Zero Escape: The Nonary Games

Greatest work of fiction out there. Completeley engaged in this trauma of events and the science behind it

(Copy from my Reddit's post.)

Context: So I am completely new to this series. I have recently bought the bundle. I do have some experience with the bugginess of Spike Chunsoft port. But damn boy, I don't think this game is this annoying to debug compared to Danganronpa V3 nasty unresponsive input.

So it turns out that Zero Escape has in-game video that use non-default supported codec. What does that mean? That means the game can't be opened because the first video, the intro movie, can't be opened by Windows.

The fix is simple: install codec package. I don't know what codec Zero Escape use (because I don't want to risk open the video folder and get spoiled by the video thumbnail), but the surefire way to have a good list of codec is to install k-lite codec pack.

Reminder: you need to let k-lite codec pack install the package for both itself and Windows. If you have installed K-lite codec since a long time ago, you may forgot this option. The key issue is that if you install codec package for only the MPC-HC (the default media player for K-lite codec pack), then Windows can't process Zero Escape's video because those videos are opened in-game, not in the media player.

what the fuck. fuck this game. fuck these games. do you enjoy spiraling? do you enjoy being gaslit, maimed, and exploded over and over? IM NINE. YOURE NINE. WE ARE ALL NINE!!! MIKU DIDNT SAY THE WORLD IS MINE SHE SAID THE WORLD IS NINE!!!! BUY THIS GAME RIGHT NOW!!!

A very good story with nice narratives. Highly recommend for players who are into puzzle-solving games with rich text (especially when there is a discount -w-). The underlying context and relationships between characters make this whole thing a lot more interesting.
For people who are not so fond of puzzles (like me), finding the way out of rooms may be a little bit demanding. But anyway they are not difficult, so it's fine for me.

Zero Escape: The Nonary Games

The Good:

The Bad:

Overall:

The structure of the how the twists turn out in the story is fantastic. I loved the quantum theory concepts that really makes you think the sublimity of the game.

Something something Titanic, something something glycerin, something something digital root. Bam, that's the game, now go play it yourself.

This collection includes the first and second installments of the Zero Escape series, known for its intense suspense and unique escape room puzzles. It features Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (999) and Virtue’s Last Reward (VLR). As a fan of story-driven games that blend mystery, puzzles, and compelling narratives, I found it incredibly captivating—an experience that will stay with me for a long time.

No shit this game is deep as hell.
Initially, I thought the gimmicks and puzzles are for kids with some very simple maths, but soon I realize that there is so much cunning schemes involved in all the characters.
I won't spoil any plot here but I just want to say this:
You really need to understand the puzzles to appreciate the dialogues of NPCs, the secret meanings between their lines, and some choices the game forces you to make.

Btw, I didn't know this game before but from the look of it it's probably some remake of a Nintendo DS game. Not complaining anything. Archiving of classics is always welcome.

Recommend to anyone who enjoy exercising your brain and take patience to appreciate the puzzles, as well as though who want to add more retrogaming to your collection.

前期氛围感都拉满，有些反转和理论也很有意思；后面有点圆不上，刻意忽略了很多矛盾的点（比如 存在2个2号腕表；茜和santa腕表真实数字到底是多少；茜到底是否存在于9年后；santa一个人是怎么把2号运到9号门房间的棺材里的 ），剧情前后也有很多降智操作（比如 主角一开始去5号房就硬是不拿腕表，后面看见手枪就硬是留在原地，生怕关键道具没被坏人拿走；茜都能跨越时空连接意识了，就硬是解不出来一道小学逻辑题，硬是要等男主救她 ），其实最无语的地方是 女主人设太烂了，好像个机器人就三种模式：恋爱脑、哭/吓得腿软、发烧休息；剧情细节男凝味拉满，到处塞一些颜色段子
虽然吐槽了很多，但剧情设定还是可圈可点的，解谜难度不高，沉浸感强，惊艳到我的一个设定是 有两扇9号门，这个反转我真没想到，我甚至从游戏一开始就在算如果我要和茜一起出去需要拉拢谁当队友，想着一周目先保个7不死就跟着7去了舱底，没想到直接进BE，笑死

I wish I could review the two games separately as I have very different opinions on each.

The first game is brilliant. The story flows nicely and you’re intrigued to find out what’s happening. The puzzles were good and I would highly recommend it.

The second game? I would give it a thumbs down. It could have been so much more. And the underlying plot which you find out in the end could have been interesting if it was done better. But it just fell short in so many ways, which was disappointing after such a good first game.

Overall I’d still recommend buying the bundle. Just be prepared to really enjoy your initial experience then be let down in the second half.

This is a long review so here's the TL;DR: Buy the Nonary Games. Play these amazing games. They're extremely cheap right now, and they go on sale often. I absolutely adore this series and I cannot recommend it enough. <3

The Zero Escape Trilogy is one of my absolute favorite game franchises of all time. The Nonary Games consists of the first two games in the series, ported from their original DS and 3DS releases. Since Steam is currently running a massive sale on the series (until January 30th!), I wanted to share my thoughts here and encourage any puzzle-lover or mystery visual novel fan to check these games out!

The Zero Escape series combines the ever-popular death-game premise with puzzle-filled escape room style gameplay. Between the escape room segments, the game is a wonderfully entertaining visual novel with an intriguing mystery behind it. Each game in the series is full of twists and turns, but the game sets up the pieces of the puzzle in a way that gives the player an opportunity to predict several of those twists for themselves as they follow along. While playing these two games, I was constantly surprised, but never felt blindsided by any out-of-nowhere twists.

One of my favorite aspects of these games is what I like to call "The Wikipedia Monologues," wherein a character will suddenly begin explaining a random historical event, thought experiment, pseudoscience concept, or other topic you may read about on Wikipedia in the middle of an escape room style death game. It's not necessarily realistic, especially for a group of stressed out people who have an enforced time limit that could kill them, BUT it's really fun to read, and these monologues are usually relevant to one of the game's many plot threads, twists, or unique puzzles (unless it's a red herring!). I also really like the fact that it's never just one character giving these sorts of monologues. Some characters have more moments like this than others, but for the most part the knowledge is spread across the whole cast (just like real people's knowledge bases would differ too!).

And speaking of the cast! Both games are filled with great characters who, whether likeable or unlikeable (Dio), are very fun to interact with. The branching paths of the narrative allow you to interact with different combinations of characters as you go through different escape rooms, leading you to learn more about and from each member of the cast. Since these are the Nonary Games, both have a cast of 9 characters trapped in the deathgame. With this large, but limited, cast size, you really get to know the characters by the time you reach the game's ending.

As for the games individually, starting with 9 Persons, 9 Hours, 9 Doors:
This first game is what immediately drew me into the series. I love Junpei as the protagonist, and the mystery surrounding the Nonary Game and its other players was extremely fun to unravel. This game has such a wonderful supporting cast as well, with Snake being my immediate favorite and Santa & Clover as a close second! This game has, in my opinion, the best art in the series. It seems odd to be saying that the art is best in the first game, but I'm just not a fan of VLR's 3D models and ZTD is... It's there. That's a separate review, though. I loved trying to make my way through the puzzles of this game, not only in the escape rooms, but in the narrative as well. One thing I adore about Zero Escape is that it's conscious of the relationship between content and form – with the content being its narrative and the form being "video game." The writers are extremely creative with how they present the narrative through the videogame medium, with certain twists and plot elements working in a way that wouldn't be the same if the story were told in any other form of media. Without spoiling anything, I do somewhat wish that I had experienced 999 in its original form on the DS because the port doesn't fully have the same effect in one particular scene. BUT!! This game is still phenomenal and I'm incredibly thankful that the port has a flowchart (God I love when VNs have flowcharts) AND great voice acting.

Speaking of flowcharts, let's talk about Virtue's Last Reward!
This game is my favorite in the series. It also has a great flowchart with significantly more choices and branching paths than 999. While I really don't like the 3D models, they don't detract from the narrative too much (I still kind of wish we had 2D sprites though. The 2D official art of the cast looks so good!!). The puzzles in this game are a step above 999, with a slightly higher level of difficulty that I really enjoyed. The rules of the Nonary Game in this iteration are different enough to shake things up and sow distrust among the players where 999's cast were more inclined towards cooperation. I really like Sigma as a protagonist just as much as Junpei, and the rest of the cast was super fun too (I even liked Dio – specifically I liked hating on Dio. He's great. By which I mean he's awful and I love that about him). This game REALLY lived up to the previous one with its constant twists, AND there are plenty more of my beloved Wikipedia Monologues, so the game is obviously a 10/10. Things can occasionally get repetitive with the similarities between branching paths, and the transition scenes where Sigma walks from room to room are so tedious that they were almost funny. However, despite its minor flaws, VLR is absolutely worth it.

Steam Deck rating is completely wrong. Even after fixing the cutscene audio I still have awful audio issues. Unenjoyable

This collection contains two games, but you will only need one:

999: The Nonary Games (Remastered Version)

Virtue’s Last Reward (VLR)

Final Recommendation

• 999: Play the original Nintendo DS version. Avoid the remastered edition in this collection.
  
[*]VLR: A fantastic follow-up for fans of 999. Definitely worth playing.

Played 999 upon release some 15 years ago on Nintendo DS, VLR when it came out on Vita and also on 3DS, ZTD when it came out on PC. And then replayed them on PC. In fact, I wrote a thesis on VLR and also performed a selection of trials as seen in 999 (those were legal and safe, officer). Therefore, I solemnly swear on my name, which is Klim, as I state that this trilogy is good. For better reference, I have prepared a table:

Tab. 1: Quality of works.
[table]
[tr]
[th]Work[/th]
[th]Good[/th]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]999[/td]
[td]Yes[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]VLR[/td]
[td]Yes[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]ZTD[/td]
[td]Yes[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

Suitable for:

• People who value works that deal with psychological horror, or enjoy thrillers and riddles
  
• Fans of Telltale and Layton games
  
• Fans of the Saw franchise
  
• Lovers of romance, it won't overwhelm you but there is just enough of it
  
• Likers of humor. You like funny? Ay there is some funi come get it
  
• Tin men who have lost their hearts and are looking to find them again, and last but not least
  
[*]K-pop stans who have trouble remembering all the members of a group: fear not, for you will also find your very own representation.

two of the best visual novels i've played in one pack, with some generally pretty high-quality room escape puzzles to break up the pace. absolutely pick this up, especially if it's on sale like as i'm writing this

Had to get this review while in at the correct hour. Great Visual Novels. Some dialogue can be cheesy, but it's fun playing a digital choose-your-own adventure. If you're a genre fan/fan of these titles, check out the developer.

Well-written sci-fi/pseudo-science themed visual novel games.

They play like interactive puzzles/escape rooms, with a focus on exploring multiple routes/endings, all building up the story/world.

It's a "meh" game. None of the puzzles were particularly challenging. And OMG! So.. much... talking about nothing!! Of the 12 hours I've spent playing this game, I would say that 10 hours have been just reading pointless and infantile dialog about nonsense (and more than a few pointless sexual innuendos), trying to create a suspenseful environment, I guess. I found 2 of the 5 endings and have zero desire of finding the other ones. Who cares.

I have no words on how to describe this game but this game is fantastic enough with a deep lore (you will see it when you play the game). You get to play the first game (999: 9 hours, 9 persons and 9 doors) and second game (Virtue's Last Reward). Definitely worth the purchase so this game gets a solid 10/10 for me.

Tu fui, ego eris

Some friendos I know were super passionate about this series and Danganronpa...so I tried it and I must say, 999 was peak, though Virtue's Last Reward was a very close second. I enjoyed the two games very much, and I loved seeing how the two games connected. One thing I hated was that the protagonists of both games were pervs with unnecessary and uncomfortable dialogues that I felt contributed nothing to the game whatsoever; take those elements out and the game would not suffer a bit.

999 - The art style for the characters was just gorgeous as 2-D sprites...The flow chart mechanic for jumping through different events in time to get different endings was very useful, and it also had a very strong narrative basis. The characters all felt engaging to me in their own ways with exception to character number 9, and the game made me was always on my toes with suspicion at all the other characters. I don't understand all the science, but I thoroughly enjoyed the game.

VLR - They switched to using 3-D sprites which I disliked at first, but it grew on me over time as the story played on. There is a flow chart mechanic like 999, and each route gave clues on how to finish the game. While I dislike having to play through all the different endings of a game to get all its different secrets, it was not a burden at all whatsoever for VLR. I found myself taking notes on my notepad app to keep track of all the juicy tidbits and story hints to get the true ending, so I can say I was truly engaged with this mystery. The only glaring issues are quality-of-life issues, namely that transitioning to different areas had a long animation of going through different doors and rooms to get where I needed to go; the animation was actually a detriment rather than a boon, and I wish it was never there. Nonetheless, I would recommend these two games (in order with 999 first and then VLR).

As a vn, I think Zero Escape VLR and 999 took great advantage of the medium to create a compelling mystery and intriguing characters that engaged me very well. I wouldn't mind playing a similar game with protagonists that weren't coded as stereotypical hormonal teenage boys with no control over themselves or the words that come out of their mouths.

at the risk of sounding vague... make sure u click for that hint when it's block time cause the port is bullshit

Great story! This game craftily ties the theme into its storytelling and mechanics.

Absolute gem of a puzzle/visual novel hybrid with a pretty complex narrative that is still easy and fun to follow. Just incredible stuff.

1)way too expensive 2)downloaded hoping it would be something like Danganronpa or YTTD but its not the characters are not that deep so u cant really feel connected to them yk yk way too many puzzles and misses the whole victim/murderer, trial vibes stuff. but if ur into puzzles go for it

it's been 7 days, i'm still rolling dice in the Q room. Send help.

Really good visual novel. the story and mystery are ggreat. and i loved the puzzles!

This review is specifically about 999. I have played VLR on PS Vita back in the day, but not on this version yet. Will update the review when I have.

An absolutely fantastic game, though it’s slightly held back by being ported to PC. The DS version is definitely the better experience, thanks to how it utilizes the dual screens, so if you have the option, I’d highly recommend playing it there. That said, the PC port works just fine. I played it entirely on the Steam Deck, using the touchscreen for most of the puzzles, and it worked flawlessly. However, setting it up the first time is a bit of a hassle since it requires an older version of Proton and a specific video codec to work properly on Deck.

The PC version does add voice acting, which is a nice touch. If you’re into escape rooms, Squid Game, or just love puzzles in general, you should absolutely give this a shot. You won’t regret it. I played this years ago on the DS and loved it, but over the years I forgot most of the details of the True ending, so getting to experience most of that all over again was a lot of fun. 999 has such a cool story. Nolan could never.

This game pisses me off so much, but I love it at the same time. The puzzles, while not necessarily difficult (and make me feel smart sometimes), can sometimes have answers that don't entirely match up to the clues you're given, and the game has a lovely habit of crashing at unexpected times (which I guess I'm kind of used to). Despite that, the story for both games is very engaging, and although I'm not a huge fan of VLR's ending, I did really enjoy the flow chart progression in both games and how it contributes to the story.

Beautiful and rich story, confusing, worth the time spent on it + Love Clover

takes some time to get into but its peak VN storytelling

Only on 999 with one ending in the tank but great game so far. The writing is fun while not being too annoying and the game is short but sweet, not overstaying its welcome which I really like. Also Yashiro is a bonus.

Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors is one of the best games ever made. Complete 10/10, actually a game i would describe as flawless. Of course it's a visual novel, so it won't be for everyone, but i think it does what it set out to do perfectly. Great story, great visuals, great music, great everything.

Virtues Last Reward is also very good, but not nearly to the level of 999. The characters aren't as likable (other than Phi) and the escape rooms are a bit too cryptic or confusing at times, but the major issue this game has is just how much repeated dialogue there is, in order to get the full story to these games you need to do each route, which in 999 was nearly perfect, there were some parts that repeated dialogue but it never took too long or overstayed it's welcome because there are less routes in 999 than VLR. In VLR though, there are MANY more routes, which on one hand is a plus because it definitely adds more to the story and gives more gameplay variety since you get more escape rooms, but on the other hand you have to see the same lines of dialogue over and over and over and over and over. I spent about 30 hours on VLR 100%ing it and i'd say somewhere between 4-6 hours of that was rereading (or skipping) over text i had already seen. The game is certainly very good, but is not comparable to 999 in quality. I give this one a solid 7.5/10, worth playing for sure, especially because this game is a direct sequel to 999 so you get a couple answers to some questions you may have after playing that game.

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☑ MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☑ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't

---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma

---{ PC Requirements }---
☑ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☑ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☑ Average
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☑ Didn't give it enough time to find out
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☐ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☐ Worth the price - I got it on sale but it's worth the full price too imo
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☑ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☑ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

i have yet to finish virtues last reward, but i have played 999 multiple times and quite frankly it's the kind of game that you just can't play enough, just as all uchikoshi games tend to be (another great example is the ai: the somnium files games). 999 has quickly become my favorite game of all time, and will forever hold a dear space in my heart.

Two excellent puzzle visual novels. I prefer 999 over VLR, and for the price of $6.00 on sale it's worth it for the first game alone. 999 has an excellent atmosphere, great characters and a story that's both insane and reasonably digestible.

VLR is the previous game multiplied times 3. The puzzles are 3x harder, the game is 3x longer and the story is 3x more insane. Watching that dot on the map travel from room to room will drive you insane. Doing the puzzle in the crew quarters, watching all the doors open and close every time you move between rooms will drive you insane. I played for what felt like 15 hours getting bad endings and locked routes before i stumbled onto the route i was intended to go on and that was pretty frustrating. That being said, I still enjoyed VLR.

Highly recommend playing with an audience- the story is very well-crafted but sometimes you need to be able to share a Look with each other

Uchikoshi never fails to blow my mind that dude is like Mozart but if he were japanese and made games instead of music and that's just not really something you can get elsewhere these days

Nah but fr these are some of my favourite games. Super thrilling with plot twists that will blow your mind! Big recommend!

I originally played these games 7 years ago and apparently had forgotten almost all of the story for Virtues last reward other than one scene and remembering "It was really good". Replaying it the last week I concur with my past self. these are incredible games and more people should play them

999:

VLR:

i'd overall absolutely recommend this set. 999 blew me away, legitimately one of the most impactful games I've ever played, just really fantastic and fun. I was significantly less into virtue's last reward, but people online seem to love it so that's just subjective. I couldn't finish it but still consider the set worth it just for 999.

Very good, incredible plot twists. A few too long, drawn out explanations and conversations but extremely exciting all the way through

The story in both games are very good.
I prefer the story in VLR, but the gameplay in VLR is more troublesome than 999.
Highly recommended mystery game.
Uchikoshi did a very good job in these games.

999全通 留个评论 整体可以给到7 or 8/10 的总分 还是挺上头的
santa和紫永远处在一道门的设计确实很好的掩盖了真相 可以说是这部最有意思的地方
虽然核心诡计确实不如ever17 并且对于先玩完ever17的我 真结局也有一种既视感
最终理论的解释 也确实有点强差人意... 属于是也算说得通的级别

Graphics are cool, and the first game makes everything feel quiet and nostolgic.

When I first started Virtue's Last Reward I thought, "wow, this game is ugly." But I discovered that true beauty is on the inside.

I originally played 999 on the DS and it stuck with me for a long time. After years, I finally bought this in order to experience it again, and it did not disappoint.
The story is simply phenomenal in my opinion, and it's a shame this game is not more well known, as it absolutely would deserve to be. And that's without mentioning the puzzles! They are fun and intuitive, but not to the point of being easy, especially in the later rooms!
The graphics improvement and the voice acting allowed me to feel more immersed in the story than I did the first time, even though I already knew the main plotpoints. While I do believe having a dual screen made the gameplay experience smoother, I think this remake does a wonderful job at optimising the experience even without it.
I cannot understate how much I recommend anyone who is a fan of visual novels or escape rooms to play this! Just do it!

*No spoilers*

One of the 2 best death/survival game type of game.

I tried it after finishing every Danganronpa's games and I'm really glad I did.
Both games are really differents but they are masterpiece in their own way!

The puzzle parts of the games are fine but there way too much dialogue repetition and it reached a point that I could no longer stand VLR. I played the games on and off and let them run to take a break from it but it just wasn't something that I will ever complete.