Zero Escape: The Nonary Games

100%'d 999, got six hours into VLR before deciding to take a very long break TL;DR: 999 is great. VLR will irritate the ♥♥♥♥ out of you, and it's the majority of this port on Steam. 999 is great. I don't have much problems with it. The puzzles are great for what they are, the characters are decent, and the story has some nice twists into it. The problem is VLR. There's also so many little things that just irritate the hell out of me, mainly being the constant door opening animations and the dot on the map sequences that play ANY time Sigma goes anywhere in the map, including places he's been before. Any other VN? Instantly skip time to when Sigma reaches the location. This VN? Here, have an UNSKIPPABLE CUTSCENE of a dot going through the entire map, playing every single door and elevator animation it can. I also have massive problems with one of the characters because of their relation to the previous game. IYKYK. They got massively character assassinated, and since I played VLR right after finishing 999 I think I probably got more whiplash than most. Character models also look worse than 999, mostly because of the transition from 2D animated sprites to 3D models. The above character's model is the one in particular that I have a lot of problems with since it just has a permanent smile attached onto it, even when they are screaming about another character who just died. The story lock system here also just kinda sucks? With 999, the reason for the locks was because they blocked off the big storylines, so that the player knew what would specifically get them further in the story. In VLR, they just have so many locks for no good reasons for storylines that clearly end right then and there. This kinda forces you to bounce around timelines, and by the time you find the key to the lock you will almost certainly have forgotten what actually happened in that specific storyline. I also think that the story tree was poorly implemented here. There is ZERO indication which order you should be playing these in, but if you go to any guide the author will probably give you an order of which branches to go to first. The reason for this is that some plotlines casually talk about significant spoilers from other endings that you have zero reason to know now. In my case, my first choice was the right branch (Alice). I first picked Trust, which was a normal storyline all things considered up until the story lock. Then I picked Betray, which proceeded to dump a completely game-changing story revelation that the game apparently considered at that point to be known information, with how casually it revealed it. There was ZERO indication of that reveal in the Trust storyline up until the lock, nor in the pre-first choice story. Once again, there was zero indication that I should be saving this ending for last as well. :/ I also thought the writing felt very mediocre, but take with a grain of salt: 999's story was decent all things considered and I was only 30%, maybe 35% into VLR when I decided to take a long hiatus. I also didn't like any of the characters, definitely not nearly as much as 999 (which is especially bad because one of these characters has a direct connection to 999), but once again take it with a grain of salt. The puzzles are fine. I don't really enjoy this pure style of puzzle in games (I like investigation puzzles like Obra Dinn and Golden Idol), but 999's story kept me playing through them. VLR felt the same, so if you're playing this game for the puzzles (for some reason) I guess you'll enjoy them? I think the safe code system (one code for escape, one code for optional bonus content/achievement) is kinda lazy though. I left a negative review because the bulk of this game on Steam is VLR. 999 will take you roughly about 12 hours to play through with 6 endings. VLR has 28 endings, and a good number of them are as long as the true ending of 999. 999 is good, but it's only the minority of this port on Steam.

到底为什么大家都在说999剧情好，玩完后百思不得其解。 解谜部分挺好的，难度适中，我这种菜鸟都能玩得很尽兴。 剧情就很浅、很一般，到底在神什么？ 人物塑造也没什么特点，感觉我成了脸盲患者，故事结束了在我的大脑中没留下任何一个人的身影。 这个游戏有些年代了，对那个时代来说无疑是非常优秀的作品，但现在不是2026年了吗，抱着怀旧、敬仰的心情来游玩很正常，但于现在绝对谈不上神作了吧，甚至剧情浅显、留下了一些无意义的设计和疑惑。 当做游戏时代的一颗“绳结”很合适，喜欢解谜很推荐，冲着剧情来的不是很推荐。 我9.9买的，更是没理由不点推荐。

Schrödinger's cat - 999 is supposedly an amazing game (before you play it) and a terrible one (once you play it) Locke's socks/Ship of Theseus - If you replace all parts of this game with an enjoyable one, and then build 999 back up again with its previous parts, which game is the one full of plotholes, inconsistencies, pacing issues, repetitive dialogue? (The one built with 999's parts) Morphogenetic fields + Bootstrap paradox - If I tapped into the morphogenetic fields and told my previous self not to play this game, would I have avoided this mess? (In a different timeline to the current one, yes) I'm not the type to rage at a game. But I genuinely think that this, and Danganronpa V3, are the 2 most aggravatingly frustrating games I have ever played I am surprised that THIS is the game I've heard mention and high praise throughout the years

Zero Escape franchise blends the style of a visual novel and an escape room in a way that never makes you feel like either of them is getting too long. Getting to play the game in different routes and unlocking more of the story whenever you decide to feels amazing. Almost none of the puzzles felt like an ass pull and were well crafted.

999 : I enjoy puzzle solving adventure games and mystery/detective games; I also am quite fond of visual novels on some occasions, especially if they involve mystery/puzzle solving/detective shenanigans (big Ace Attorney fan here). I had never heard of these games before, and read about it on reddit when looking for mystery/detective games. I walked in with no expectation, people said it was closer to Dangaronpa which I don't like as much as the AA games, but I was right to ignore those comments because I had such a great time playing it. I like a well-crafted story, with as little plot holes as possible and this story delivered. Playing through the different branches, getting different kind of information which makes you want to try as many path as possible was very well executed, I really really loved it. I got curious about the DS version and I do admit the game might be better on DS for different reasons, mainly because the game used the dual screen for a lot of purposes, but this version manages to bypass most issues caused by single screen, and the voice acting was in my opinion very very good. Play this game people : it's good VLR : When I started the game, the pace felt a bit too slow, and I said "aw come on, how is this game supposed to be better than 999 ???" Thirty hours later, crazy theories were written down, a few of them ended up true, my jaw dropped an impressive amount of time : I stand corrected like I have never been in my life. The story is so rich and well crafted, I was a bit disappointed with how they handled some recurring characters from 999 (*cough* Clover *cough*) but damn this is a great game. I am rarely surprised in mystery media, but this... So many unexpected plot twists, so many "wait... wait wait wait!!!" Great game, play 999 first ofc, and if you love complex stories, puzzles and mysteries, this game is for you. (I have to say the characters aren't as likable as in 999, but I did tear up at one of the endings (and I assume I'm not the only one)) I mentioned in the 999 review above that the game uses the branching and the choices very well to make the player curious and try to get all bits of the story : VLR took it to the NEXT LEVEL. Never seen a game handle the concept of branching path as well, and I started it being very sceptical and finished it dumbfounded. Go play this game. It's great. I only have one thing to say : please give Alice a t-shirt, my girl is shirtless the whole time.

Прошёл всю трилогию и боже, какая же это тотальная имба! Воистину трогательная трилогия квестов, в данном случае тут две игры из 3. 999 любимая часть (хз что в прошлых 998 было), она больше всего дала впечатлений и эмоций от сюжета, ибо все фишки тут в новинку, ещё не знаешь что ожидать от истории. Персонажи также радуют, их взаимодействие, характеры и предыстории, от основной пары чуть не плакал! Визуал тут приятный и лучший в серии (что на самом деле проблема...), просто 2д спрайты с небольшими анимациями, локации же в 3д (пусть по факту тоже 2д картинки), но есть и есть, глаз не режет. Геймплей ж, а вернее сами загадки вполне себе решаемы и интересны, над самой первой потупил, но остальные спокойно решил без гайдов... Кроме финала, я не понимал как решить загадку, пока не узнал, что надо слово составить в другом месте было... Бывает. Виртуе ласт ревард сначала графикой пусть не отпугнула, но печально было видеть, что вместо 2д разрабы перешли на 3д модельки сомнительного качества (анимации к слову тоже), но ладно бы это... Вы бы знали как я горел от долгих перемещений персонажей по комнатам с НЕСКИПАЕМЫМИ ПЕРЕХОДАМИ ЧЕРЕЗ МНОЖЕСТВО ДВЕРЕЙ, ну доколе то можно!? И в геймплее также есть претензии к повороту камеры, ну уж очень тяжко всё двигается. Но! Закрывая на это глаза - это всё также крайне годная история и головоломка, также с невероятными поворотами, с эмоциями как у того чёрного чела с широкими глазами и ртом.. ну вы поняли. Персонажи классные, что старички, что новые, кроме [spoiler]Дио...[/spoiler] Каким вы его видите, таковой он и является, скажем так, что с его то ролью в сюжете крайне печально. Головоломки не сильно сложные и также интересно их решать самому, но над некоторыми я сдавался, каюсь, тупой слишком. Что-то типа того, крайне общими словами, но поверьте, оно реально того стоит!

999 is the best visual novel and takes advantage of the genre in a unique way. I still have yet to read VLR because of the art style. 10/10

Don't listen to others, The pc port is fantastic and is a complete valid way to play the game. Have fun with this game, its peak.