Zero Time Dilemma Reviews
Chime has done it again with Zero Time Dilemma, giving us a game that is a must-have for fans of visual novels, and even more so for fans of the series.
The game delivers an exciting story with its wonderful and interesting concepts in addition to its entertaining puzzles. This installment may attract more players than its predecessors as it relies on cut scenes more than reading texts. I prefer the previous games (999 and Virtue’s Last Reward) more, and I highly recommend to give the whole Zero Escape series a try.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
Zero Time Dilemma is an incredible game and a worthy conclusion for the Zero Escape series that finally arrives on the PlayStation 4. It's transition from the Vita to the PS4 was handled with a lot of care, being done in the best way possible.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Zero Time Dilemma is a fairly decent port for the PS4. It features slightly revamped visuals but still suffers from the same awkward animation and a slow paced story that will take a while to properly set up.
Every setback and every unexpected revelation will draw you further into Zero Time Dilemma's joyously convoluted world and make you all the more doggedly determined to uncover the truth.
A brilliant, dark, twisted tale reminiscent of the phenomenal Steins;Gate, and one that will get players digging into every possible branching pathway to experience every facet of the story and finally understand the truth beneath this marvellous tale.
It lacks the charm and wit of Danganronpa, but Zero Time Dilemma, like its prequels, is still valuable, smart, and stimulating. Its presentation really badly hurts it, but once you push past that distaste, what you're left with is an intense, engaging and intelligent narrative with some thoughtful and well-designed puzzle rooms to sort through.
All in all, I really enjoyed Zero Time Dilemma. It feels like a fitting conclusion to the series, and gives a number of characters a pleasing amount of closure — even if it is in alternative timelines in some cases! It also features some of the series’ most truly horrifying bad endings, so if you enjoy that sort of thing you’ll have a good time. And, of course, most importantly, if you enjoy Uchikoshi playing with narrative conventions and structure, you’ll definitely have a blast here.
Fans of escape rooms and puzzle-solving games that don't mind a more adult and dark tone will have a lot of fun with Zero Time Dilemma.
I wish that there were more games like Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma. As Telltale Games has achieved in recent years, Spike Chunsoft under Kotaro Uchikoshi's direction has pushed the boundaries of what we have now come to expect from storytelling in the games industry. Zero Time Dilemma is a success in that regards, becoming one of the most thrilling narrative experiences to grace the Nintendo 3DS library.
Zero Time stands as the weakest of the trilogy, but still a satisfactory visual novel in its own right.
Zero Time Dilemma is a hugely flawed game that, despite moments of brilliance (such as the coin toss at the start of the game), fails to come together. A game that can hold my attention for twelve hours in a single day should review well, but sadly too many of those hours were spent silently cursing at the ludicrous nature of the story, and basically begging for it to all pay off and it never did. At least Virtue's Last Reward, which I previously criticised for leaving so much up in the air, was asking interesting questions. Zero Time Dilemma failed to do even that.
While there are minor issues with continuing the story and finding yourself a bit lost at times, Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma is a fantastic story-driven game, with characters you’ll quickly become attached to and a narrative that drags you through to its gritty conclusion. For Vita and 3DS owners, playing the previous titles is a must, but once you get here, Zero Time Dilemma won’t disappoint.
At the end of the day, this is an absolutely fantastic game that’s only bogged down by its animations. However, at the same time, this is a wonderful example of where the technical problem they couldn’t get down doesn’t harm the enjoyment of the whole. What does harm the game’s overall enjoyment is just how lost one might be if they didn’t go through the previous games. Even so, while this potentially ends the franchise with a weird bang, it’s a bang nonetheless.
Aside from the uneven animations, my only other complaint comes from the memo feature. I found it far easier just to keep notes on a pad of paper than attempting to write with my fingertip. This is not the best use of touch controls between the memo and the sometimes finicky puzzle inputs, but it is hardly a deal breaker either. Because at the heart of everything here however, is the narrative. I really cannot say enough good things about how well-written the characters and the stories are. I never felt like there was too much exposition, and despite the tense scenarios moments of levity are found within as well. The characters feel fully fleshed out, the story captivated my interest in a way that only good books usually can.
Zero Time Dilemma seems to be brimming with good ideas. Unfortunately, between the increasingly insane, shark jumping, plot revelations, and the never-ending dialogue strands, someone forgot to put a video game here. When the player does get to do something aside from making decisions, the game improves markedly but since the design of the game can make even these sections few and far between, it becomes harder and harder to forgive as the run time of the game continues to tick along.
A series full of mysteries, murder, twists and intrigue comes to its conclusion in the third title from the "Zero Escape" series, Zero Time Dilemma. All the questions that have been left answered and the fates of the characters MAY come to a head in this final game of life and death, provided you can manage to muddle through the convoluted plot line(s), occasionally poor voice acting, and some of the annoying necessary steps for making it through some of the decisions in-game.
If you can look past the awkward animation, poor dialog and condescending tone, Zero Time Dilemma offers a short but interesting mystery murder experience and set of puzzles, if only to fill the gap between other new decision-heavy (or Danganronpa) titles.