Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma

Zero Time Dilemma is part of a Trilogy and should only be played after completing the 2 previous games: 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors & Virtue Last Reward.

I posted a full review of the trilogy for The Nonary Games store page, I'll only include the ZTD section here, spoiler-free:

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Zero Time Dilemma

This a good but heavily flawed final act. Definitely the trilogy's weakest game. It's best appreciated if you're already invested in the ZE story AND you accept its circumstances: the game was canceled, uncanceled, given <2 years of development and a small staff & virtually no budget. The final game, sadly, isn’t even what Uchikoshi originally envisioned, but it’s a miracle it actually released.


ZTD is an ugly game. The character design is not as good as 999/VLR, due to Rui Tomono taking the artistic lead (probably due to budget constraints) but it's not bad. Unfortunately, the 3D models ARE BAD. On top of that, the characters constantly make comically exaggerated expressions, and the camera often zooms in on them in a distorted, awkward way. Some characters do look better than others, but in the end they all look pretty rough. Ironically, the only character who looks good is the NIER Emil-looking kid… cause you can’t see his face...

It really saddens me to say that the setting and characters often feel like they’re just a means to an end and not very well developed. The game clearly suffers from having a smaller script, though on the plus side, it cuts back a lot and is a shorter game with virtually no repeated content. (A big improvement compared to VLR.)
Another major drawback when it comes to the characters, is that splitting them into separate groups in ZTD meant far fewer opportunities for meaningful interactions between the different teams.


The storytelling has pros and cons. This time the "routes" are split in the Fragment System, which is narratively brilliant, as it REALLY reflects the core nature of the story, asking you to literally piece together the plot like a puzzle. However, it can be confusing and/or even off putting for some as keeping track of what’s actually happening takes more effort from the player.

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I can’t recommend this series enough, not just to VN fans, but even to those who don’t usually play/like VNs, just because the storytelling is so incredible that anyone who loves a great mystery should experience it at least once in their life.
It’s a perfect example of how video games can be just as powerful a storytelling medium as any other form of art.

This is a series you’ll remember forever. Its narrative has the power to shape you. It’s truly a gem.

Sadly, it didn’t get the recognition it deserved on release, likely due to a mix of factors: horror VNs’ lack of popularity in Japan, the negative association with the number 9, incoherent art direction, character designs struggling to appeal to the eastern audience (looking at you, Danganronpa), and the more complex story.

Life is unfair. But this series is one of my favorites, so maybe this timeline isn’t so bad after all.

as someone who played the trilogy, unfortunately this game fell short.

ZTD isn't necessarily the best in the series, but it's definitely the most. With each game in the series, I ask myself how a sequel could possibly top it, not just in quality but also in vibes, and every time it gets blown out of the water. This game continues where Virtue's Last Reward leaves off by being intensely grim, utterly bizarre, and also a genuinely inventive use of the medium. I don't think this game is perfect, we'll get to that, but I also don't think there's much else it could have been. The bottom line is that if you're interested in getting this game, you probably should, although you might not love it so much as just have it stuck in your brain like Zero Escape is known for. I recommend it.

Now, that said, while it is genuinely a cool and fascinating piece of interactive fiction, it's got problems that you might not be willing to look past. The cutscenes are more cinematic than the usual visual novel fare, but that means it ends up looking worse. These developers have never had to make this many animations, for this many camera angles, on such a tight budget. The obligatory puzzle sections also suck, and in my opinion shouldn't have been there. I'm not saying escape-room puzzle-solving shouldn't be in a Zero Escape game, but I am saying it shouldn't be in THIS Zero Escape game, because the game just isn't about that. It's about time travel and choices. Clearly.

There's not much I can say about the story without spoiling vast chunks of it, so I'll just talk about the ending in non-spoilery terms at all. A lot of people dislike this ending, because it wasn't the kind of intricate puzzle box solution you normally expect from a mystery game like this. I do get that, but I also think that the previous game's ending sucks despite being exactly that kind of solution. There's a difference between the plot being solved and the story's questions being answered. If you just want the first one, you will hate how this game ends. If you're more interested in the second, well... You won't HATE it? Maybe? I don't, at least.

19 hours ~ Some of the most perfectly balanced escape rooms and puzzles I've ever seen, and the overarching story is a multifaceted mystery VN that comes together into an unexpectedly masterful finale. Features a completely unique gimmick for the branching storyline that keeps your understanding of the plot constantly changing, Posits a lot of fun, metaphysical questions to the player and is packed with fourth-wall manipulating twists creating the kind of story that will only ever be possible in a video game.

I recommend this game only to those who have played the games preceding it, and even then I'm *barely* on the side of recommending this game at all. I haven't played a video game which made me place my hand over my mouth and audibly gasp in shock/horror/disgust as much as this game, though most of my shock was likely from how much more is shown compared to the preceding games (where gore was mostly static images with no sound other than BGM) and I just wasn't mentally prepared for that going into this game. Compared to the games preceding it, ZTD is a bit more experimental in ways that didn't pay off for me as much (especially as much as VLR). Compared specifically to 999, this game feels a lot more like it has to shoehorn in the philosophical concepts characters bring up in conversation so some narrative moments felt awkward and stilted for me. It's also not very intuitive of what to do as the player when you're stuck with all the remaining fragments being locked (not knowing what to do to progress). I'm also bitter about one "decision time" in the game where I had a 50/50 chance of survival (supposedly calculated by a random number generator) and I got a bad ending 12 TIMES IN A ROW BEFORE I FINALLY SURVIVED. But, this game was redeemed by how riveting the story became in the last 2 or 3 hours when everything was coming together and things got even wilder than I anticipated.

Characters were just pathetic, nothing like first 2 games. Only completed it for a closure to the series...

What a sorry exhibition that was...

Not as good as Nonary Games, but still worth playing if you enjoyed those.

I've seen people talk poorly about this game comparatively but I think this game was still really fantastic, even if it wasn't as good as 999 and VLR, it added context and offered more details to stuff from VLR that recontextualizes characters in really fun and mindblowing ways. Fantastic ending for the trilogy and I'm going to miss it and the characters

The game is a mess for sure! The controller doesn’t work, yet it has a controller UI???
If the game was MADE FOR A CONTROLLER, why can’t I use mine on PC???

The voice acting is… something.
The puzzles feel cheap at times.

BUT somewhere in this mess of a game, there’s a spark of what could have been!

Overall:

(Not worth $19.99)
Wait for a sale—I think I got it for $5.

If you can wait for a sale, then 100% worth it!

The puzzles aren’t as good as the last game, but some still make you feel like you have 1000 IQ when you finally solve them.

This is one of those weird conflicting reviews. Not strong enough to get a Yes, but definitely not bottom-tier by any means.

Before I talk about the game itself:
- If you have not played any game in the Zero Escape series, this is not a stand-alone. You need to play 999 & VLR before this.
- If you HAVE played the Nonary Games duology, then Yes: play this game to complete the series.
- If you have not played any Zero Escape game: Get 999 on its own. Zero Escape works best as a 999 standalone game.

Now:
Overall, this game is just ok. Not good, not terrible, but ok at best. The plot is all over the place here (literally?). The game abondons its usual straight forward timeline nature in favor of clusters of decisions/ independent timeline points. This makes things super confusing trying to follow the plot. It also takes away a lot of the weight of your decisions. I know that this series ultimately does not care what your decisions are, but this made things feel even less personal and takes you out of any sort of connectivity to the characters. Instead of playing AS a character, you feel like a 3rd party observer.
Also: as is tradition in Zero Escape games, the sound design is.... off. Super intense moments with sad dialogue is constantly overpowered by the BGM. The balance is usually fine, but sad music drowns out the impactful moment.

The good parts: The VA work is good. No complaints there.
The puzzles are mostly straight forward and I actually liked them more than VLR (there also wasn't the mouse going crazy issue that was prevalent in the Nonary Game's version of VLR).

But yeah: would say to play 999 as a stand-alone if you want the Zero Escape experience. Only play this game if you have played the previous 2 games.

Neat expansion of the Nonary games, a bit more confusing at first, but a good way to wrap things up

The mystery aspects and plot twists were okay. Would I recommend this game to anyone? hmmm... not really. If you care about Sigma or Junpei as a characters then try this game and you might like it. Otherwise if you care about the plot itself then this might not exceed to your expectations. In my opinion I love Sigma in every timeline. Whatever timeline he may be so I gave it 5/10.

Not the strongest game in the trilogy, arguably the worst. A couple plot lines just left out entirely, but the vast majority of the major plot points have been covered and is overall an enjoyable and satisfying conclusion to the trilogy.

Except for Eric. All my homies hate Eric.

I love the secret ending lmao. amazing story

I mean, it's ok ? It just feels like the game missed an opportunity to have an actual story. Why did it end right after one coin flip ? I feel like it could have gone further than that.
Edit: Nevermind I found the game

After the previous academic molestation of the previous games, this shit grabbed my brain, threw it in a blender, and elegantly served it back to me as a smoothie of confusion, regret and the urge of wanting to kill my self. 11/10, would chug again.

P.S. While it lacks the eerie atmosphere and immersion of the first game or the sheer genius of the second’s writing, story, and plot points—not to mention and let’s be honest, the graphics aren’t exactly breathtaking but still passable in this installation. what truly matters is that this game exists purely because of fan support. And honestly? I’d rather experience it, flaws and all, than miss out entirely. Seeing the plot points of 1 and 2 finally get their conclusion makes it worth it, even if this game isn’t the masterpiece it could have been, it's a banger nonetheless.

After playing 999 and VLR and really enjoying my time with those, I had to at least see this through. Unfortunately, it just left a bad taste in my mouth and I cannot recommend it.

Nothing of what made the first two games good is present here. The storytelling feels shallow and contrived, the puzzles design seems rushed, and it’s impossible to build any sort of affection for the characters that made the previous games so engaging. The plot tries to force emotional moments, but they all fall flat. The mystery element, which was a huge draw in the other games, is beyond disappointing.

This is basically the Sonic '06 of story-driven games—might be a fun game to riff on with a few beers, but not much else.

Fans worked hard to make this happen, and the developers I'm sure had good intentions too. Yet, everyone came out of this with regrets...

It's got its issues but I think it's a fitting end to the franchise. Personally, I think the game is an allegory for the fanbase's craving--intentional or not.
One thing that's peculiar to me is how eventually I didn't care for the escape rooms. 999 had the best ones imo and slowly I was both more intrigued with the story and less interested in solving another puzzle. I ended up looking up a bunch out of both boredom for the room and excitement for the plot.

There's a lot of conflict within me when it comes to this game. On one hand, it has an incredible story behind how the game came to be and it has some of the best moments in the series. On the other hand, it has most of the worst attributes in the series. I want to mention I played this on my Steam Deck initially since I played the other two on it and they worked great. But for this one, I switched over to my computer because of the horrendous controls. I had a much easier time playing this with just a mouse and nothing else. No matter how many controller layouts I tried, they all felt unnatural and terrible.

The story for this game and its ideas are actually entertaining and even good. But it's missing many details and crucial points that frustrate me and make me dislike the game more. Weird alien baloney aside, it has other writing issues including character consistency.

The characters are a very mixed bag. Some of them are actually pretty good. Most of them are jarring or just terrible though. The returning characters from 999 are weird. Sometimes they go too far with some of their newly introduced traits. But some of them also fit the character following their game. Both statements apply to Junpei.

The returning characters from VLR are the best in the game. They are the most consistent with what happened after their game's events and follow up their arcs from that game decently well. Even if some of the twists are ludicrous.

The newly introduced characters are... not so good. Carlos is the only one out of the bunch I like mainly because of his personality and reactions to story events. He's just a silly little dude behind the seemingly generic American archetype. Q is behind him but I don't like him much. Mira is whatever. More bad than good I'd say. Eric is just terrible. He has a single character trait and no development. And that single character trait of his is annoying as fuck.

Some of the main endings are great but just the endings themselves. The events leading up to them are usually pretty dumb. But it's partly forgivable because those endings are great. The ones that aren't though are just straight up bad. The true ending is one of those endings I dislike. It was very unsatisfying and the shot it left off on was lame. This wouldn't be as bad if it wasn't the very end of the series. Most of the characters get closure in pretty cheaply delivered files within the game. But no one in D team gets any which sucks. A lot.

This is the goriest and darkest game in the series. There are sooo many bad endings here and most of the deaths are brutal. Some Evil Dead stuff here. And I adore Evil Dead so I'd usually love this kinda stuff, right? But the impact of the scenes disappears for me due to the poor presentation of the game. They're funny to me like a lot of Evil Dead is but in a very different way.

To expand on this new presentation style for the series. The game leaves behind its Visual Novel roots and goes for cinematic storytelling. This is cool for the series and works with what this game is trying to do but it's executed poorly. The cutscene direction and framing are really bad. Why are the shots framed so weirdly? And not in a cool or interesting way. Moreso in an 8 year old just got his first camera sort of way. Why so many dutch angles???

I don't mind the look of the character models too much. In fact, I think they look a considerable amount better than the ones in VLR. But the cutscene direction paired with the very lacking animation quality makes the game look incredibly cheap. Often times I found the characters' mouths don't even move when they speak. It made me laugh my ass off sometimes with how bad the animation quality is.

The game in general is, whether intentionally or not, hilarious at times. One of the endings of the game is possible within 10 minutes of starting. And when the credits began. I lost it. I couldn't stop laughing. Many of the endings got me feeling like this. They sometimes go too far into absurdity and don't do much for me outside of a quick laugh.

As for the presentation of the menus and flowcharts. They kinda suck. I found the flowchart in this game very confusing to navigate. It got easier by the time I finished but the other games in the series felt much more intuitive when it came to their flowcharts. I get the non-linear structure they were going for but it falls flat here. It breaks pacing a lot, unfortunately. I say unfortunately because I think it's a very cool concept.

The puzzle rooms are the best part of this game as well. I like them as much as VLRs. Maybe a little more. There are like 3 stinkers here but most of them are good or great. Some problems though. They can be too easy. Some puzzles are repeated too often like the shape placement or hexagon matching ones. And the rooms were placed poorly within the pacing of the game. These things drag them down for me.

Finally, for the sound. The voice acting is overall the worst in the series. It isn't bad but sometimes the delivery comes off as unintentionally funny despite the tone of the scene being serious. The crappy character animations and cutscene direction definitely make them worse than they are. Sometimes the subtitles don't match what the characters are saying as well for some reason. The soundtrack though is the best in the series. This is saying something because 999 and VLR have great soundtracks.

I really wish this game was good. It has slithers of brilliance within it that are unfortunately muddied by all the crappy things in the game. I'd honestly love to see a remake of this game one day because underneath all the crap is a good game.

5/10

It's good but good GOD is it time-consuming to play sometimes like jesus can yall just stfu and die

Its good but meh but some part of the story are good i want this game to be a Visual Novel not some Telltale ahh game

Só comprar e jogar depois que jogar 999 e VLR!!

Zero Time Dilemma (ZTD) é o terceiro e último jogo da serie Zero Escape continuando com mais escape rooms, puzzles e bastante suspense. Em comparação com os jogos anteriores, ZTD tem algumas arestas pra se aparar mas bom o suficiente pra dar uma análise positiva fora o fato de eu ter gostado muito dos dois jogos anteriores :') .

Eu gostei muito da modelagem 3D dos personagens, melhoraram bastante desde VLR mas fica só nisso mesmo porque a animação é bem mal feita, tanto no quesito de movimentação quanto nas expressões dos personagens - especificamente no caso do Carlos que em diversas cenas focavam no rosto dele com uma expressão tão estranha que parecia cômico 😭. Além disso, outra coisa que me incomodou demais foi que a movimentação da boca não estava nem um pouco sincronizado com a dublagem.

E quanto a dublagem em si, mais uma vez, eu só tenho elogios pra dublagem japonesa porque foi a que eu usei o tempo todo, mas posso estar sendo tendenciosa porque eu adoro a voz do Daisuke Ono (Sigma) e sou super fã do Tomokazu Sugita (Carlos).

A história é bem interessante e uma loucura cheia de reviravoltas e no geral eu gostei, mas há dois pontos que me incomodaram muito.

1. A progressão da história e a mecânica dos fragmentos do flowchart é super confusa. Eu entendo que encaixa bem no jogo por causa de todas essas coisas de pular entre linhas do tempo e injeções que causam amnésia, mas com certeza seria possível implementar isso de uma maneira melhor.
   
[*] O final da história + o fato de que rusharam demais. Spoiler mesmo porque estou muito frustrada, não ver se não tiver jogado: A partir do momento em que revelam que o Zero é o Q/Delta e que ele estava ali o tempo todo pra mim o jogo desandou. Não ligo se tiveram vários momentos em que indicaram isso, eu apenas odiei.

E, por último, gostei bastante do design da caixa de diálogo. Normalmente é simplesmente um retângulo com alguma ou nenhuma transparência com o nome do personagem e a fala, mas em ZTD ao invés do nome, foi colocado o rosto do personagem no fundo da caixa de diálogo! Fica muito bonito esteticamente e quem diria que faria tanto sentido haha ?

this game was very interesting up until the very end where the final twist (along with the way the the espers powers have been rewritten as a whole) spoil the entire franchise if you even attempt to take it seriously. if you liked 999 or VLR do NOT play this game for at least a full year or two after you beat those ones, if at all.

There is an alternate history where this game does not exist

I wish I was in that history

This is the third installment of the Zero Escape series, known for its intense suspense and unique escape room puzzles. While it may have a few rough edges compared to its predecessors, it still provides a thrilling and satisfying finale to the series.

I can't believe people call this boring. This is one of the most batshit crazy narrative plotlines I have ever seen in a videogame. Yeah it's trying to be too deep at times, yeah sometimes things look like they don't make sense... and yet when you start thinking about this game as fun puzzles and a hyperbolized
time-travel/branching universes adventure then you'll have a wonderful time!

ZTD is the worst Zero Escape game, the plot is incredibly poorly-written, continuing a story that was (already pretty badly) concluded with new twists and bad/uninteresting plotlines for no reason except trying to look "deep" and "complex" for no reason, diving head over heels into complete sci-fi but not trying to do anything with the brand new elements, the characters are useless for the vast majority, the new ones especially that are literally here to accompany the main characters, and even recurring ones are either turned completely stupid, or better, directly acting inconsistently with their previously seen behaviors (what did they do to my boy Junpei...).
Even the route structure is chaotic, jumping from plot important scenes to uninteresting scenes after teasing mysteries, and only re-taking it for a 5-minute scene afterwards. VLR already did that "jump here, no jump there, no jump here" thing, but it's now more complex thanks to this fragment system as the flowchart is displayed differently three times.

About visuals and sound, the graphics are some of the worst the 3DS generation has seen, not being helped by the remaster and BGMs are 99% ripped off the previous games, with of course no good new track. It can be noted that there are some great japanese VAs in the cast (Tomokazu Sugita, Ishida Akira, Tachiki Fumihiko, Miyuki Sawashiro, ...) but I guess there are already enough shows/games with them in it so that you're not forced to play ZTD to listen to them.

The game spits on its players, the previous games and itself on several occasions, trying to pull off useless and crappy twists.
If you liked 999, keep your good memories and don't try VLR, and even if you went for and enjoyed VLR, as its story was already mostly resolved, do yourself a favor and stay far from ZTD. Keep your ~20 bucks for better mystery games like Ace Attorney or Danganronpa

at first interesting, but i got bored

Did not live up to its predecessor, but still enjoyed it nevertheless.
It's a not bad closure to the trilogy.
I enjoyed pressing all the buttons and levers that often resulted someone's doom.

Look, I loved the first 2 games (9 people 9 hours 9 doors and Virtue's Last Reward), and after having just replayed them recently, I stand by loving them. Both are phenomenal, and VLR is possibly one of the best VNs I've ever played.

That just makes how bad this one ended up... Disappointing. I was disappointed when I played it on the 3DS and I'm disappointed replaying it now. I just don't understand what happened. The puzzles are worse, the story is a mess, the dialog is worse, etc. It really kinda stings to go from such a phenomenal game like VLR to ZTD not long after.

I played this game for hours in my pirated 3DS back in 2016.
Kotaro Uchikoshi it's one hell of storyteller, and this game deserves to be played on a big screen.
I am totally loving the English dub and will stick to it forever, bought the game to beat it again and leave a positive review.
Imagine watching a 12H movie with so many twists and turns, brutal.
Thanks to this game I finally understand that ZERO'S MOTIVES ARE VERY COMPLEX.

Horrivel, esqueça que esse jogo faz parte da saga de Zero Escape, perdeu todo o sentido, parece que jogou no lixo e tacou fogo todo o plot que conquistou os fas nos outros dois jogos. A unica coisa que eu me diverti era como que certa escolha faria o personagem falecer de forma criativa, apenas.

E vai se fuder com a historia bagunçada, eu vim para jogar um jogo de visual novel, não um quebra cabeça onde não fica entendido nada da historia e nem como que prossegue. Tive que usar um guia para tentar entender o que diabos estava acontecendo.

Não compre nem que estivesse 1 real, não perca a sua sanidade em tentar entender como que o jogo funciona. Dinheiro gasto atoa. Apenas não pedi refund por conta que eu queria saber se pelo menos o final era bom, para no final voltar a estaca zero e o cara bancar um de heroi (O CARA BASICAMENTE MATOU 6 BILHOES POR CONTA QUE QUERIA SALVAR 2)

E eu podia ter acabado o jogo nos dez primeiros minutos: Spoiler a seguir do inicio.





Todos os personagens estavam la presos e seriam soltos em cara ou coroa, se acertassem a cor certa que caiu, iriam sair, se não, teriam que jogar o jogo (o jogo que nos players jogamos). Eu chutei a cor e acertei de primeira, eles sairam e o jogo finalizou. Eu literalmente podia ter me livrado disso, mas quis insistir.

Até um dos meus visuais noveis que tenho mais bobinho (Enigma) bate de frente com esse aqui.

the game of all time

READ BELOW FOR MY REVIEW + RUNDOWN & FINAL SCORE!

STORY

⬜ Masterpiece
⬜ Amazing
⬜ Great
✅ Good
⬜ Average
⬜ Bad
⬜ Awful
⬜ None
🔶 7/10

GAMEPLAY

⬜ Perfect
⬜ Amazing
✅ Great
⬜ Good
⬜ Average
⬜ Bad
⬜ Hot Garbage
⬜ None
🔶 8/10

VISUALS

⬜ Realistic
⬜ Modern
⬜ Anime
⬜ Pixelated
⬜ Unique
⬜ Impressive
⬜ Good
⬜ Average
✅ Bad
✅ Gross
🔶 3/10

DIFFICULTY

⬜ Press A
⬜ Easy
⬜ Medium
⬜ Hard
⬜ Easy to Learn/Hard to Master
✅ Puzzling
⬜ Difficult
⬜ Dark Souls
🔶 9/10

MUSIC & SFX

⬜ Heavenly
⬜ Amazing
⬜ Great
✅ Good
✅ Average
⬜ Bad
⬜ WTF
⬜ None
🔶 7/10

VOICE ACTING

⬜ Superb
⬜ Amazing
⬜ Great
✅ Good
✅ Average
⬜ Bad
⬜ Cringy
⬜ None
🔶 6/10

GRIND

✅ Little
⬜ Average
⬜ Lots
⬜ So... Much... Grinding
⬜ For 100% Completion
⬜ For Side Quests
⬜ For Leaderboards/Ranks
⬜ None
🔶 9/10

EXTRAS & SIDE QUESTS

⬜ Outstanding
⬜ Amazing
⬜ Great
⬜ Good
⬜ Average
⬜ Bad
⬜ FETCH ME THIS AND FETCH ME THAT!
✅ None
🔶 N/A

GAME TIME

⬜ Infinity
⬜ 100-200 Hours
⬜ 70-100 Hours
⬜ 30-50 Hours
✅ 20-30 Hours
⬜ 10-20 Hours
⬜ 5-10 Hours
⬜ FOUUUUR HOOOURS?!
🔶 8/10

END-GAME CONTENT

⬜ Infinite
⬜ Large Amount
⬜ Fair Amount
⬜ Small Amount
⬜ End-Game > Main Game
⬜ Not Worth Playing
⬜ There SHOULD be an End-Game :'(
✅ None
🔶 N/A

REPLAYABILITY

⬜ OVER and OVER and OVER!
✅ Replay it a Few Times
⬜ Replay it Once
⬜ For Gameplay
✅ For Story
⬜ For Challenge Runs
⬜ With Mods
⬜ None
🔶 6/10

PRICE

⬜ BUY NOW!
✅ Recommended
✅ Buy on Sale
⬜ Not Recommended
⬜ STAY AWAY!
⬜ Free
⬜ HORRIBLE MICROTRANSACTIONS TO PLAY!
🔶 7/10

BUGS

✅ None
⬜ Very Minor
⬜ Some
⬜ Annoying
⬜ Cyberpunk 2077
⬜ Unplayable
🔶 10/10

PC SPECS

⬜ Potato
✅ Windows 95
✅ Decent
⬜ Fast
⬜ Very Fast
⬜ Supercomputer

AUDIENCE

⬜ Kids
✅ Teens
✅ Adults

The following section may contain minor and/or major gameplay and/or story spoilers! Please read at your own risk!

REVIEW:

Playing through this game surprised me in multiple ways. The story was very convoluted and it, along with the previous Zero Escapes, are the kings of branching paths madness. It was well thought out and clever enough. I really like Zero Escape, and it's sad to think that this may be the last title for a very long time.

The next way it surprised me? The visuals and art direction. It's... one of the ugliest games I've experienced. Is this the reason we won't get to see another title? The too hot to handle "fancy" engine used? Please go back to how 999 was! It was FINE, even if it was outdated. I much, MUCH prefer anime cutouts for a visual novel, rather than Virtue's Last Reward's 3D/cutout and ESPECIALLY ZTD's monstrosity.

It took me around 4-5 hours to take the game even SLIGHTLY seriously. The 3D models were ugly, the emotions were not there at all. It affected the entirety of the game... The only model I liked was Q (Sean) and HE HAS A HELMET ON HIS ENTIRE HEAD!

Even though this killed my experience, there were fun moments to be had. I'd only recommend this if you're a fan of Zero Escape and/or puzzles. The puzzles were very good and usually not too over the top. Just about perfect in terms of difficulty.

For me, the games ranked from greatest to worst are: 999, VLR, ZTD. I still had a hell of a time with this series, and I'll remember it for a long time. Unique, very well thought out and (mostly) good execution (except for the space themes and the whole Mars thing... meh.)

RUNDOWN:

STORY

The story was good... mostly. At first, the horrendous looking models killed the vibe of the story, so I'm not sure if it was good or bad, but eventually, things picked up after Carlos started SHIFTing. This was my favorite part of the story. So, for me, the story went like this - beginning: 😳 > middle: great > end: WTF?

There are flaws in it, and I didn't take it too seriously at ANY time. However! I liked the interesting facts that the characters would throw out. Specifically, the paradoxes and different theoretical problems. All the Zero Escapes do a good job at these, and some of them will blow your mind.

Something I didn't like at first but ended up loving was being able to choose pretty much any single path in the story, whether it follows the timeline or not. In the end, you'll mostly stick to one path, but it doesn't matter which order you play in the beginning and middle of the game. It's an innovative staple of Zero Escape, and I know the formula was used in the AI Somnium Files games (which are GREAT GAMES by the same creator; go play them now, please!)

GAMEPLAY

This may have been my favorite part of the game. No, it WAS the best part. The puzzles are always very well thought out. I ended up cheating only 6 times, which made me feel pretty good. I got HYPED when figuring out something in any puzzle and my brain was fed lots of endorphins! Whoever designs these puzzles needs a raise, and needs to create more games for the world. Bravo, to you.

The only reason the gameplay was rated an 8/10 instead of a 10/10 was the confusion of "where to go next" towards the end of the game. My God, I had to Google many different checklists to figure out what I was missing to advance the story.

VISUALS

Worst part of the game. It still boggles my mind that the art direction was the most impactful aspect, for my experience. I can usually overlook these things, but DAMN... it was bad. The way they moved — their eyes, mouth, hands, and walk — was appallingly bad.

Horrible 3D movement aside, Junpei didn't even look like Junpei, Phi didn't even look like Phi, and Akane? HA! Not even close. I thought, "maybe there's some purpose why they look so different in this game?" Nope. It's just because... for whatever reason?!

Eventually, I *did* end up accepting it, but that's only because I finally got used to it. I think they wanted to make the ending of the trilogy almost like a movie, but no, chief, it ain't it.

DIFFICULTY

The difficulty was nearly perfect, but I guess it'd vary for how "big brain" players can be when dealing with puzzles in this nature. It's easier than the previous Zero Escapes, but felt like the perfect temperature of the pool water for me.

MUSIC & SFX

The music is fine but could've used some updated 2.0 versions of tracks instead of reusing 999 and VLR's music.

VOICE ACTING

The bad 3D models heavily shrouded my judgement on whether the voice acting was good or bad. When characters spoke, the robotic and emotionless 3D models made me question if the voice acting was good or not.

However, being finally "used to" the 3D models' animations, I think the voice acting is fine. It's nothing great, but it's good.

GRIND

Minimal. Luckily, you can skip text fast, or else I would score this differently.

EXTRAS & SIDE QUESTS

N/A

GAME TIME

It'll take you around 20-25 hours to complete this game.

END-GAME CONTENT

N/A

REPLAYABILITY

You'll HAVE to replay some specific Fragments to see the true (if it's even true?) ending.

PRICE

If you want to see the conclusion of Zero Escape, buy this game.

BUGS

None that I can recall. Unless you want to say the character models' faces bugging out on drugs... OOH! Burn!

PC SPECS

Because of the horrendous art direction this game has, and the (heavily emphasized) "movie scenes", you'll need a decent computer to run this game.

AUDIENCE

Adults and most teens could play this game.


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MY SCORE AVERAGE: 7.3/10

MY PERSONAL SCORE: 6.5/10

Click here to check out even more of my compliments & complaints on this game!

[/quote]

ONLY PLAY THIS GAME IF YOU ALREADY PLAYED 999 OR VLR

Firstly, graphically speaking this game is a mess and it took me a bit of time to adjust to the bad animations and overall art style of the game. It's nothing special but it was originally released on psvita and 3ds so its understandable but VLR was also a 3ds and psvita game and the models in that game looked much better and the animations were much smoother, for a game that is basicly just a very long cutscene with puzzles mid-way the animations REALLY needed to be a bit better

Speaking on a story prespective, this has to have been one of the most dissapointing endings iv seen for a game and for a game series, it leaves the story open for NO good reason and has so many inconsistencies that it's actually unreal. Yeah it gives context and explains a bit of VLR's story but frankly VLR and it's true ending were SO much better than this one's.

Now why do i recomend this game? Because its the conclusion to one of my favorite visual novel series, in all of its messy, unorganized and stiff glory.

seriously dont buy this unless it's on sale and/or you really liked the first 2 Zero Escape games.

crying every day cause it's over
such an amazing game
wish I was smart enough to understand how the whole SHIFT stuff works

Might be the funniest story I've ever saw unfolded. I want whatever Uchikoshi is having.

shoutout zero escape. this one tries to be scary and stressful but it's mostly just really funny lol

Achievements are bugged when playing in offline mode. The game didn't work on the Steam Deck for the longest time (despite having Verified Compatibility). Story is kinda wonky at some parts and the hints don't really help (unrelated to puzzles).

Some spoiler free hints which should make the game playable (marking as spoilers just in case):

Execution Vote: Try to unlock all related bad endings here before continuing with the game. I found multiple threads of people very confused as to why they couldn't complete the game because the bad endings weren't shown as incomplete on the story fragment view.
All Endings: You can skip the credits on all endings except for the final one. The button on PC is Esc. I don't know the button on controller.

I can't really recommend this game unless you're getting it for dirt cheap. since the game wasn't even playable for the majority of the time I owned it.

Uchikoshi brought the best finale he was able to pull to the Zero Escape Saga. If you loved 999 and Virtue's Last Reward (like I did), maybe you won't love this entry (as I didn't), but you will find it entertaining, interesting and surprising enough.

Honestly quite enjoyed the game, it had me frustrated at times trying to figure out codes and putting things together but finishing each quest was relieving and made me more interested in trying to understand what was going on alongside the characters. This game brings to light ideas and theories that are likely unknown to different communities by turning it into something fun, I've never enjoyed learning about all the different philosophies and concepts present in this game and I'll enjoy looking more into it now that I know about them. I would recommend this game to anyone who has some time to play for a few hours here and there because if you're a bit on the clueless side like me then it may take a while but I feel that the outcome is worth it and really makes you question your decisions and beliefs you had throughout playing.

I loaded up the game, guessed correctly on the coin toss, won the game, roll credits. 10/10 the man wasn't lying.

The dialogue in the game is extensive and can't be summarized, which means you are subjected to long, drawn-out conversations. It's as though the game is blending elements of a slice-of-life genre with high-stakes drama, where every hour brings about a grim event, such as a character's untimely demise.

Yes, the game's narrative and character development are compelling, it's just the sheer volume of dialog. The intrigue and tension that build up during these conversations are undeniable, but they come at the cost of a significant time investment, which might not be appealing to everyone who is after an interactive video game.

It is sad, because the first one nailed it. The original has the perfect balance. I'm not sure what went wrong in Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma.

One of the most unique stories I have seen in gaming, but also one of the best

Yes

A game that stresses to figure out the human condition. Very good.

The story really keeps you playing each timeline on the flowchat. Such a cool written story and the characters equally as well written. Only downside is the voice acting here and there comes off as not matching what said voice line is responding to.

I've not even finished it yet and like this game a lot. Unfortunate the sequel is a novel instead of matching this games style of gameplay.

A snail made me recommend it.

Zero Escape: Clown Fiesta Dilemma

[hr][/hr]

What i liked:

• puzzle rooms
  
• soundtrack
  
• initially, the story (first like 6 hours spread across the teams/fragments)
  

What i didn't mind:

• animations - it was low budget after all
  
• scuffed audio levels/voice acting (Zero was quiet at times, some characters were suddenly loud for no reason)
  

What i didn't like:

• story, ending was not satisfying at all - complex motives bro ๑ï
  

Dropped multiple plot points from previous games:

• Santa, Snake, Ace, Seven, Lotus - same thing with Alice (and her tortured dead father? not addressed whatsoever - the SOIS org she worked for with Clover not addressed either)
  
• Free the Soul got completely butchered basically, Dio not explained and kinda irrelevant, cloning thing irrelevant
  
• Crash Keys (Akane's org) ???? the files don't really explain much
  
• the whole thing with K/? from VLR
  
• Clover explains in VLR how she can't access morphogenetic fields now because there is probably stronger esper than her and so she acts as a stronger connection sort of for them - this logic doesn't seem to apply in this game at all
  
• Sigma doesn't really act like his "Termite Sigma" self from VLR (director's office hologram), same with Phi -> both act stupid at times for no reason
  

Multiple dumb plot points:

• aliens and random mind hack ability
  
• Carlos pretending to SA Akane just to whisper to her that there are aliens with cards they can use to disable the bracelet thingy and that she should go and get them, his reasoning being that this will surely distract Zero and bring attention to Carlos and Junpei fightning instead of her (why is he so sure she won't get spotted? like what?), also how does he know that behind the counter/bar there are no cameras?
  
• Sigma losing his arms and eye felt pretty stupid too, simply because they just wasted bunch of time bickering about the bomb - expected something more impactful?
  
• Diana/Mira releasing Radical-6
  
• Carlos saving Akane and Junpei instead of trying to save the world because you are my friends! lol
  
• Akane being bipolar randomly and constantly blaming Junpei for changing so drastically (dude was forced to go through hell to save her and then she ditched for a year with no explanation, shocker)
  
[*]everyone being able to SHIFT perfectly at the end of the game for no reason (even people like Mira and Eric, who never SHIFTED in their entire life - Sigma spent 45 years BTW)

the list goes on and on...

5/10

even if its the weakest of the 3 its still absolute peak