Zero Escape trilogy: 999, VLR, ZTD

[k11chi]

The Zero Escape trilogy is a game series created by Spike Chunsoft. It tells the story of 9 people being kidnapped by a person named Zero and they are forced to play a killing game of choices to survive.


999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors is the first game in the trilogy. It is a 2D visual novel puzzle adventure game with bit of horror. A group of nine people have been kidnapped on a ship with explosive wristwatches that can't be taken off. You play as Junpei who suddenly gets kidnapped, by a masked individual who calls themselves Zero, when he gets home from work. Aesthetically I find 999 the most pleasing out of the trilogy. It's intriguing and it flows pretty well. This game is closest to a classical visual novel in the series. The game series is known for its surprise endings that play a meaningful role in the overall story, but 999 has the least relevant endings when it comes to the true ending. Also I didn't really like the true ending as it felt off-puttingly cringeworthy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W96ju7X9pWk

Virtue's Last Reward is the second game in the Zero Escape series and is considered the magnum opus of the series due to its shocking ending and consistent writing quality. This is the game that most people praise. It has intriguing characters, storyline and it is over twice as long as the other games in the series. You play as Sigma Klim who suddenly gets caught by Zero the Third. There are a lot of surprises in this game. The main problems I found were the 3D art which was low quality and the amount of different endings and repetition in getting them all for the true ending was terrifyingly monotonous and definitely a huge negative.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWa1j9VHRrc

Zero Time Dilemma is the last game of the trilogy. This time you play as three different main characters; Carlos, Q and Diana. There are multiple side characters from 999 and VLR as well in this game, all put in different groups of three. The game is the most gory out of the three and has some surprisingly solid plot twists. The length of the game along with the character writing and story are a step-down from Virtue's Last Reward and it doesn't feel like a game that lives up to the tale of VLR. It is also less than half as long as VLR. The 3D animations were pretty terrible in this game as well. I liked how the story stretched the different endings much further than I expected however. The story's biggest asset is that it utilizes the "abilities" explained in VLR better and the story is less monotonous.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Fs393MyW2g

[kkslider5552000]

I adored 999 and especially VLR. I don't know why I still haven't gotten to the last game yet.

[k11chi]

VLR is a pretty good ending to the series honestly. The lingering plotlines about the organization and "Brother" are handled in the final game but it's not as grand of a game as VLR to begin with so it won't live up to expectations. I think the villain was pretty well handled and had some clever aspects to it that I wasn't expecting.