RATING: 5 Keys ESTIMATED PLAY TIME: 20 Hours
NOTICE: THIS GAME CONTAINS ADULT SUBJECT MATTER AND IS RATED M FOR MATURE.
As much of a workout for your brain as it will be for your index finger.
Kidnapped and taken to an unfamiliar location, nine people find themselves forced to participate in a diabolical Nonary Game by an enigmatic mastermind called Zero. Why were they there? Why were they chosen to put their lives on the line? And more importantly, who can be trusted?
9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors certainly starts off with a bang—literally. Junpei, our central protagonist, is awoken by an explosion aboard a ship. From the outset, there is a very real sense of urgency to the plight the characters find themselves in, and it is only heightened as the nefarious Zero reveals the deadly details of the dreaded Nonary Game.
Playing like a choose-your-own-adventure novel, 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors puts the player in control of who will make it through the game. Choices made early on have far reaching consequences, though it may not be readily obvious at the time they are made. Scattered throughout the story are literal escape rooms: various areas of the ship where you will need to manipulate objects, solve puzzles, and work with your teammates to find a way out. These sections provide a nice change of pace and serve to break up the game’s narrative into smaller, bite-sized pieces. Considering the amount of analogies, references, and plot twists that will be thrown your way before the game’s conclusion, you’ll need them.
Originally created for the Nintendo DS, the visuals of 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors aren’t all that impressive by today’s standards, especially when compared to the game’s successors. However, it was recently remastered for the Playstation 4, Vita, and Windows Steam. This updated edition, known as The Nonary Games, boasts new and improved graphics, animations, and most importantly, a complete voice-over that was not present in the original game.
Still, these enhancements can only improve the game’s initial quality so far. Kidnap victims will spend much of their playthrough time engrossed in these same visuals, and they tend to get dull and repetitive.
What’s more, the contrast between almost pixelated character sprites and beautifully detailed background artwork can be rather jarring. Thankfully, this doesn’t detract from the story in any way, and players can rest assured that the gorgeous locations they’ll visit during their journey more than make up for its graphical flaws.
More than a few escape rooms will have to be solved before the story comes to an end. While the puzzles found generally stray toward the easier side, they stay true to the locales that are explored aboard the ship along the journey to escape.
Fellow captives also serve as a hint system: fail a task too many times, and they will eventually begin offering ideas and pointers as to what might be wrong. This keeps some of the more difficult puzzles later in the game from becoming too frustrating, though veteran escape room players might wish they could turn off this hint mechanic.
Although its puzzles are generally kept in-theme with the game, there are certainly a selection of them that have become running tropes in the escape room industry, such as math problems and, yes, even the dreaded Sudoku. Thankfully, however, these otherwise monotonous tasks are given a fresh spin and don’t overstay their welcome.
While a worthy first game in the Zero Escape series, 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors certainly had room for improvement. Its ambitious storytelling is filled with shocking revelations, surprising twists, and some dark secrets that make it worthy of its M rating. Although those less enthusiastic about the horror genre can rest assured that there are no jump scares of any kind throughout the journey, they should be prepared for strong language, violence, grotesque imagery, and sexual themes.
Where its mind-bending story fails is in its complexity, sometimes taking its themes of philosophy and psychology a little too far and delving down deep rabbit holes that some players might find difficult to follow. Characters in the game have a bad habit of referencing obscure historical events or experiments out of nowhere, often forcing these lectures into what the game would have you believe is normal conversation. That’s not to say these interactions don’t have relevance to the plot, however. Given that they are usually explained in simple terms, some players might even be fascinated by many of the concepts and ideas presented throughout the game, and come away feeling like they’ve learned something new and exciting after playing it.
9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors also consists of multiple different endings, encouraging players to play and replay the game. Each time, there is the option to make different choices, open alternate doors, solve new puzzles, and (hopefully) end up with a different fate. This replay system is enhanced by a flowchart system only available in The Nonary Games, which allows players to jump to key moments in the game where pivotal choices need to be made. This allows escapers to progress down a new branching path without repeating puzzles and dialogue they’ve already been through before, a handy feature not readily available in the game’s original format.
While a standalone game in and of itself, 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors sets the groundwork for an impressive trilogy and enriches its sequels with added context and continuity. Its smart story keeps its major reveals for the very end, while still leaving just enough information down every path to always keep gamers guessing as to what will come next.
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Developer: Spike Chunsoft
Publisher: Aksys Games
Systems: Playstation 4, Playstation Vita, PC
GAME SPECIFIC INFORMATION:
Duration: Approximately 20 hours
Capacity: Single player
Group Type: Private / You will not be paired with strangers (but if you are, call 911 immediately to report a home invasion.)
Cost: PS4: $21.42 on Amazon PC: $29.99 on Steam PS Vita: $44.50 on Amazon