page where i talk too much about my favorite video games
Zero Escape: 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors
My rating: ★★★★★★★★★
Gameplay: Point-and-click visual novel
Genre: Mystery, sci-fi, thriller
Tone: Lighthearted 〇〇〇〇⬤ Serious
Story vs Gameplay: Gameplay focused 〇〇〇⬤〇 Story focused
Similar games: Your Turn To Die, Ghost Trick
Zero Escape as a whole is an easy contender for my favorite game series of all time, but I'm going to focus on the first game specifically here! 999 is a game that helped first popularize visual novels for western audiences, and also was a likely influence for other "Death Game"-type video games, such as Danganronpa or Your Turn To Die.
It starts with the most normal protagonist ever, (who has done normal things, such as use a shower exactly once, or major in bitcoin, or say he wants to eat his own ID card) Junpei, waking up on a ship, remembering he got kidnapped, and soon enough finding eight other people quite literally in the same boat as him. They learn that someone named Zero has kidnapped them all and they’re now forced to solve escape rooms behind numbered doors to escape the ship in under nine hours, or they’ll get killed to death.
The game is very plot twist heavy, and also has to be replayed to get every ending which isn’t as bad as it sounds because of text skip and cool foreshadowing adding to the replayability! (There are technically 6 endings, but functionally 5.) If you like games with fourth wall breaks, 999 was made for you! It’s also technically sci-fi, despite not seeming like it at first, because it will throw concepts that seem plausible if you don’t think about them too hard at you with no warning.
It’s really important that if you’re going to start 999 or the Zero Escape series as a whole, you should know a couple things; The first is to not look up anything until you at least complete the first two games because even some character names can be massive spoilers. If you end up needing a walkthrough, this one is comprehensive and spoiler free!
The second is a matter of opinion, but for 999, the original DS version has much better writing due to the dual screen narration/dialogue setup being ported clumsily. It’s easy to emulate, so unless you absolutely must have voice acting or have no access to emulation, I strongly recommend you play the original version!
In Stars and Time
My rating: ★★★★★ Stars? Just like--
Gameplay: RPG
Genre: Fantasy, time loop (time loop counts as a genre okay.)
Tone: Lighthearted 〇〇〇⬤〇 Serious
Story vs Gameplay: Gameplay focused 〇〇〇⬤〇 Story focused
Similar games: Omori, Undertale, OneShot
In Stars and Time is at its core a game about someone, Siffrin, stuck in a time loop, but there’s so much more to it that’s hard to explain without spoilers. It was created in RPGMaker, and seems to take inspiration from other “RPGMaker horror” type games despite not being a horror game itself, although the story does get pretty dark despite that!
A few things I really love about the plot of ISAT is that for one thing, the characters and their friendship all feel very real rather than just being side characters for Siffrin’s story, having their own struggles and joys and personality apparent even within the two-day loop. There were so many moments the characters’ dynamics felt familiar to me which helped the story resonate that much more.
Also, it does an amazing job of portraying the mental downward spiral from being trapped in a timeloop Siffrin has no idea how to resolve, later on in the game bouncing between hopelessness and desperate scraps of hope. There was one section of the game in particular that was emotionally difficult to get through but also written incredibly well in that way!
Some parts of the game can get pretty repetitive, because of the whole time loop thing, but it does a good job of not making it too agonizing and the tediousness that is present is really interesting because it reflects onto the player the effects of the loops on Siffrin.
All in all ISAT is about moving on and acceptance and the fantasy of being able to go back and do everything perfectly and the unrealisticness of that and learning to trust that your friends care about you and you should play it instantly!!!