful of course but it only made me like most of them less overall even after being provided their backstory
zero jr. is also annoying !!!! i do not like these sorts of silly animal mascots for masterminds
puzzles were not as fun to me
more difficult and frustrating even with their specifications but whatever im probably just bad, 999 did spoon feed u most solutions
visuals are fine, obviously less likeable than 999s sprites but the 3d models dont look bad or anything
music was fine but im struggling to remember because of just how many times trepidation was played
despite this review just being almost all criticism i liked the game 70% of the time playing it i think
but just as 999s true story made me love it, vlr's true story almost ruins it for me
whatever man. onto zero time dilemma, maybe itll give me that satisfaction
fun, charming, intriguing, and really well written!!!! everything wrapped together so nicely. i had so many questions throughout the game and was hanging on every word, and every time the characters went into some shit like Well have you heard of i was like oh fuck here we go
like the science and anecdotes all feel random but theyre so fascinating and elevate the story of the game
created an almost scary atmosphere for me every time it happened
loved the characters so much and thought they had so much personality, wish lotus's design was different and that there werent as many perverted jokes but hey what can you do. i like the rest quite a bit.
i was enjoying the game a lot already but when the true ending hit and the game revealed its hand i fell completely in love
though i wish akane and junpeis relationship was presented a little nicer bc its really heavy on the cheese early on to the point that its almost insufferable but the ending changed my mind about them almost completely. love prevails and love is all powerful
the whole story is really good overall and i think hongou's motivation makes a lot of sense!!!! dude is fucked up!!!!!!!
puzzles were really really fun i have to say the cargo hold was my favorite to do and figure out but the digital root system as a whole was so fucking fun as the thing the puzzles shaped themselves around. solid, dependable, and wraps into the story well too!!
the way the gameplay as a whole wraps into the story with the replays, door choices, and novel/adventure mode is so well done too and im sure its even better in the ds version
good aesthetic, really nice 3d visuals that feel creepy like a 3d adventure game from the 90s
good and catchy music, wasnt crazy but it was a nice backdrop to the whole game
fantastic voice work (JP) as well
doesnt outstay its welcome with the replay factor and wraps up quickly and nicely
i hope what im writing gets across how much i loved this game
vlr: march 12 - march 16, 2/5
i wanted to like this game much more than i did so so bad
i couldnt help comparing it to 999 bc vlr is its own game (although connected) but 999 just did everything vlr was going for so so so so much better
the need to replay to get information for other endings was one thing and i liked it at first, loved it in 999, but you have to do it so goddamn much in this game its ridiculous
i understand its essential to the story but fuck i dont even like the story!!!!!!!!! so many things and events repeat just for a few lines to be different and it gets tiring having to skip through so so much
999 does the same obviously but way less than vlr just bc it has less branches
not to mention
the fucking door/travel animations i was seriously so frustrated with being forced to watch these it had to have made up like half of my playtime
AND the shots of the room from different angles you had to watch almost every time you entered a room! sometimes even between dialogue!
sure theyre fast forwardable! but if i timed it incorrectly i was shit out of luck
it was still fun and i was deeply interested in what the truth was, what the actual story was, but as it went on, i really felt like i was pushing myself to get there. like i didnt want to keep going but i had to to find out what the fuck was going on
and it was not even a little satisfying and didnt feel at all as good as learning 999's true story
i have this problem with plots where it bothers me if things "get too big." if the scale of a problem gets too big and it advances rapidly from endangering a small set of people to endangering humanity, stuff like that
that was probably a big part of my issues with vlr's story and why i didnt enjoy it at all really
and just the sheer amount of things it takes for them to resolve it/try to resolve it
the amount of time travel in 999? perfect. loved that
the amount of time travel in vlr? too much man cmon
i liked the themes it was going for and the scientific elements it had and explained as much as its hard for me to wrap my head around quantum physics but i feel like nothing worked together at all
sure maybe the whole story objectively makes sense in conjunction with its themes but to me it felt like a pile of slop barely held together with glue. i just did not like it and the explanation in the true ending was kind of maddening with everything that kept getting tacked on
the whole "we had to recreate what we saw of the future to fulfill it" thing was crazy in 999 but really good
it is completely fucking ridiculous in vlr
radical-6 as a whole to me is so 30923ut4y93uwifjkwfn fucking stupid i dont wanna talk about it
i felt like 999 revealed its story much more steadily than vlr
while you hear the same set of information over and over throughout many of vlr's branches with maybe an added scientific/philosophical concept here and there
maybe objectively vlr did the same things as 999 and presented its plot and ideas in the exact same way but it really didnt feel like that to me, it felt like an utter mess that i was simply forced to understand in contrast to the seamless way that 999s story and scientific concepts weave together
i did like individual things! i really really love luna! she has to be my favorite part of this game by far, and her story is just really sweet. oh i just realized in her ending she basically died in the arms of her creator my life is ruined
occasional good writing and descriptions, i liked the voices of characters and how they interacted with sigma
i like sigmas personality a lot actually even with his pervertedness 🙄🙄 hes fun, not that different from junpei but you get to see him way way less for obvious reasons so hes not as compelling
the characters from the previous game it wraps into this one was. interesting but i think the best thing we got out of it was learning that snake plays the harp and has a weirdly devoted fan following
i do like clover n alice, tenmyouji to a lesser extent but whatever, i dont really like their presence in the game and what it does to both games plots
i think the characters as a whole are just weaker
i do like them! but theyre weaker than 999s cast
dio is just unlikable even before u find out anything about who he really is and i think he puts a damper on everything
the replay factor and the AB game as a whole weakened the bond i couldve had with these characters just because of the nature of betrayal and all
its purposeful of course but it only made me like most of them less overall even after being provided their backstory
zero jr. is also annoying !!!! i do not like these sorts of silly animal mascots for masterminds
puzzles were not as fun to me
more difficult and frustrating even with their specifications but whatever im probably just bad, 999 did spoon feed u most solutions
visuals are fine, obviously less likeable than 999s sprites but the 3d models dont look bad or anything
music was fine but im struggling to remember because of just how many times trepidation was played
despite this review just being almost all criticism i liked the game 70% of the time playing it i think
but just as 999s true story made me love it, vlr's true story almost ruins it for me
whatever man. onto zero time dilemma, maybe itll give me that satisfaction
999 pretty great vlr is eh
danganronpa do do do dod dood dood do do
Happy I got to go through these games again, this time alongside my brother, and that I got to experience them on the bigger screen! I truly love both 999 and Virtue's Last Reward ,and The Nonary Games is the perfection collection of the two!
It messes up 999 but directly improves VLR. Kind of hard to recommend this collection unless you just want to play VLR.
my head hurts
peak visual novel