This review contains spoilers
akane kurashiki my favorite machiavellian i love you so much
Clearly, my expectations for Zero Escape were not high enough.
I don't like calling games such as this or Ace Attorney "visual novels" because they're not novels. They're narrative puzzle games. There is absolutely a "game" in finding and acting on the contradictions of an an Ace Attorney game, Zero Escape is much the same, with elaborate puzzle sections that vary wildly between "absolute babycore" and "actual math homework." I don't like math. My time in the education system poisoned me against it so viciously that I quickly get fed up with even basic addition. Even still, I'll be damned if 999 didn't at least KIND OF get me to care about the numbers. I played on the DS rather than the remastered Steam version I also own, and I would recommend that others do the same. You don't need the voice acting, you don't really need an art upgrade, and most importantly and interestingly, you don't need the Quality of Life.
999 is, and you'll have to excuse the micro-spoiler inherent in this sentence, a game that is meant to be played more than once. It is however, like most puzzle games, somewhat difficult to replay. Puzzles are seldom fun to solve twice, and 999 involves solving a whole bunch of puzzles a whole bunch of times. For the most part, these puzzles can be blasted through with little resistance after you've solved them once, though I'd be lying if I said that the repetition didn't have its annoyances. Mercifully, even on the DS, the game features an adequate fast-forward feature and is short enough that repeat runs are nothing to be upset over. More to the point, 999 is structured in such a way that it is almost impossible for the player to not experience something new, substantial, and interesting on each run. This might be the thing about 999 that impressed me the most.
The other contender is the clockwork nature of its writing. Even though I can find logical or logistical wrinkles in its plot if I try, 999 is so excellent at threading its themes into neat little loops and layering its twists on top of each other that to focus on such lingering curiosities would be pedantic in the extreme. 999 knows exactly what it wants to be and how to keep you interested from start to finish. It unfolds itself in a truly well considered way that expertly delivers on dread and intrigue. The impenetrability of a mystery is always subjective, but for the vast majority of players, 999 will regularly throw well-timed curveballs that are properly foreshadowed without giving too much away. The clever will catch some twists well ahead of their reveals or occasionally have their suspicions vindicated, but no one is likely to get ahead of each and every one.
If there's a particular reason I'm not ready to christen 999 as a member of the five-star hall of fame besides the necessary repetition, it's the actual puzzles. As I said, some of them are Weenie Hut Junior material, and most of the rest are just doing actual math, though for someone less allergic than myself, that math probably qualifies as toddler stuff too. In itself, that's fine. It's merely the chosen accessibility level. It's mostly two things that raise my eyebrow: the total chaos of the difficulty curve among those puzzles, and the fact that in many parts of the game the actual difficulty often feels like it comes from pixel hunting and navigating the environment, rather than anything else. I got legitimately stuck on the very first puzzle because I couldn't tell that the thing I needed to interact with was a separate object, and the camera angle cut it off in such a way that I didn't think it was meant to be in my actionable field of view. This kind of stuff fades away quickly as the player learns how the game operates, but I can't help feeling that there's some clumsy design in play in some of these escape sections, and that it bears mentioning.
When all is said and done though, 999 will be sticking with me for quite some time, and as a Saw-Disrespecting Math Hater, I'm very glad that I didn't write it off.
I don't like calling games such as this or Ace Attorney "visual novels" because they're not novels. They're narrative puzzle games. There is absolutely a "game" in finding and acting on the contradictions of an an Ace Attorney game, Zero Escape is much the same, with elaborate puzzle sections that vary wildly between "absolute babycore" and "actual math homework." I don't like math. My time in the education system poisoned me against it so viciously that I quickly get fed up with even basic addition. Even still, I'll be damned if 999 didn't at least KIND OF get me to care about the numbers. I played on the DS rather than the remastered Steam version I also own, and I would recommend that others do the same. You don't need the voice acting, you don't really need an art upgrade, and most importantly and interestingly, you don't need the Quality of Life.
999 is, and you'll have to excuse the micro-spoiler inherent in this sentence, a game that is meant to be played more than once. It is however, like most puzzle games, somewhat difficult to replay. Puzzles are seldom fun to solve twice, and 999 involves solving a whole bunch of puzzles a whole bunch of times. For the most part, these puzzles can be blasted through with little resistance after you've solved them once, though I'd be lying if I said that the repetition didn't have its annoyances. Mercifully, even on the DS, the game features an adequate fast-forward feature and is short enough that repeat runs are nothing to be upset over. More to the point, 999 is structured in such a way that it is almost impossible for the player to not experience something new, substantial, and interesting on each run. This might be the thing about 999 that impressed me the most.
The other contender is the clockwork nature of its writing. Even though I can find logical or logistical wrinkles in its plot if I try, 999 is so excellent at threading its themes into neat little loops and layering its twists on top of each other that to focus on such lingering curiosities would be pedantic in the extreme. 999 knows exactly what it wants to be and how to keep you interested from start to finish. It unfolds itself in a truly well considered way that expertly delivers on dread and intrigue. The impenetrability of a mystery is always subjective, but for the vast majority of players, 999 will regularly throw well-timed curveballs that are properly foreshadowed without giving too much away. The clever will catch some twists well ahead of their reveals or occasionally have their suspicions vindicated, but no one is likely to get ahead of each and every one.
If there's a particular reason I'm not ready to christen 999 as a member of the five-star hall of fame besides the necessary repetition, it's the actual puzzles. As I said, some of them are Weenie Hut Junior material, and most of the rest are just doing actual math, though for someone less allergic than myself, that math probably qualifies as toddler stuff too. In itself, that's fine. It's merely the chosen accessibility level. It's mostly two things that raise my eyebrow: the total chaos of the difficulty curve among those puzzles, and the fact that in many parts of the game the actual difficulty often feels like it comes from pixel hunting and navigating the environment, rather than anything else. I got legitimately stuck on the very first puzzle because I couldn't tell that the thing I needed to interact with was a separate object, and the camera angle cut it off in such a way that I didn't think it was meant to be in my actionable field of view. This kind of stuff fades away quickly as the player learns how the game operates, but I can't help feeling that there's some clumsy design in play in some of these escape sections, and that it bears mentioning.
When all is said and done though, 999 will be sticking with me for quite some time, and as a Saw-Disrespecting Math Hater, I'm very glad that I didn't write it off.
"Zero Escape: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors" delivers a gripping experience that keeps players on the edge of their seats from start to finish. As a visual novel, it excels in creating a nonstop atmosphere of terror and suspense, making every step of the journey feel intense and unpredictable.
One of the game's standout features is its well-developed characters, each with distinct personalities and motivations. Their interactions and relationships add depth to the story, immersing players in the game's intricate narrative.
As a must-play DS game, especially for fans of visual novels, "Zero Escape" offers multiple endings that enhance its replayability. Each playthrough uncovers new layers of the story, encouraging players to revisit the game and explore different paths and outcomes.
Overall, "Zero Escape: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors" is a solid addition to the visual novel genre, delivering a thrilling and immersive experience that will keep players engaged from beginning to end.
One of the game's standout features is its well-developed characters, each with distinct personalities and motivations. Their interactions and relationships add depth to the story, immersing players in the game's intricate narrative.
As a must-play DS game, especially for fans of visual novels, "Zero Escape" offers multiple endings that enhance its replayability. Each playthrough uncovers new layers of the story, encouraging players to revisit the game and explore different paths and outcomes.
Overall, "Zero Escape: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors" is a solid addition to the visual novel genre, delivering a thrilling and immersive experience that will keep players engaged from beginning to end.
This review contains spoilers
This game introduces an entire cast of characters to you within the first 20 minutes or so and you get invested in them almost instantly. I’ve played games that can’t get you invested in a single character after 40 hours.
The first 2.5 playthroughs are very gripping murder mysteries, you’re so engaged in the plot and every little detail you learn that you don’t mind having to fast forward through a bunch of text and re-do several of the same puzzles in order to figure out what’s really going on. By the end of my third playthrough I was like 70% sure I pieced together the story and I was sort of right but it went in a direction I wasn’t expecting and fuck. Game actually made me cry. One of those games I probably am gonna wish in a couple years that I could wipe my memory of and play for the first time again.
The first 2.5 playthroughs are very gripping murder mysteries, you’re so engaged in the plot and every little detail you learn that you don’t mind having to fast forward through a bunch of text and re-do several of the same puzzles in order to figure out what’s really going on. By the end of my third playthrough I was like 70% sure I pieced together the story and I was sort of right but it went in a direction I wasn’t expecting and fuck. Game actually made me cry. One of those games I probably am gonna wish in a couple years that I could wipe my memory of and play for the first time again.
This review contains spoilers
Typing out some quick initial thoughts after completing my first two routes today.
Playing this game on DS has a very tactile satisfaction to it. Reading ADV text on the top-screen and NVL text on the bottom has such a nice flow making everything a lot more fun to read. I really enjoyed how the game introduced it's FMVs through the first sequence of the game. The glass of the window shattering felt really exciting and grabbed my attention very well for the game's first escape room. There's a lot of instances of the game having more motion than I'd expect out of a visual novel, I adore how the sprites for the characters are animated and that really endeared me to all of them before I got to know much about them.
The main issue I was having with my first playthrough is that every time Santa or Lotus would monologue like "OoOoOoOOO~ Trust nobodyy!!" It felt like somewhat forced-tension. I never got the feeling that any of the characters had a motive to do anything but cooperate, doubly so because of the death of the 9th Player.
That is, until I reached my first ending.
Most of my choices thus far were motivated by trying to interact with as much of the characters as possible as safely as possible. Though, it seems Junpei had ended up with a bias for Clover by the end of my run. After exiting my final room, the rest of the characters were crowding around discussing their discovery of the 9th door. Up until this point I had assumed that each route would end with a different group of characters exiting through the 9th door and receiving a partial-answer to the game's unanswered questions. My expectations seemed to be adding up, seeing as 1 + 8 + 5 + 4 = Decimal Root 9 so I assumed things would wrap up rather smoothly and I'd get to move on to a new route.
Until Clover asked about the final room left unchecked. Room #2. As I got the dialogue option, I was thinking it'd just be another escape room to quickly knock out before finishing up the first route, so I absentmindedly went ahead with Clover's plan.
Four people, excluding Junpei, walk into an elevator, only one walks out.
Although I'd already been enjoying the game, this is where it started clicking. I had made the wrong assumptions about the game, expecting to be able to treat each individual route as a complete story, this ending punished me for that false assumption. Clover, who seemed to be no more than a side-character, an unremarkable one at that, murders Junpei and everyone else because I, as a player, didn't leave no stone unturned. On my 2nd run, I've been making choices I'd only make because of my knowledge of my first run, and I'm realizing the metanarrative the game is attempting to weave wherein the player is a stand-in for the "collective unconscious/crystalization of glycerin" themes it established in my first run.
Playing this game on DS has a very tactile satisfaction to it. Reading ADV text on the top-screen and NVL text on the bottom has such a nice flow making everything a lot more fun to read. I really enjoyed how the game introduced it's FMVs through the first sequence of the game. The glass of the window shattering felt really exciting and grabbed my attention very well for the game's first escape room. There's a lot of instances of the game having more motion than I'd expect out of a visual novel, I adore how the sprites for the characters are animated and that really endeared me to all of them before I got to know much about them.
The main issue I was having with my first playthrough is that every time Santa or Lotus would monologue like "OoOoOoOOO~ Trust nobodyy!!" It felt like somewhat forced-tension. I never got the feeling that any of the characters had a motive to do anything but cooperate, doubly so because of the death of the 9th Player.
That is, until I reached my first ending.
Most of my choices thus far were motivated by trying to interact with as much of the characters as possible as safely as possible. Though, it seems Junpei had ended up with a bias for Clover by the end of my run. After exiting my final room, the rest of the characters were crowding around discussing their discovery of the 9th door. Up until this point I had assumed that each route would end with a different group of characters exiting through the 9th door and receiving a partial-answer to the game's unanswered questions. My expectations seemed to be adding up, seeing as 1 + 8 + 5 + 4 = Decimal Root 9 so I assumed things would wrap up rather smoothly and I'd get to move on to a new route.
Until Clover asked about the final room left unchecked. Room #2. As I got the dialogue option, I was thinking it'd just be another escape room to quickly knock out before finishing up the first route, so I absentmindedly went ahead with Clover's plan.
Four people, excluding Junpei, walk into an elevator, only one walks out.
Although I'd already been enjoying the game, this is where it started clicking. I had made the wrong assumptions about the game, expecting to be able to treat each individual route as a complete story, this ending punished me for that false assumption. Clover, who seemed to be no more than a side-character, an unremarkable one at that, murders Junpei and everyone else because I, as a player, didn't leave no stone unturned. On my 2nd run, I've been making choices I'd only make because of my knowledge of my first run, and I'm realizing the metanarrative the game is attempting to weave wherein the player is a stand-in for the "collective unconscious/crystalization of glycerin" themes it established in my first run.
never looking at sudoku the same way ever again
Coming from the Danganronpa series I wasn't sure what to expect playing this game but it sure wasn't this. They both might be death games but zero escape has a different approach to the genre. A very interesting puzzle game that captivates you the instant you finish an ending and wants you to keep going for more of the endings for you to slowly find out the reason why junpei and the others are here as you find out how to escape. Learning the backstories of all the characters as you play the different routes you learn the reason why they were chosen for the game as you grow to like them. This game really surprised me as the true ending was definitely something that was different from my expectations. It's a very solid VN that makes me curious to try out the rest of the series one day