Escape to Zero

2025.05.07

「運命とは理不尽なものだ、そうは思わんかね？」

"Life is simply unfair, don't you think?"

Note that this page contains spoilers for the Zero Escape games.

Where should I start... I'll try to keep this as short as possible.

I had too much fun playing Zero Escape. My favorite of the trilogy is probably VLR, just because of the interactions and dialogue between Phi and Sigma. I really enjoyed how the characters and plot unfolded slowly in the beginning, but in each of the games, everything just comes together in the end and blows your mind in unexpected ways. I've been a fan of Uchikoshi's writing since playing AI: The Somnium Files (and its sequel), but I regard Zero Escape as even better.

Let's start with 999. 999 feels the most grounded out of the trilogy, and it makes sense since it's the first entry in the series. There's no grand scheme or too many unnatural elements at play here, and it feels more like a traditional mystery novel than a science fiction one. Characters will sometimes spit out very lengthy explanations of theories that I guess Uchikoshi just randomly read somewhere online, and it's funny because they often do this while facing life-threatening situations, but still stop to talk and debate first. At first it may feel a bit immersion-breaking, but after a while I've come to like the charm of this writing style and find it very amusing.

VLR stands for Virtue's Last Reward. The original title in Japanese is "善人シボウデス", and "シボウ" can mean either "死亡" (death) or "志望" (hope or wish), so literally it means "become good people" or "good people die". The English title is very cleverly translated because on one hand it can mean "being rewarded by your virtue", or also "the last reward of one's virtue" (which implies death).

With that out of the way, let's talk about it briefly. VLR is my favorite title in the trilogy, and it's where the plot becomes grand and overarching. I understand some people may not like this and would prefer something more like 999, that is, a mystery on a smaller scale, but personally I enjoyed how VLR tried to raise the stakes and incorporated more sci-fi elements in the story. If I remember correctly it's also the game that started including a lot of crazy anagrams, and the most memorable for me is "MEMENTO MORI, IF THE NINETH LION ATE THE SUN". At first it seems like the "nineth" is misspelled, but the game actually gives you a good explanation later, and it makes much more sense afterwards.

Phi is my favorite character in this game (and also the whole series) just because her interactions with Sigma are very entertaining. The flowchart also becomes much more expansive and convoluted than in 999, and although after the halfway point the branching paths can feel a bit similar, boring or even stale at times, there is arguably still enough variety to keep things fresh until you reach the final ending, which is locked behind having to complete other endings first.

The sci-fi elements also get much more emphasis here, and I adore that. Overall the plot is grander and ties into the final game, Zero Time Dilemma (ZTD).

Now, ZTD is quite different from the rest of the series in many ways, like how it uses a more cinematic approach when presenting the scenes instead of the more traditional visual-novel-like gameplay in the first two games. I did some research and from my understanding ZTD was not supposed to happen, since apparently VLR didn't sell well enough in Japan for the series to continue developing a third game. After it was cancelled for some time it seems like fans of this series in the West started a campaign to show their support and desire for a third game, and thus ZTD was created, albeit with a shorter development time and lower budget. This is probably why some parts of the game feel a bit low-quality... yeah, like the character models and animations. Most people don't play these kinds of games for the graphics, but it never hurts to have good-looking models and fluid animations, right? Still, it's still a miracle we got this game at all. Maybe we SHIFTED from a timeline without ZTD to this one?

It's funny to me how this series has so many fans in the West, but apparently didn't do well enough in Japan.

Anyway I've been rambling about the development of ZTD for too long, let's talk about the other aspects shortly. In essence I don't think ZTD is a bad game at all, but as the final entry of what I consider to be a great visual novel/adventure game series it does feel a bit lacking in how it doesn't answer a few important questions that well. It also uses a somewhat "deus ex machina" plot device, namely the "alien transporter", which serves as a very significant plot element but the game doesn't really try to explain this "transporter" that much.

I've seen some people complaining about the ending too, and rightfully so, because while I like the idea of the protagonist making a final decision in the end (corresponding to the "decision game"), the game just ends too abruptly in my opinion. If the game is going to end like that, it would have at least been much better if after the credits end, there were some short cutscenes showing what happened to the characters afterwards. I know there are some short files and novel-like parts that you can read after clearing the game, but they just felt a bit too short and didn't end the story on a satisfying note for me. Of course, this is just my opinion, and to be honest we should be thankful we even got this game.

All in all, I don't think ZTD is a bad game, it's mostly just not that satisfying when you view it as the final ending to an otherwise great series. That being said, I still like it a lot and find it very entertaining. If you've played the previous two games, you should definitely play this one too, just to see how it all ends. (Also I wanted to see more Phi in ZTD, but that's just a minor complaint.)

What we can learn from all this is that snails are dangerous indeed. And life is simply unfair. I mean, it really is when you think about it, we're drifting on a weird rock in the middle of nowhere (also known as space), right?

One last note if you intend to play this series: the puzzles aren't easy. Some of them can actually be very complex and challenging, so I had to look up guides to help me progress through the game. If you're someone like me who isn't good at solving puzzle rooms, it's worth noting that there is always the option of looking up walkthroughs and guides online. That way, you won't get stuck in an escape room forever...

SEEK A WAY OUT!