kisui is Reviewing Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma
This review contains spoiler. I'll minimize story spoiler but it might reveal gameplay spoiler and general story theme.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/311240/Zero_Escape_Zero_Time_Dilemma
Hello, it's been a short while, but I'm still here. A few months ago, I played and reviewed the Virtue's Last Reward. To finish up the trilogy, We are continuing with Zero Time Dilemma, the third and the last game of the Zero Escape franchise.
Like the previous game, the game is part visual novel and part puzzle solving game. Unlike the previous game, this one have stronger part in storytelling medium but much weaker puzzle. But since the story is connected to previous game, this game doesn't have anything strong enough to stand on its own. Despite of that, I believe the game has good enough story that feels great to close the entire trilogy.
I would rate this game as average game but not great game like previous games in the series. If you are interested in one-shot puzzle game, just maybe if you can't find anything better. But if you are invested or planning to be invested in the whole series already, I would definitely recommend to play it to give you a nice sense of wrap up and satisfying of finishing the story.
Heavier Gameplay Spoiler Below
The basic premise of the game is similar with the previous games. Nine people are kidnapped and trapped in death game. Unlike the previous game that focus on numbers, this game focus on decisions, most of the time one of two choices. "Should I press the button or.... Should I not?", kind of thing. Like previous game, the game has two modes cinema mode where you just follow the narratives, visual novel style and puzzle mode where you solve puzzle, escape room style. Actually, there's a major different from the previous games. The previous games are played linearly on a loop, this time you play on a system called Fragments.
The Fragments are episodes of the game played in unknown chronological order, combined with three different teams that the kidnapped players are divided plus time-traveling/parallel worlds nature of the game, you will have a chaotic whirlpool of butchered episodes. I wouldn't say this is necessarily bad since it evokes curiosity, really evokes the feeling of time-jumping and it does end with a satisfying wrap. But at the same time, it was really a chore trying to figure out which you should play first or which you should play next. Moreover, like previous game, progressions are sometime based on information on another branch (or in this case Fragments) which makes you scramble for Fragments. Fortunately, the game reward you for persisting and mastering the Fragments, progression becomes easier mid to late game and like previous games, the game does end with a satisfying wrap.
Like the previous game, progressions are sometimes locked on password which the player must input manually, which you can get if write notes or you can just revisit a fragment to check the story. Now, this is where it gets bad. This game is fully voice acted so the text speed follows the voice acting, which for me who reads much faster than what he hears can be annoying. Moreover, the dialogue is slow, uninspiring and pass the border of being a telenovela. Well, there's a false grace in having a skip button. Why? You can't skip a dialog, you can skip a SCENE, which might contains 10-20 lines form 3 different characters. So you need to bear with slow voice acting, keep opening dialog log or keep replaying fragments for missed information. I wouldn't blame much on this, but for me and other impatient players, QoL improvement is needed.
Related to this, unlike the previous games which have 2D cinema mode simple visual novel, this game uses fully voiced 3D animation as the scene, like watching telenovela on TV (where you can't fast forward). Normally, this is a good thing, but as you can see from the start of the game, the 3d animation and 3d models really feel like low budget PS2 game. Most of the characters models are as boring as they can be (unlike previous game where characters are vibrant), movements are clunky, and the dialogs are as corny as Marimar. Even the voice acting and script writing are so exaggerated, it feels like watching Cañaveral de pasiones. Regretfully, the animation can't catch up with it causing it to be mediocre instead of entertaining. Well, it does get entertaining in some of the scenes since I do like telenovelas but people might hate it. The story does wrap up in a good way (still a bit exaggerated), not fully closing the story but it does provide clean closure to the trilogy.
In Escape Mode (or puzzle mode), this is where the game took a nosedive. In previous game, puzzles are littered with patterns, alliteration, motifs that are in great alignment with the story. This time, the puzzles are tedious, there to be just there, doesn't provide anything to the story and does not even related to the scene. For example in previous game, there is a food storage room and the puzzle is to calculate nutrition for different people. There's a biology lab room and the puzzle is to do dissect frogs. This game has medical room and the puzzle is to burn a poster of a demon on the wall. A very much downgrade of the previous two games.
All in all, the highlight of the game is the storytelling of the Fragments. The execution of each fragments is not that great but the way they use Fragments is unique and refreshing. Other than that, the game just have weaker parts and okay parts. Play it if you want to finish the great trilogy of Zero Escape.
P.S: I noticed some people might have missed the post credits that are available on "Files" game Inventory. The files can only be accessed after finishing the game and the game gives 0 clue that it is there. Without these post credits files, the game does gives unsatisfactory wrap.