Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma

Nothing should stop any gamer (over the age of 17) from experiencing the excellence of the entire Zero Escape series. [Issue #23 – September/October 2016, p.72]

Zero Escape improves its narrative methods, but the story is a bit less surprising than the other games of the franchise.

Zero Time Dilemma is a small masterpiece of storytelling and a strong warning about human nature. A truly unmissable game.

Zero Time Dilemma is a satisfying conclusion to the Zero Escape series, but I feel it’s missing a final challenge room to test my wits.

It's the long awaited final episode, that resurged after many had lost hope. Sometimes, yes, life can be fair. Plaudite, acta est fabula.

Zero Time Dilemma is a must-play for any fans of the franchise, or indeed for any puzzle game fan.

A game that’s not only the zenith of its series but also one of the boldest narrative-focused titles of the last few years.

An interesting proposal that closes a trilogy doing an excellent job on its narrative. The visual may be sub-par, and for non-English speakers the game will be difficult to understand, but besides that this is a must buy if you are not afraid of slower pace adventures.

Its narrative and puzzles can occasionally be long-winded and a bit too time consuming, but it still stands out as one of the more gripping narrative driven games we’ve played. Just be aware: before the moment of final escape, there will be blood and tears.

Rough edges be damned, however. Such flaws don't prevent Zero Time Dilemma from being utterly enthralling. It's rare that a game's story captivates us so thoroughly that we lose sleep just to see what will happen next. Few other works have subverted expectations, toyed with our emotions, or simply shocked us the way the Zero Escape Series has. Zero Time Dilemma is a fitting end to a story we won't soon forget.

However you arrive at Zero Time Dilemma, if you're into the series' mix of horror and Hegel you're in for a treat — and you may never look at a snail the same way again.

Zero Time Dilemma is nothing short of a world class conclusion to the Zero Escape trilogy, thanks to its excellent narrative, its interesting and very developed cast of characters and a marvelous audio environment. While not all of the trilogy's loose ends are brought together and its visual environment could certainly improve, this is a game that is compulsory for all the series' followers as well as to virtually anyone else.

Zero Time Dilemma, above all else, is a finale that should please anyone looking for a great story — even if the gameplay gets lost in the background as a result.

But what should have been a great finale stumbles a bit due to some odd game design and creative decisions.

Even when the narrative fails to drive the plot, the game's well-designed room-escape puzzles pick up the slack.

At the end of the day, it's hard to recommend to anyone but fans that want to know how the story ends, but they should keep their expectations in check in order to get to the good parts through the messy parts and still have a good time out of it. Indeed, it's tough, after two great games that ended in a cliff-hanger, to simply ignore the finale, despite its flaws.

The third and probably the craziest expansion to the Zero Escape series. Solving fun puzzles is just a pretext for the Japanese-style mad sci-fi story. [Issue#266]