Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward Review, 10.0 out of 10 based on 2 ratings

Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward Review

One of the feelings that I’ve found to be the most difficult to inspire in a video game is truly engrossing engagement. It’s one thing to be interested and invested in how the story, characters, and world that a game presents will turn out after all is said and done. It’s an entirely different situation when a player has difficulty stopping the game because the anticipation to see what happens next is so high. Unfortunately, I can count the number of games that have achieved this level of captivation, for me at least, on both hands. This isn’t a surprise due to how hard it can be to accomplish that goal, but it’s always a treat to find a game that does manage it. So, imagine how happy I was when I started getting into the thick of Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward and realized that it managed to do exactly that.

Virtue’s Last Reward is the successor to the rather unique 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors and, as such, retains many gameplay and style ideas from its predecessor. Both games are, at their core, visual novels with puzzle rooms scattered throughout to break up those story portions. The player, in this case being main character Sigma, has to participate in the Nonary Game, a twisted contest where the participants’ lives are constantly threatened, both by a poison administered when they break the rules or lose the game. The goal is a simple one: get nine “points” and unlock the number 9 door to escape.

Of course, as anyone who has played the prequel knows, the story isn’t quite as simple as that. Every single one of the characters has more to them than meets the eye and the truth behind this Nonary Game is quite complicated. Considering how much of this game is spent watching the story play out, it has to be a darn good one to keep interest for all that time. Luckily, I’m happy to say that the story presented in Virtue’s Last Reward does that very thing extremely well.

Quite the colorful cast … get it?

Just like 999, there are many choices throughout the story that can split the course of events significantly, through both the different partnership options and the Ambidex Games, where you choose to either ally or betray another in a prisoner’s dilemma situation for points. Choosing to initially partner with the Tenmyouji, the old man, and then betraying him in the subsequent game can lead to a vastly different outcome than picking Luna as an initial partner and choosing to ally. In all, there are 24 possible endings, with good and bad endings for every character, along with a true ending if certain conditions are filled. However, you can jump around the different storylines through the flow chart, using information learned from the separate outcomes to solve issues that arise in others. It’s a rather unique storytelling style that I hadn’t seen before, and it generated an intrigue that constantly kept me interested.

In a similar vein, the characters are all exceedingly engaging in their own right. While I didn’t necessarily like all of them as people, I definitely wanted to know what would happen to each and every one of them. Seeing the character’s interactions with one another in response to the myriad scenarios really fleshes out their characters and make them all distinctly memorable. From the armored amnesiac K to returning Nonary Game participant Clover, every character has their own secrets and unique facets that mean more is constantly being learned, even extremely far along in the story. Honestly, I think this game manages to break the record for most twists I’ve seen within a short time span and, even with that amount, they manage to tie every little detail together into a complete and solid whole.

However, watching and deciding on the course of the story is only one part of the gameplay. The other part is escaping from the puzzle rooms through each new set of doors found throughout the facility. More or less, each of these rooms has Sigma and friends trying to find the combination to a safe with the key to the room by solving a series of puzzles. These can range from reflecting light with a bottle to splitting water amounts among a series of pipes to get the correct amounts coming out of the ends. Some puzzles are tougher than others, but practically all of them are fair and it always feels good to figure out the more difficult challenges. Whenever “you find the exit,” as the game puts it, it always feels like a significant accomplishment and the puzzles are fun to solve, barring a couple annoying ones.

The B. Garden: just one of the puzzle rooms Sigma will visit in the Nonary Game.

The presentation is also much improved from that of 999. As opposed to the 2D character pictures and environments seen there, this game features 3D characters and pictures, including 3D environments to interact with for the puzzle rooms. The boost is a welcome improvement and the game on the whole, especially the animations, looks really nice. Due to the movement of the models and certain places, the game feels much more dynamic, even when people are just standing around and talking. The soundtrack doesn’t make its presence quite as well known, but still manages to be effective for the varying situations that arise. I probably wouldn’t be able to easily pick out specific tracks from the game, but it always managed to enhance the experience.

However, for as much as I’ve been lauding this game, it does have a couple issues. For one, there are some puzzles that require moon logic to figure out, although that is almost inevitable for a game of this nature. Still, it can be very annoying whenever an instance like that comes up in one of the escape rooms. Also, far more significantly, there is a fairly serious bug in the 3DS version of the game. On one of the story paths, specifically in the PEC puzzle room, the game is prone to freezing up and becomes impossible to load a save file from if the player tries to load a save from that room. Considering the singular save file provided and how much progress can be lost, this bug can’t simply be overlooked and is a black spot on a great game.

Meet Phi. Phi is very snarky and rather entertaining. I like Phi.

Finally, it is worth mentioning the differences between the different versions of the game on the Vita and the 3DS if the choice has to be made. The Vita version does look a little bit cleaner and crisper than the 3DS version, although the difference is fairly small. However, the 3DS touch screen is far more useful for writing down memos than the equivalent for the Vita. Of course, the 3DS version also has the aforementioned bug issue, but the much better touch screen is an important point that, in my opinion, overrides that issue. So, I would say that, with a choice between the two, the 3DS version would win out, although that bug has to be given all due consideration.

In the end, regardless of nagging issues, I can’t help but love this game. It’s rare to find a game that forced such rapt attention from me, but Virtue’s Last Reward managed to accomplish it beautifully. The characters are incredibly interesting, the story is full of awesome twists, and the overall experience is simply unforgettable. There really isn’t much more for me to add except that if you have a 3DS, you owe it to yourself to get this game in your collection as soon as possible. While you’re at it, you may as well pick up 999 too and experience both games to lead up to the inevitable third entry. Trust me, you will not be disappointed.

A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for review purposes and every ending was achieved in about 35 hours. The title was played on PS Vita, but is also available for 3DS.

Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward Review

By Robert H.

The sequel to 999 improves on a winning groundwork and produces a truly amazing experience.