Zero Escape: The Nonary Games is a bundle of remastered PC versions of the first (999) and second (Virtue’s Last Reward) games in the Zero Escape series. If you enjoy 999, then you’ll enjoy Virtue’s Last Reward because it is very good sequel that follows in the footsteps of its predecessor thus I’ll be focusing my review on 999 for the most part to avoid spoiling anything for Virtue’s Last Reward.
In 999, you play the role of Junpei, a young man forced into playing a game of life and death called the Nonary Game with 8 other participants whereby everyone must solve puzzles and escape from their predicament before the time’s up, however not everything is as it seems.
999 is a thriller puzzle “escape the room” visual novel where you as the player must solve “Escape the Room” style room puzzles whilst piecing together the overarching plot of the game over the course of multiple playthroughs.
Pros
- Puzzles are fun, they are just hard enough to be interesting and rewarding while not being frustrating.
- Piecing together the intriguing overarching plot and learning more about various the characters is very enjoyable.
- One scene in particular near the end was one hell of a rollercoaster that I won’t be forgetting any time soon.
- Fully voiced English VO is very well done and the script/dialogue is well written.
Cons
- Using a Keyboard and Mouse in Virtue’s Last Reward is playable but a little awkward, I’m assuming because the game was originally developed for the PSP whereas 999 was developed for the more PC-like (at least in terms of controls) DS.