Decide 4 God

Cannot recommend this. The gameplay loop is clicking on random things trying to find items while a timer ticks up. There is too many places to search, so the only way forwards is just clicking on everything and then starting over with the knowledge from your failed attempts. However later on you do not get to restart, so you are locked into a fail state and just to get to continue the meaningless failed story. Eventually this is supposed to get better by being able to time travel. I think it is just bad game design. Would much preferred actual puzzles rather than this mindless hidden object search.

The ultimate ending for the Abime series, I fully recommend playing both Head AS Code and Birth ME Code then playing this game! The dev for this is very helpful for any issues as well

Firstly, the game is very long (in a good way), especially if you take your time to think and theorize while playing (subtract 19 hours from my playtime, I restarted from scratch after Early Access). For a price-value deal, this is as good as it gets, the game is long and ~90% of my playtime so far felt fresh and of a great quality. The other 10% was replaying puzzle rooms a lot of times just to get something new at the end. This was still fine and mostly enjoyable and I could have optimized the routes I have taken to get more new information on one replay instead of replaying every time something new unlocked. There is a (very complex) flow-chart but it unlocks after about 10 hours in. The first "route" is basically the prologue where you are on a mostly set path and see how things evolve from there. The real game essentially starts after this prologue. The pacing is great, there are basically no filler parts (even if baking a pizza for example seems like a filler at the beginning, it always pays off in some way). Fortunately, repeated dialogue that is the same but in slightly different context (and thus not skippable) is also not present here. I am always looking forward to what is going to happen next, it is sometimes difficult to put the game down when it really gets going :) The story and writing are phenomenal so far, there is always a mystery to solve. I recommend taking it slow and processing all the information the game throws at you, it is much more rewarding that way to me. I haven't felt this way since Virtue's Last Reward, this game feels like a true spiritual successor to me. The story leans heavily into existential themes but I do not wish to spoil anything here, it is best to go in blind and also having played the previous two games. Knowledge of the previous games (Head AS Code and Birth ME Code) is very much recommended (this one also spoils them heavily right from the start) but I do not know how digestable this one is without playing them. Gameplay-wise, the puzzle rooms are great. They may feel trial-and-error object searches at the beginning, but there are actual puzzles to solve. The basic mechanics are the usual: searching or interacting with objects. The main twist is that you can either do it alone or with other characters. This has drastic differences and is a key aspect of puzzle rooms. The other twist is that you have a certain amount of time for the puzzle rooms and each search takes you a set amount of time. Different time periods can cause different events to happen or make different characters (un)available. I loved figuring out when to go with whom to do something in order to progress (these are usually not difficult but fun to solve). The rooms split in so many different directions depending on what you want to investigate (even if their main outcome is usually one or two main paths). I think this is genius design but has one shortcoming: replaying a room to the end just to get that new piece of information can get tiresome after a few runs. The other minor flaw I found is that loading times (between different sub-rooms) are on the slower side (takes a second or so to load, which adds up when you are traversing longer distances), mostly in the later puzzle rooms. Other than these flaws, in my opinion, the interconnection of story and gameplay in these rooms is done better than any other game in this genre and so far I enjoyed these very much. Overall, for fans of Zero Escape (and maybe mystery games in general), this is a real treat and would definitely recommend. I am not at the end of the game yet, will update the review once finished, but I have faith that the conclusion will also turn out to be great. UPDATE: finished the game, the ending was great and a worthy conclusion to the trilogy. Hint for the "endgame" (slight spoilers): when the game warns you that your save file will be locked, copy your savegame file in the main menu so you won't have to replay the game for other endings. Also, you are not done until you get a properly long ending which explains almost everything :) I also forgot to mention the art and music, both of which are great.

As the conclusion of a trilogy, this is everything I hoped for and more. D4G is a fantastic sci-fi ontological mystery visual novel that is absolutely packed with mysteries and plot twists. As a fan of mysteries (and of similar titles), I cannot overstate how much I enjoyed the way this game juggled so many mysteries at once, constantly drip feeding both solutions and new questions along the way. The story had me hooked from start to finish, leading to many nights spent awake far later than I should have been, just to get one more answer! This is a game driven by mysteries and information, so I will keep details light and stay spoiler free. As the third and final game of the Abime series, D4G absolutely demands that the player has played the other two games in the series first, and for good reason. This is an experience that rewards longtime players of the series with a story that builds on just about EVERYTHING we've seen up until now, and it gives the plot a truly grand scale. This is what I'd hoped Zero Time Dilemma would have been for the Zero Escape series, but while ZTD didn't really deliver on that particular expectation, D4G fulfills it in a way that's immensely satisfying for players who've stuck with the series to the end. Going too deep into this topic is the realm of spoilers, but just know that returning characters and plot points are plentiful, and questions you may have had in past games will likely be answered. The escape room puzzles are fun, and I was surprised how much I liked the time system that encourages players to explore failure states (which they will likely see on their first few attempts). This is because failing isn't an instant game over but rather another branch of the plot that provides you with new information. As such, you're expected to go through each puzzle sequence many times to progress toward a "perfect" run and explore different interactions. There is even an in-game guide that records solutions you've found to puzzles (ex. passwords) which makes the process of gathering info feel like tangible progression. This can be very rewarding when you're actively taking new steps to move closer to a goal, but it's undeniable that replaying puzzles grows repetitive when you're going through the motions redoing earlier parts of an escape room so you can access a later part that is relevant to your current goal. If you're like me and you want to go for 100% completion and explore every possible interaction and bit of dialogue in these puzzles segments, this can be even more of an issue. Thankfully, there are some good guides on Steam that can help alleviate this pain point. Character writing is significantly improved from the previous games, with nearly every character being interesting in some way. In a technical sense, the writing in this game is also a step up from the previous two which were peppered with errors and stylistic missteps (awkward phrasing, unnatural diction, etc). Those issues are definitely still present in this game, but it's far less severe. That said, after playing this game I'll be happy if I don't see the words "regain," "vertiginous," or "recapitulate" again for a while. I had some minor quibbles with some other parts of the story, but I won't get too specific. What I can say is that I was left with a handful of unanswered questions (which isn't many in a story that likely contains over 100 mysteries). I also felt that a particular plot concept (infohazards) was misused, which is a shame because it had massive potential and was alluded to on the store page as a major plot point. One particular infodump segment at the end was a bit excessive too, containing some reveals that may have worked better spread out over other parts of the game. In the end, Decide 4 God was a long and thrilling conclusion that makes me happy to have stuck with this series over the years. While the first two games were of varying quality depending on who you ask (I enjoyed them well enough), this is the title that cements the Abime series as something to remember.

I don't think I'm even at the half way point but I feel compelled to leave a review. For context I'm a huge zero escape fan, VLR is my favorite game of all time despite its flaws. If you enjoyed that series, I think you'd love the abime series. The story so far has been really well crafted. It's kept a good sense of mystery and tension while dropping hints along the way that keep me constantly reframing the story. The dual narrative structure is executed insanely well so far. The two sides are very unique but intertwine very nicely while still giving you a lot of freedom in which paths you choose. It does build a lot off the previous two games. I'm not quite sure if you could play this one without those, but I'd trust the reviews of those who've finished it. It does a decent job so far at explaining the lore points, but it will definitely spoil them. It's a shame because I'd really want to recommend this to everyone to give a try since its abime at its best, but it is probably best to save for last in the series. If you have played the first two already, you seriously need to pick this up, it's improves and builds on them so well. I'll update this once I finish the game with some more complete thoughts.

A big step up from the previous games and a solid conclusion to the series. If you have an interest in Zero Escape-like games, it's a strong recommend. On the downside, you would likely be a little lost if you haven't played the previous games in the series - Head AS Code and Birth ME Code. This game spoils their conclusions upfront and there are quite a few recurring characters, so I'd recommend playing those first even if they aren't as strong as this entry. Something that irked me (and I think a lot of others) with the previous games is the lack of escape room puzzles, and that complaint is fully resolved here. Rest assured the gameplay isn't a hidden object search by any means, and there's a clear logic to how all the puzzles work. What might throw you off is that you're likely to fail the puzzles the first time around. You're timed as you search throughout the rooms, not a literal timer, but clicking on an object will spend 1 to 5 minutes. Failing a room doesn't result in an immediate game over, but the plot continues so you can see the conclusion of that path. Later on, you're able to access a timeline where you can jump back and retry puzzles and select different choices during scenes. With each escape room section, there's a mini-guide within game to help nudge you in the right direction when replaying. In some cases, this could still get frustrating having to replay a room multiple times to try and find a piece of lore. I did get stuck a few times and had the consult the guides here on Steam. Despite some frustrations, I was still thoroughly addicted when I picked the game up and couldn't stop playing. It's pretty long, as you can tell from my playtime, but didn't feel long. The plot will definitely keep you guessing. I've played a lot of games in this genre to the point where they start to feel predictable, but that wasn't the case here. I loved unraveling the story and finding out more details about this world and lore that were left vague in previous entries. At some point I really questioned if the game was capable of answering all the questions I had throughout the series, but it did! The character writing has improved a lot from the previous games as well. There were only a few characters I really liked from the other games, but this entry did a much better job at adding depth to everyone. By the end, I was surprised by how attached I got. The visuals, character art in particular, took a big step up, too. Everyone's poses and expressions tell you a lot about them already. Something I really love is that you can see the characters exploring the rooms alongside you, which really made me feel more immersed. And the music, like always, is fantastic. So yeah, definitely recommend. I'm not sure how lost you'd be if you played this one first, so you should try the other entries before this. If you're on the fence, the demo is a good representation of the full game.

definitely play previous games first. The game spoilers a lot from the start. The story escalates quickly and gives a lot of questions from the start, and slowly answers them throughout the game, while also giving more questions in the process. Characters are interesting and none of them feel out of place, especially if you played previous games. Puzzles are interesting, but replaying escape room segments sometimes can be tedious, because there's a TON of things you can miss out and you have to replay the segment from the start, sometimes it can take a lot of time if you actually cant figure out some puzzle. But escape rooms themselves definitely became much better than HASC or BMEC Comparing this game to ZTD (De4G def took the inspiration from it) it's more straightforward, instead of jumping from place to place you actually explore one path, get logical conclusion and then start exploring other staff the game has to offer. Overall the game is great, i really enjoyed both story and gameplay and IMO its much better implementation of the gameplay in story compared to ZTD,VLR or 999.

Very rich story and enticing puzzles. Make sure to play the first two games in the series first. Early access already has a ton of content and endings, can't wait for the full release.

Amazing finale to the Abime trilogy, the best game in the series easily. The OST was amazing, the story kept me up late at night multiple times. I highly recommend this series to anyone who loves the Zero Escape series!

Good game