![]() ![]() The Nonary Games remake of the game also features the much needed improvements to the title, like the completely not obvious ability to “jump” between story segments – you need to click a segment 4 (!!!) times to jump to it, something that works differently and more obviously in later games. While there’s still lots of philosophical and pseudo-scientific banter and sometimes characters over-analyze something, while some characters still look ridiculous and some scenes with them are just absurd, it’s more of a strange anomaly in the otherwise tightly written mystery tale. Originally intended as a one-off, it tells a more personal story and tries to keep its plot and characters more or less realistically. It’s probably the simplest game in terms of the plot and the stakes, but is also probably best told story in the series. Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors is genuinely amazing. Finally, I should really mention that the entire trilogy has absolutely amazing soundtrack by Shinji Hosoe and while very few tracks seem to be exclusive to a particular game and most themes repeat from game to game, the themes themselves are really good and it is a real shame that the soundtracks are not sold alongside the games. Being influenced by Cube and Saw, games also tend to deal with pretty dark themes and while it varies from game to game, it is common to expect lots of characters dying in horrible ways in different timelines with the main goal, usually, being finding the best possible solution where no one should die. First game had very few of them and, as such, in the original version didn’t have a Flow Chart for “jumping” between the timelines, but starting with the second game the timelines and jumps between them become much more complex. Another common concept is the idea of branching timelines and multiple endings. However, it wasn’t until Zero Escape: The Nonary Games release last year, that updated and re-released the first two games in one package, that I finally had a chance to check on them.Īs mentioned, all games are made with the same basic structure: most of the story is told via visual novel segments, which tend to have no puzzles or choices (though that gradually changes with every next game), while at times game switches to the escape the room puzzles, which require you to solve puzzles, find items and do the usual puzzle game stuff to get to the next visual novel bit. It was also one of the first attempts, to my knowledge, to bring the Cube (the movie) ideas to video game format, mixing horror, thriller and mystery novel and becoming somewhat of the “What if Cube, Saw and Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None” were anime”. Virtue’s Last Reward followed 3 years later on PS Vita and 3DS, and then in 2016 Zero Time Dilemma was released as a final chapter of the plot on the same systems, but also on PC. Original 999 (Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors) was released back in 2009 on Nintendo DS to very positive reviews on how it tackled the mix of visual novel and “escape the room” puzzles, while also using it’s branching narrative, common for visual novels, as a plot point for many worlds interpretation influenced plot. The characters often break the fourth wall and mention their consciousness that exists in other timelines if they can't seem to remember the answer, then perhaps the player hasn't come across the answer (yet) either.I’ve been curious about what became Zero Escape Trilogy for a while now. Keep things going until the end and the missing part of the puzzle will come up eventually. Don't feel pressured into going back to go through all dialogue and cutscenes, searching for the answer as it may not even be there yet. In these situations, the game is actually hinting that the answer/clue/missing piece of information lies in another timeline. There will be situations that which the game will try to gaslight players into thinking they possibly forgot an important clue or code that had come up earlier in the game. Often time, the game will seemingly trick the player into thinking that there was a missing piece of a puzzle that has simply slipped their mind leaving players feeling as if they had carelessly forgotten a piece of information that they should know but are for some reason, drawing a blank. ![]()
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