Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward bears more than a passing resemblance to 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors.
Rising Star Games has announced that they’ll be publishing Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward (or Extreme Escape Adventure: Good People Die, as it’s called in Japan) in Europe this November. The visual novel/puzzler is an obvious spiritual successor to 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, which confused the heck out of DS gamers back in 2010. Aksys has already announced it’ll be publishing the NA version of the game by the end of the year. The title is being released for both 3DS and the PlayStation Vita.
Zero Escape seems to share the same premise at its predecessor; a diverse set of characters, all harboring dramatic secrets, are kidnapped and forced to play a deadly game of puzzle solving and betrayal. Chunsoft has confirmed the game takes place in the same universe as 999, but notes that it’s a self-contained story. Still, there do seem to be some recurring characters, so I’d suggest playing 999 first, if you can find a copy.
Unlike 999, Zero Escape uses 3D models rather than static 2D artwork. It also seems to have some animation outside of its cutscenes. The puzzles seem somewhat similar; an eclectic mix of abstract minigames, lateral thinking challenges and classic Resident Evil style key hunting. Judging by the screenshots, it’s also nice to see that the characters have retained their talent for pointing out the blindingly obvious.
Source: Siliconera
