Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma

Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma
78
Metacritic
84
Steam
84.577
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$7.99
Release date
29 June 2016
Steam reviews score
Total
84 (3 458 votes)
Recent
65 (35 votes)

Nine participants awaken, trapped in an underground facility. To escape, they must play a game with deadly consequences. Who will live, and who will die? The choice is yours. Let the Decision Game begin…

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Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma system requirements

Minimum:

  • OS: Windows 7
  • Processor: Intel Core i3-530 CPU 2.93 GHz or better
  • Memory: 4 GB RAM
  • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX650 1GB or AMD HD 7700 1GB(DirectX 11 graphic card required)
  • DirectX: Version 11
  • Storage: 4 GB available space
  • Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card
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buzzo
buzzo

ngl the series would've been better off if this game wasn't made. It is a step down in every single way from the previous two games. Graphics, characters, plot, the structure of the game - it all frustrated me to no end and didn't even give a satisfactory ending. So many plot holes and stupid writing tricks. The dead models and robotlike animations gave me a great laugh all the way through tho, so in conclusion: zero time dilemma sucks if you wanted a good continuation/end to the trilogy but not if you just wanted a laugh

GraveYuppo
GraveYuppo

This is going to sound negative, but trust me, this is a good game.

Definitively a downgrade compared to it's prequel. The "decision game" in this game is way less entertaining than the AB game in virtue's last reward. The stakes are higher but everything feels way too disconnected for you to care.

This game's main gimmick of being completely out of chronological order and kinda open-ended makes it way harder to get into the story initially. Not being able to see the immediate results of your choices and then having to deal with them takes the weight out of the stakes. It's only towards the latter half of the game that you really get into it, you know, when the initial plot where "we need to beat this game zero made" kinda starts to become irrelevant to give way to the real main plot.

The cast is overall very likable, except for everyone in Q team. Didn't like any of them from the get go and it didn't improve with time, even though they really tried with one of them. Didn't work this time around though. At least it made it easier to me to make my first choices, ehehe.

Many returning characters and some new ones. Some returning characters feel like completely different persons though, so might as well consider them new ones. You know the one.

The "decision game" is less of a game than the AB game was. And characters seems awfully cooperative most of the time. Even the jerks hardly put up any resistance to cooperation. Their choices are all in-the-moment and feel like they have much weight.

Anyway, not the best in the series, still a good visual novel puzzle game. I still haven't finished it, but i should be in the final straight, less than 5 hours away from it

Midori
Midori

Eric is an absolute waste of space. Aside from that this game is cool. I was stuck for a while because the fragment system sucks and it showed no way to continue but oh well. Music is alright, though nowhere near as good as VLR/999. Just in general the Nonary games are much, much more enjoyable. The ending was good, although nothing that got me emotional - I wasn't super impressed like I was with 999 but to be fair it's very difficult to top that. A good majority of my questions were answered and the post-payoff files after completing the game were a nice touch. Junpei and Carlos were easily my favourites in ZTD although I wasn't really expecting to care about Carlos at all when I first started playing. But Eric, oh man, the whole game I felt like screaming at my monitor telling him to shut up despite being voiced by Keith Silverstein the legend himself. By far the worst ZE character, even Dio was more likeable than this guy.

Edit: Nvm I just read up on a list of everything that was foreshadowed and I am definitely impressed because there's so many things I didn't notice or wouldn't have thought to pay attention to. The name of the game being an anagram is actually so genius, I can't believe it was right there the whole time. I still do like the first 2 games more but I feel like the longer you go after finishing these games, the more of an impact they have on you. At least for me anyway. Like I will never forget about Zero Escape, by far the most insanely detailed and well thought out games I have ever played in my life. Nothing can even come close to being on the same level. Uchi really played us all like fiddles. The more I think about it, the more of a legend Delta is

Ryke Vl
Ryke Vl

Didn't play previous games yet, but the story is still best story i've seen in videogame.
Maybe there are lot of references i didn't get, but it doesn't mean you won't enjoy the game a lot.

Ðerocean
Ðerocean

It’s my first game from the trilogy, but i don't regret that. I enjoyed the story!
The game's motifs are like a movie “the Saw” - the fate of the heroes depends on your choice. You can save or kill one... two... or all of them. Don’t worry - you can replay history at any time and change the future (open new episodes).
At first, it is difficult and not clear, but soon you understand the rules and get involved in the game.
This game is worth everything you've spent on it. Time and money.

SassyBones
SassyBones

Disappointing compared to 999 and VLR, but I enjoyed it nevertheless. The escapes rooms were fun and filled with good puzzles, but you mainly play them during the first half of the game, with the second being interactions and cutscenes, which its a visual novel so theres nothing wrong with that, but theres just so much to this game that could of been handled better.

I guess life is just simply unfair.

Hufflepuppy
Hufflepuppy

There are two reviews I could write: a review for the game, and a review for the conclusion of the Zero Escape series. To do the second would spoil a lot of what I like, so I will simply say, as a conclusion, it is both emotionally impactful for characters I loved the most, and narratively disappointing.

As a game, it was very confusing to start, but the more I progressed, the more I grew to love it. There are some characters I did not like at all, and their sections were increasingly painful to play. There were characters I've followed from the first two Zero Escape games, whom I got to see through some of the deadliest puzzles, and whom I grew to care about like I would family. There were individual moments that made me cry, and in that sense, I cannot give this game higher praise.

I think if you enjoyed the first two Nonary Games, this is definitely worth your time, though be wary of the final end. Please enjoy!

BudgieGaming
BudgieGaming

Holy shit.

Holy shit.

I'm still astounded. Baffled. Discombobulated.

I'm writing this review not because it can be relevant at this point, but because I am so utterly shocked after playing it that I need to vent, somehow. Even if it is to a void, in the reviews page for a game released six freakin years ago. That is how appalled I am.

You need to understand, I was ready to let it go. I swear. Not the first shock turd I've experienced in my gaming life, and it won't be the last. And I usually move along and forget about it. But then, these unskippable, masturbatory credits with this dramatic music started, like the game is taking the piss one last time and wasting just a little bit more of my time, and I couldn't just take it while it happens. I needed some feeling of retribution, some sense of recovering the cosmic order of things. So, where do we start...

First of all... This is, without a doubt, the biggest regression in quality in a direct sequel that I have ever seen. All accross the board, almost every element is worse than it was in Virtue's Last Reward. Visual quality? Yes, worse. Expressions and animations? Yup. Music? Of course. Structure and pacing? Absolutely. Story? Ooooh pal, you don't even KNOW.


But let's not get ahead of ourselves here, because I can already hear you, hypothetical, non-existent reader, going "Wait, how can it be worse visually than Virtue's Last Reward? ZTD was released four years later! Surely it should look better, being four years more modern."
Well I'm glad you (didn't) ask, because it is very easy to explain... You know the clunky 3D style that they used in VLR? Well, they doubled down on it. Yes, they doubled down on the worst change they made from the first game of the series to the second. And they made it much worse .

You see, in VLR, they went almost-full 3D in what was an ill-advised decision, but they still somewhat salvaged the visuals and made them work, because they didn't go crazy trying to do a lot with them. They still had a talking head style, with only a few dedicated expressions and poses for each character, and not much more. So they could still make each of them look kinda decent.

But in ZTD? Well, it is very appropriate that this game deals with memory loss, because apparently, someone forgot they were working on a visual novel, and decided to go all cInEmAtIc, with full 3D real time cutscenes for everything! And they also forgot, they lacked the time, talent or budget to make it look decent! And you know what happens when you try to do a serious, narrative heavy game without the time, talent and budget to have decent faces, facial animations, and animation in general? It ends up looking unintentionally creepy, awkward and hilarious. The conclusion to the epic narrative uber dramatic saga, and this fucker is walking around with a derpy semi-grimace that is a smile but isn't during a pivotal moment. Fantastic.


But ok, ok. You say to yourself, dammit, the characters look like warped up dolls in a microwave. And I didn't recognize some of the characters of the previous games until they said their name. And it sure looked awkward when this character went to interact with another and they cut to a view of the ceiling because they couldn't make the animation in between. But... but, the writing will save it, the story will save it. Let's get on with it-

That's when you realize, you press the skip dialogue for the next line. And it doesn't skip.

The character goes on, slowly reciting their lines (in japanese, because of course you have switched from the extremely awkward english voiceover by this point). You already read the line in half a second, and have spent the next 5 looking for the skip button, slowly coming to the panicked realization that... no... none of them work... surely they didn't... surely they weren't that stupid...

And, suddenly, it hits you, like a truck . Due to the new cinematic style, skipping unread lines halfway through is not a thing anymore.

It sounds like a super specific and super small issue, but, if you have played games of this type before, you know how devastating that can be to the pacing and flow of the game. Especially considering that in this game you have several different scenes that convey similar (or even identical) information to one another, and you are sitting there going "I already fucking know this pleeeaaaaaaase".

Your only hope is enabling the option that you weren't supposed to use in the previous games, universal skip mode. But this comes with its own sets of issues:
First, lines are tied to small animations. So a character will start slowwwly walking towards one another, you will be like, come on, let's move it along, skip to the end of the walk (because again, bad animation) and suddenly, bam, they are in the middle of a conversation. Because the line was tied to the end stretch of the walk animation. You were supposed to wait for them to walk for two seconds for the line to appear. Because it's cinematic. So, to the log you go! The game has slayed the evil monsters of pacing and momentum once again!
Second, because the function is meant to be held to skip large amounts of lines, if you press it half a second too long, BAM, you have now skipped two lines. So, to the log you go!
And third, the implication that, if the hold skip can be a thing, why can't there be a single press skip for individual lines. You know, like in the previous games of the same series? The ones that were actually good?

Fuck, you rarely see a game so damaged by a decision such as this game going for that cutscene style. Jesus.


Anyway, you have endured the ordeal that is the delivery of the story, and what do you get? Two of the fucking most bullshit twist/reveals in the history of media. I couldn't! I couldn't! I thought I missed something! I had to go online to confirm that I didn't miss something and it was that utterly stupid! I started maniacally laughing, imagining the several meetings and discussions and several writing sessions during which everybody must've been "duuuude this reveal will be sooo good holy shiiiiit" and having lost all hope for the future of humanity as a rational species.

The game hinges on a Shyamalan-level asspull. No, not even that, a Heavy Rain - tier asspull. It is an achievement! It should be in a museum! The asking price is too low for experiencing the level of dumbfoundedness that you will get from the end stretch. But please record yourself with a camera for posterity. Otherwise, nobody will ever believe that time that you yelled "Fuck you game you wasted my time fuck you that is cheating basic logic and everything I have seen with my own two eyes throughout the game that is fucking bullshit how did you dare to even pull this".


Anyway the credits have ended, I had more to say but you know what fuck it, this doesn't get one more second of my time.

Decent game, would maybe recommend.

Ranger RoRo
Ranger RoRo

This game was very nice, at first I was super lost on the story but I really liked how everything unfolds it may seem like you're choosing randomly but no it's designed to make you feel this way. Here you don't have to replay much as opposed to VLR. The puzzles are harder than the previous zero escapes but still solvable and enjoyable. Zero character is anticlimactic compared to the previous Zeros. Just ignore the female characters' hair and you'll be fine. Oh, and I hate Eric what an obnoxious person.

Lisa S. 🍀
Lisa S. 🍀

At first I thought this was a "Saw-style" kind of game.
Then I thought it was just a game with escape rooms and choices totally disconnected.
But after a short time playing it I was completely wowed by a super interesting and unexpected story, with a lot of turn of events and plot twists.

The animation of the game may not be the best, but the game is totally worth to be played until the end!

Unfortunately, only after I began playing it I heard that this is the last part of a trilogy.

Soul Garurumon
Soul Garurumon

Much like Deadly Premonition 2, it was intentionally designed bad but actually bad, still kinda low key mad AI Somnium Files actually gets animations, but Uchikoshi really do have complex motives, life simply is unfair don't you think?

Master1212
Master1212

If you have not played 999 and VLR, this game's prequels, the story will probably not be worth it and you should play those games first. (srsly they're very good)

If you HAVE already played the first two games... it's honestly still not really worth it this game kinda sucks

Only consider playing if you're very invested in the ZE lore and need some further closure.

SacOni
SacOni

The writing is not as great as the first 2 games in the series the character models are VERY bad, but it has enough creative ideas to continue to be interesting and the escape rooms are much more fun.

Myrmiderp
Myrmiderp

Long story short, I think this game is weaker than the previous two in every single way. But let's not kid ourselves. You're not playing this game in a vacuum, for its merits alone. You're playing this game because it's the third game in the Zero Escape series and you want to know what happens. Maybe you want some more escape rooms. Well, at those things, ZTD does an okay job.

If VLR ended a little more conclusively, I'd consider ending there. But it doesn't. ZTD should probably have been part of VLR. Don't get me wrong, I didn't hate this game, but there were very few moments where I was not forced to confront the fact that ZTD is a pure step down from the previous two.

In classic Zero Escape fashion, the art style has changed, so the returning characters look totally different. And you know what? I really like the look of the character models... until they start moving. Then they look like awkward robots. Chunsoft decided to animate all the scenes like a Telltale game rather than using the classic visual novel look of displaying a reaction pose like the previous two games. I'm not a fan of this approach. The art style and direction works, and I have no problem with it, but the animation doesn't just look wonky: it takes so much longer to watch because you can't progress the text whenever you want.

The characters took a step down overall, which is a bummer because the previous two have such charming characters with great development. Some of the returning characters have different personalities for weak reasons, and some of the new characters are just plain unpleasant, lacking any kind of real character development. The way the game is structured, I often found myself avoiding certain options because I just didn't care about the participating characters. Voice work is good though, no complaints there.

Story-wise, I wasn't nearly as enthralled. There's a decent progression between the three games, and I generally like how the world changes and escalates, but the writing and presentation don't have quite the same charm this time. Some plotlines are kind of shoehorned in, and some of the mysteries just feel cheap. It's upsetting when a big mystery is uncovered and you go back to think about all the hints scattered around, but you still walk away thinking about how unconvincing and uncompelling it is. Where previous Zero Escape games were sometimes a little too convenient, ZTD inspires eye rolls. Often I found myself laughing at, not with, the dialogue, or saying "OKAY. SURE." out loud to my monitor. And that's not to even touch on the fundamental structure of the story, and how you experience it. I won't spoil it, but navigating the narrative is super clunky. They're clearly going for something, and I can respect that, but I can also hate it. The way they structured the narrative pieces doesn't feel good, and makes me care a lot less about what's happening in any individual moment. It takes way too long for the story to get to a place where I'm experiencing content I have reason to care about at a good rate. And at that point I was focused on how I wasn't super thrilled with how the mystery was being solved.

I can't believe I didn't think about the puzzle rooms earlier. They are way worse, and reflect an overall change in the game's design: ZTD is less about "solving" and more about "finding". Story-wise, there were times where I completed all available plotlines, and had no indication from the UI what I needed to do to progress. I'd just click around the flow chart guessing, hoping that re-watching something I've already seen unlocks something new (surprise, it does! Is it a bug? Who knows). There are some pretty good puzzle rooms, but ZTD also features the most unpleasant puzzle rooms of the whole series. I have no idea how they managed to have both of these problems, but for some rooms I had 0 clues for any puzzles, and had to move on to clicking on things that don't even look interactable so I could finally get started, and for others I kept finding clues for braindead "puzzles" I already solved a long time ago. Like I said, more about finding than solving. They just don't feel as well tested as the first two games. ZTD has also decided that it would be fun to make their puzzles more annoying. Here's a puzzle where the trick is you have to remember to press a button every few seconds. Here's a puzzle you need a pen and paper to solve, have fun using the in-game etch-a-sketch with limited ink. There are a lot of puzzles that take you out of the game, and even more that seem to intentionally make things annoying for you. In VLR you'd have a flashback and can really easily look up where the answer is, but in ZTD it's structured to be a total pain in the butt to look anything up, which is awful for a game featuring a disproportionate amount of "insert the exact right numbers/letters that you hopefully wrote down earlier" moments. Gross. More than once, a mystery was so in-your-face obvious that I was scared of solving it correctly because the characters had no good reason to know that information. It's just not great.

So yeah. You're playing this because the first two games established characters and a world you care about. This game is an inconvenient continuation of that story, but at least it technically continues it. It wasn't entirely satisfying, but it'll have to work. I recommend playing this game simply because it gives you something you can't get anywhere else. But boy do I wish it was a better game.

II
II

After not playing it in 6 years I have to say that the loopholes mean nothing to me and this game was a slay 10/10 this game is so fucking good and is probably my favorite of the trilogy now. The puzzles were less clunky than VLR and more involved than 999. Super easy to play and honestly, you can enjoy this game thoroughly as its own title without playing the other two.

The major antagonist is so extra and definitely watched all the Saw movies back to back they just like me fr.

DragonNinjaVa
DragonNinjaVa

Let me say that I personally enjoyed the game. However, I would say 9/10 times I would not recommend it to a friend, unless they were incredibly invested into the Zero Escape series. The animation seems very clunky, the background music is constantly being blasted (even when you've manually turned it down), and while the overall game mechanic of the "story fragments" is a terrific idea in concept, the instructions on how to use them is not as clear as one might think. This can lead to player's frustration growing and possibly dropping the game before they reach the true end. (If you've ever played the game you might remember how in some areas you may have be locked out of certain parts, and if you're like me, you may have been baffled as to what to do next). There are other minor nitpicks that I personally did not find enjoyable, however, I would like to reiterate that I did enjoy the game. It's just that I would most likely not recommend it to a friend.

FlamingFighter
FlamingFighter

This game is not just bad. It's terrible. It's absolutely painful to play and reads like someone's garbage fanfic. I would not wish this game upon my worst enemy. Every time something incredibly stupid would happen, and I would think to myself "Wow, this must be the worst part of the story, there's no way it could get worse from here," I would be proven wrong, again and again and AGAIN, right up to the reveal of Zero's identity and capabilities in the true ending.

You shouldn't play this game even if it were free. If you played the first two, just imagine what you think a good ending would look like and pretend that is canon, instead of playing this BS and learning that reality is far, far, FAR worse than your expectations.

Jarl Yop
Jarl Yop

One of the funniest games I have ever played, this game is similar to VLR but much funnier and moves at a faster face and introduces some amazing character to the series (not Eric)!

LeepingJJ
LeepingJJ

QUICK WARNING: This recommendation is only if you have a group of friends to laugh at this dumpsterfire with.

This game is laughably bad, it's one of those cheesy B list movies ex: The Room, put into a convoluted multiple choice chose your own death game. The puzzles are mid to fine at best, but the writing... The story... oh gods it's horrid.

Do not play this alone. Don't play for much longer than short bursts. If your erection lasts for longer than four hours, please consult a doctor.

Shiva
Shiva

A bit hard to understand how to go through the decision tree but otherwise a great puzzle and decision game.

pAtrIcK stAr
pAtrIcK stAr

I enjoy it. I think the puzzle difficult randomly spikes quit high and have shamelessly looked for a hint, but I am occasionally more easily frustrated than most. I do like the wrapping up of stuff and it fits well with the rest of the franchise.

steinssenketsun
steinssenketsun

When I first started playing this game I made the comment, "why do i feel like the lack of defining character traits is symbolic of how the nonary games have been stripped down and perverted by the new game host" and after finishing it I think it's really ironic how true this holds. This game is a very solid instillation in the series and probably my personal favorite, which is a shame since the key problems with it are its visuals and the change from a visual novel to a 'cinematic experience', if I dare call it that. Puzzles are subpar compared to the last instillation's which makes sense from a story perspective but is a real kicker from a player perspective since that's one of the draws of the series. I personally think it's a good closing act to the zero escape series but unless you're playing it for the story it's sadly a disappointment of a game.

pjake
pjake

Most puzzles are relatively easy compared to VLR
Plot is great and it's a great sequel to the Nonary games
Characters are all good however, Q team was the least interesting

Ater Cordis
Ater Cordis

Amazing title. The game is for you if you like: puzzles, rich and compelling stories, convoluted and brainy sci- fi plots and/or horror scenarios akin to "Saw". There's also that "Squid Game" vibe in it. I definitely recommend.

JunpeiJackFlash
JunpeiJackFlash

This is easily the worst Zero Escape game and every single one of you need to play it. It is hilariously, stupidly, bafflingly horrible. It's got the animation quality of a Sims machinima. It's got characters, both old and new, all ranging in writing quality of "actually pretty good" to "oh my god would you shut up already" (and the special Sigma category of "it's an improvement but the bar was already six feet under"). The reveal of Zero is so stupid and poorly foreshadowed and it's amazing. The best possible way to describe the overall experience is "It's like Saw, but better, and also worse."

Please play this game. Please. I am begging you to experience Zero Time Dilemma in all its poorly-written glory. Don't let anyone tell you to skip it because it's bad. It is because this game sucks so much that you should play it. It is a ritual that all ZE fans should complete.

Gottkaiser Fhqwhgod
Gottkaiser Fhqwhgod

Years later, looking back at this "gem" I cannot really recommend it.
The only reason to ever play this is if you really need more answers after Virtue's Last Reward. But any recap on Youtube will be worth your time a lot more than this.
This game is indeed a technical disaster. The animation budget was 50 cents and you can really save money by picking random people off the street as voiceactors for the English version.
It's so bad it's good and then terrible again.

I love this series but I cannot recommend this game at this point in time. Not even at 90% off. Just don't. Don't do this to yourself.

garnetglory11228
garnetglory11228

everyone who says this game sucks are cowards. play zero escape: zero time dilemma and bask in the glory of divorce and the most convoluted plot in existence

Tobungus
Tobungus

Story

Game leans a lot more heavily into the horror aspects from the first two games instead of focusing on the brain melting plot points along with the fact that this game tries to clear up a lot of mysteries that were presented in the first two which I think does this game favours in the story department and in my opinion makes it head and shoulders above the rest in the franchise, sadly the same can not be said about the escape rooms and characters.

Characters

The characters are not nearly as fleshed out or likeable as the first two games,Sigma and Phi are still lovable and make D team easily my favourite team to play Carlos and Diana are nice ,if not slightly boring, additions to the game but both grew on me very quickly and Q is alright if not a little annoying at times but the main issues I have with the characters in this game are the drastic change in akane and junpei's personalities which put me off of playing their section of the game (however it is excusable because there are in lore reasons for these changes) but by far the most infuriating characters ever put in this game series, Mira and Eric makes Q team horrible to play due to how unbearable they both are.

Escape rooms / Gameplay
The escape rooms are easily the weakest part of this game and they lose a lot of the complexity and intrigue when compared to 999 and VLR becoming seemingly an afterthought that was put into the game in the last section of development.

Overall
Even though I have complained quite a bit in the review this game is still fantastic due to the story and worldbuilding that is included in it, as said before in my opinion the Story is great, probably the best in the franchise and although Q team and the escape rooms do pull the overall experience down a bit I would say if you are a fan of the zero escape series or visual novel games in general this game is an underrated gem and you would be doing yourself a favour buying the Nonary games collection (if you dont already have it) and this game!

kitycat238
kitycat238

I love this game so much. A game where you actually have to make important decisions that affect the end results. There are multiple endings, time traveling and a lot more twists. Highly recommended, I just wish it was longer.

delly
delly

If you like 999 and VLR you'll like this. I'd say use a minimal spoilers guide to get all the endings, otherwise you'll probably be stuck and confused and that's just annoying. If you're a fan of the nonary games you'll be a fan of this, if you're not you won't be, and I think it's that simple.

It's a Kotaro Uchikoshi plot/game, if you love learning about lots of high-concept sci-fi stuff interspersed with solving a big mystery you'll love this game. If you play it for much else, it'll suck. You probably already know if you fit in the niche already.

Fourstarsaiyan
Fourstarsaiyan

The game was amazing, and the mystery had me hooked. You don't necessarily have to have played the two previous games first, but just know this game will make a lot more sense. I played 999 on the DS when it first came out and VLR on the Vita when it came out, so it's been years since I was familiar with those stories. Consequently I ended up going on the wiki and reddit after finishing ZTD to figure a lot of stuff out.

The whole series is a 10/10 excellent narrative. The graphics suck in ZTD due to a cut budget but don't let that stop you, the game is absolutely worth playing.

Caresim
Caresim

So, you are 40 hours deep into Virtues Last Reward and as the plot clumsily spills its ugly guts like a grotesque pasta dish there's but a single thought that occupies your mind:

'Wait... people say the 3rd game is the bad one?'

What to do with that kind information? A game... that's even worse? How? Do you want to know? Do you dare to know? Somehow you've found yourself here on the ZTD store page. The sheer awe you feel at the prospect of a worse story is daunting... and yet so alluring.

If this accurately describes your experience with VLR, there's a decent chance that this is going to be your favorite entry in this series by far. ZTD is wonderful, S-Tier genre schlock. Great pacing, beautifully jank animations, insane plot - it's absolutely hilarious. The only thing that kinda sucks are the escape rooms.

If on the other hand you enjoyed VLR and you are now anticipating a proper sequel to that unique, intelligent and daring masterpiece in story telling - lol.

miroslavp
miroslavp

Not sure if it's the best or the worst entry in the series, but it's a great game.
Captivating story with many twists and surprises, even though the puzzles feel simpler than in the other entries.
Still highly recommended.

By the way. This game is Steam Deck verified, and I finished it on one, but it crashed a lot. Save often.

Feuver
Feuver

An interesting puzzle game in its own, but really requires having playing the previous two games to understand most of the character motivations and goals and the nonsense the series delve into.

The puzzles in this ones are rather easy compared to the 2nd game, nothing really stopped me while I went through all of them, and I think (or feel?) like there was less of them compared to the other games. The story segments are quite nice, but there was zero effort made to lipsync to english voice acting (and even japanese voice acting, I feel), and the animations are incredibly stunted and cheap. The voice acting is fine, though the scripts suffer of the japanese tropes of repeating the last words said as a question, and repeating the same information until it is hammered into your brain, like you're a 5 years old.

Overall, this game concludes a story three game in the making, so getting decent closure for all these characters and events is satisfying enough, even if it feels rather hamfisted at time. There are a few times where it's really not obvious what you have to do (Though again, easier than Virtue Last reward, which was beyond insane). I still like the 2nd game most for comparison's sake.

hi im panda
hi im panda

"A single snail can change the world"
the 3 parts of zero escape (999, virtue's last reward and zero time dilemma ) were very enjoyable and intriguing with complex plot that is worth playing through.
if you're into time travel / extreme mind boggling plot , this game does win.

RedHasKnife
RedHasKnife

This game change the series from a kid puzzle to SAW game. Every decision you made easily lead to death, the puzzle part make more sense and easier than 999 due to the visual change on key item, it is easier to spot key item compared to 999 items which blend into the background.

However there are multiple flaws, game changed from novel mode to cinema mode, you force to watch the 'drama' . I personally prefer novel mode since I am quick reader, but 'drama' mode slow down the pace. Next, the story is not so 'completed' compared to last 2 game, there are so many 'loopholes' in the story that make no sense when you put them into chronological order.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ snail that causes all these messes.

Lemes EF
Lemes EF

SPOILER, avoid reading if you intend to play it yourself!

I've barely scratched the surface of this game but I already much prefer it to the first 2, whereas those were murder mysteries (and other stuff), ZTD is straight-up SAW where you control the participants as they play into Zero's machinations, and you get to enjoy watching the various ways they die and/or kill each other. It's a lot of fun, but you have to know this going into it otherwise you might be put off by the inevitability of it all early on.

My only real complaint is that the game takes itself seriously at the worst moments, and comes off as melodramatic and whiny as a result, but this is still nowhere near VLR's magnitude (of melodrama).

Scrum
Scrum

Leaning completely into the insane sci-fi endings of 999 and Virtue's Last Reward, Zero Time Dilemma cranks everything up to 11 in a very fitting conclusion to the Zero Escape trilogy.

Being that it was originally a 3DS / Vita game and is the first full-3D entry in the series, it definitely isn't a looker - and following suit with VLR, the voice acting and writing have moments where they're downright goofy (intentional or not). If you can look past that, you'll find a game that's well worth exploring every nook and cranny of.

It's charming, it's fugly, it's batshit insane and I loved every second of it.

princeazazel
princeazazel

DISCLAIMER!!! Only get this game if you've played one of the other Zero escape games first. If you haven't this game both ruins them and isn't worth the positive review.

The force is odd with this one.

So pros, the puzzle rooms are a treat like always in the zero escape games.
the choices and things your expected to do are mind bending without being too unreasonable
Some of the memes from this game are just a treat.
The kill or be killed attitude of this game really helps the strong risk felt in each puzzle room.
There is a catch up bit for those that ignore my disclaimer at the start so you can get an idea for why most the people are there.
Rather than having all multiple choice there are a few times you have to figure out what the correct choice is with quite a few reactions for reasonable inputs.

Cons, unlike the first or second game the story in this one is awful. Why? Because a snail ran across the keyboard...
there are moments in the game which will make you VERY uncomfortable, heck I wish I could warn more without spoiling.
One of the plot points they use only works for 1/3rd of the game, again cannot say anymore because spoils.
Erik..... Any time this cry baby is on screen I feel like ripping my hair out.

All in all I'd say this is just NEARLY worth the 20 bucks and you should pick it up on sale if you like murder mystery games. however please be warned that your going to be dealing with quite a lot of trauma, loose ends, and who thought this was a good idea moments.

Alba Tramonto
Alba Tramonto

A fitting ending to the Zero Escape Trilogy. Although there are parts that are substandard I feel that this ending is amazing it could definitely have had more included in the true ending, but the other endings I feel are great as they tell a story are concise and lead back in towards the true ending or VLR ending.

xmato4
xmato4

If you've played the other two, I think this game is worth playing just for D Team alone. I feel like the new character designs are a bit too samey but otherwise I like the new characters enough. If I had to say, I felt that while 999's ending left me amazed, and VLR's ending left me feeling literally nothing, that this ending was somewhere in between.

Whats orange&sounds like parrot?
Whats orange&a…

contrary to popular belief - there is in fact; multiple ways to escape

craigandmelissabond
craigandmelissabond

Brilliant Game... Highly recommended.

ex-gamer
ex-gamer

still one of the worst trilogy endings of all time

WackmanV2
WackmanV2

So this is the 3rd game of the Nonary series. I would recommend playing the first two games which are available on Steam under "Zero Escape: The Nonary Games" so you guys can get the references. Not much replayability unless you have a shitty memory like me. Story is neat, characters are fun. The puzzles vary, but they are mostly enjoyable.

Ridiculous_77
Ridiculous_77

I played this right after finishing 999 and VLR, all of which I played one year ago as of writing this, and I felt nothing but disappointed by this game, even a year later. The first two games are great and I highly recommend them if you like these types of games, but ZTD left me feeling more empty by the end rather than any sense of fulfilment. I didn't like most of the new characters, with the exception of Carlos, and maybe Diana. I couldn't be bothered to care for everyone on Q team, Eric especially. Eric being in the game is an automatic point loss cause all he does is whine.

Without getting into spoilers, the game does give answer to the questions left by VLR, but most of them feel like they weren't given much thought and just went with the easiest answer. The game also loses that visual novel feel for me by changing those parts into cut scenes with horrible animations, and some awkward pauses at times. There's not a lot of good I can say about this game, the most enjoyment I can remember having is from making fun of the game. The puzzles weren't even fun mostly cause about 90% of them are just: "Congrats on solving the puzzle! Your prize is death!" Upon looking back, I would say that would drive away players from wanting to finish the game, let alone completing the game.

TLDR:
You're likely better off skipping this game. If you're looking to play this to finish the Zero Escape trilogy, don't. Playing the game was a draining experience for me that absolutely killed my expectations in the worst possible way.

Surgeon Holmes
Surgeon Holmes

Life is simply unfair, but this Review is fair.
To me its almost the perfect Game. Only the lack of Lip Sync during the Dialogues sometimes ripped me out.

Great Work Uchikoshi i hope we get another Game. It can also be a Reboot with new Characters.
I would buy it immediately.

yikes11037
yikes11037

Great game & follow up to the Zero Escape series! Now I feel empty and dead inside. All because of that god damn snail.

gamblodar
gamblodar

Super fun and probably the most challenging of the Zero Escape games. Not my favorite story line of the series but still a solid game over all. The puzzles in this one though definitely kick your ass pretty hard though.

william
william

This game's story is baaad, but it's fun bad.
If you hated the ending of VLR you will probably enjoy this game a lot.
If you on the other hand see VLR as peak writing you will be sorely disappointed as this game's troubled development, resulted in the game couldn't follow up on a lot of the plotthreads introduced in VLR. (RIP Kyle)

From the gameplay side it's fine but the last escape room comes to soon.

razan.yazid.m
razan.yazid.m

this game was more of a conclusion to the series than a new entry
even though the puzzles felt out of place and useless overall
the plot twists, emotional
ride and the characters relationships i ate it all up 10/10

zenzlia
zenzlia

this game is very complexly motivated...

Near Fact
Near Fact

Puts VLR to shame. Abyss fiction.

Jadelor
Jadelor

This is the ultimate sequel: it alienates all the old fans of the series and makes zero sense for anyone else! What a glorious mess. See fan favourites change personality at a moment's notice and get caught in a hundred visceral Saw traps! See the barely functioning 3d animation and lip sync that won't sync to either English or Japanese voices! Play the branching timeline narrative that runs on three different flowcharts! Feel ambivalent about large busts!

MuscelMan
MuscelMan

Eric is basically Shaggy from Scooby Doo but somehow dumber.
Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma is the 3rd and final game of the Zero Escape series. If you are interested in playing the games you should first buy The Nonary games which includes the other games.
As for the game itself, writing and the voice acting starts a little off and cringy but picks up and gets better over time. The animations are a bit ugly and the style needs some time getting used to. The flow chart is much more defined and easy to navigate. The escape room style puzzles are again the main gameplay element you have and i think they are super fun and more logical than the previous ones.
As for the story, it is full of twists and turns you won't expect. It keeps you on the edge the whole time. You keep wanting to know more about what happens and it becomes impossible to stop playing,
What makes a visual novel great or not is the story and thanks to that, Zero Time dilemma manages to be a great game even with its cons.
It is a must play if you want to know about the Zero Escape universe. I highly recommend it.

MS_Accel
MS_Accel

the haters are on crack, this is honestly possibly the best of the trilogy. It's really hard to beat 999 but oh my god.

VLR was 90% setup, and you'll find the payoff in here. 999 opened your third eye, VLR trained it, and in ZTD you will use it to see sights incomprehensible. Ride the spaghetti plate of timelines straight into the singularity.

Chihiro Fujisaki
Chihiro Fujisaki

my motivations for writing this review are... complex

Cool Birb
Cool Birb

wonky animations, with low texture models, but still more emotion and better story telling than a AAA budget game.

RemBond007
RemBond007

So! You just finished playing Virtue's Last Reward and are wondering if the third game is any good? Well the answer to that is... complex. It's a solid game overall but out of respect as to no spoil anything I'll just leave it at that. Play it and make of it what you will. And then bask in the glorious memes once you've finished

Olive
Olive

Had me going "what the fuck is going to happen" for 20 hours straight.

Algy
Algy

Anyone reviewing this game positively needs to be locked up in a mental institution.
An actual insult to the previous two Zero Escape games.

MadHatterBelial
MadHatterBelial

We all know that having more and more games in the series rarely ends well and while I by no means hated ZTD it's lacking compared to the previous two games, it also has an element both me and one of my favourite ZE characters hate: luck. Or rather luck and timed choices/puzzles, please no.
Still worth playing if you like previous games (or really really love escape rooms) but not as a stand-alone since you'll just miss all the twists in your plot.

jaybale
jaybale

its not as good as 999 or virtue's last reward but it still stands strong as a zero escape game. the puzzles (arguably) peaked here, and though the story wasn't as cleverly written or woven together, i still liked what it did. the new characters might not have been the best, but the old characters were built on a lot more. the story being told nonlinearly allows for a lot of autonomy when choosing how to play the game, and i feel like that ties into why people dont really like the story. i personally didnt play the game chronologically, i just kinda played in whatever order, but i can definitely tell how much better of a game this would be if it just ever so slightly nudged people to play it in some loose chronological order so things make sense. overall a pretty good game, not uchikoshi's best but it still holds the same zero escape charm.

kiki
kiki

q is my beloved little meow meow

Maxibon
Maxibon

A confusing mess of a game that I love

Masteroffu
Masteroffu

While it was not as conclusive as I would have liked from the conclusion of the Zero Escape series it had a lot of really good parts to it. One thing in particular it improved from VLR was not having to rewatch repeated scenes in other paths. If you liked VLR then I would recommend picking this up.

Gorpie
Gorpie

The room escapes are fun, and the jumping around in timelines to progress the story is fun too. The story completely jumps the shark at the end, although given the story so far it would be incredibly difficult to resolve satisfyingly.

thebearchair
thebearchair

fun as all of these games are but the worst in the series and one of the worst ending plot twists ive ever seen

Sofirin
Sofirin

This game is very complex. Had a good time

An Irate Capybara
An Irate Capybara

I had low hopes for ZTD after the contrived setup in VLR and reading negative comments. ZTD starts off as an aimless mess with life-or-death decisions about characters you don't know yet and what feels like missing introductions. You play "as" three team leaders, but nothing seems to be from their point of view except a few decisions, which made me feel more distant from the characters than the other games. It doesn't help that you play fragments of the story without knowing when - or what history! - they take place in.

However, the story eventually comes together, and the escape rooms are the most fun I've had in the series. I heard there were budget issues, but it doesn't show in the gameplay sections or story, though the funding did seem to run out as they were modeling Mira's face. This is definitely worth playing, whether you just want more escape rooms or you want to see the story more or less tied up.

I'd love to see more games with these sorts of puzzles and this level of writing, maybe even without being attached to an edgy death game for once. This is likely my last Spike Chunsoft game, as they've been growing fonder of degenerate content. End of an era...

NekoNebulus
NekoNebulus

Zero Time Dilemma may be the least favourite game in the Zero Escape series but I genuinely enjoyed every single bit of this game. Having fully animated cut scenes for every single scene, multiple branches you can play, memorable characters and an overall interesting story that ties up the whole series and their mysteries. Zero Time Dilemma does the job perfectly in giving the Zero Escape fans the best experience and closure on the Zero Escape games.

ractyx
ractyx

how do you go from 999 and VLR to this? disappointing

[UwU] Vista
[UwU] Vista

Terrible end to a trilogy, but I wouldn't miss it for the world. I also enjoyed the idea of having cutscenes like a telltale game, even though the implementation was jank

Pixilizer
Pixilizer

this game sucks

999 and vlr cum hard and this game sucks so bad

Ro Do
Ro Do

Pretty chill 15 minute visual novel experience. Kinda scary at first.

[HÆll] VijoPlays
[HÆll] VijoPlays

Ending was sadly F tier, the rest of the game was fire though and I highly recommend the Zero Escape series!

My motives for this review? Well... They are very complex.

Alphactory
Alphactory

Games 1 and 2 were mediocre and awesome respectively. Game 3, ZTD, dropped the ball so hard the year changed. The escape rooms are good and it employs some interesting mechanics both in storytelling and supernatural interactions, but that's where the positives end. Awkward CG and last minute plot resolution are annoying on their own (If you wanted your VLR questions answered, don't worry, this story doesn't do that in a meaningful way), but the insensitivity to sexual assault in this game, especially near the end, is what drives me to do this review and give this such a poor rating. I can't recommend this game to my friends or talk about the aspects I like about it because it's overshadowed by at least 2 incredibly uncomfortable scenes, one of which could easily be toned down, the other of which was completely unnecessary.

If you have any questions about why I wrote anything in this review, just remember, I have complex motives.

SmokeyThouBear
SmokeyThouBear

Dumbest game out of the series. Should of stopped at the first.

ani.for.prez
ani.for.prez

This is an extremely conflicted, half hearted "not recommended". This game does not live up to the promise of VLR and has far too many loose ends and problems to be "good". But there's really nothing else quite like this series that aims so high and is definitely a unique experience in its own right.

Unfortunately, there are so many problems that aren't just the story. To get it out of the way, the story just doesn't form a cohesive narrative and just isn't as insane as VLR got to ignore those problems. It doesn't tie up most of the loose ends from VLR and adds new holes that are fairly egregious. While a lot of people say this devolves into nonsense, I'd say this doesn't go nearly as hard into the crazy as VLR did and that brings the game down a lot for me. It's far too serious in my opinion. In terms of pure gameplay, the UI is outright bad and the game just looks terrible. So many weird gameplay choices that I just cannot condone. The timeline is a massive pain to navigate and you have to resort to hunting for the next section, made more difficult by how unintuitively it is organised. The memo and file system is really irritating to navigate and a lot of the time you need to have both open and the game just doesn't let you. The memo system has added a new "ink" system that keeps going down the more you write on screen which was already useless and limiting but for SOME REASON, ERASING MAKES THE METER GO DOWN TOO. There's also some abject garbage with certain choice paths where you need to type in something instead of being given a MCQ, but sometimes the text to unlock some paths is not communicated at all which completely halts your progress because you don't know what you're supposed to be doing. The puzzle rooms are all of middling quality and maybe 3/13 rooms were actually interesting enough. It just devolves into either a "click everything" fest or a linear "follow the instructions" snooze.

The game also just looks terrible. They went for a fully 3D modelled aesthetic but the textures are really horrible and ugly. The PS4 version has a much better lighting system that adds dynamic shadows that fixed a lot of glaring problems with the art style but that's completely missing from this version. The music, while great, is largely simply tracks from VLR and I didn't recognise any new tracks.

All the good in the story and the sheer ambition does not outweight the facts that the game looks bad, plays bad and ends bad. If you're a VLR fan, you're probably invested enough that you'll play it anyway. For anyone new to the series, don't start with this game and also don't play it.

Eeporgorg
Eeporgorg

I wouldn't recommend you play this game unless you've already completed Nonary Games.

Pros:
- Nice graphics and voice acting for a VN
- Solid escape room puzzles (but a little easier than VLR)
- Lots of references and easter eggs from 999 and VLR

Cons:
- The story goes off the rails (this is coming from someone that was fully on-board for the first two games)
- Moreso than the other games you have to watch a bunch of gruesome or disturbing game over scenes to advance the main story
- Less character-focused and the structure of the story leads to much fewer interesting character interactions.

Mors
Mors

this game sucks 🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌 highly recommended 🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌 complex motives 🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌 life is simply unfair don't you think 🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌 mind hacc 🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌