Virtue's Last Reward

Warning, this post entry contains huge spoilers for the two related games. Be very aware that the experience will shatter your overall conclusion towards them if you haven't played them from the beginning to the end. These games are heavily relying on their mysterious stories.

Before you know it, a new intellectual property is born. Nine Hours, Nine Persons & Nine Doors was the first, Virtue's Last Reward is the second, and now a third title has been confirmed by Chunsoft for Zero Escape, which summarizes the series so far fittingly.

Playing through 999 at first(and having seen the true ending) will really help you get used to the overall structure and even some pieces of the storyline that will otherwise most likely subconciously spoil the secret details of some characters. Not only that, it's one of the highly recommendable visual novel type of games available for the Nintendo DS.

What's new towards the sequel are a different version of the Nonary Game with new bracelets and colored doors, as well as expanding upon it with the Ambidex Game, which resolves around allying or betraying your fellow contestants. Whatever you decide to choose, The available routes are connected, storywise.

Also, even if you feel that every Ambidex Game feels similar, the circumstances and the psychological scenarios change everytime in every route, and to me, that felt impressive. Sometimes, you choose betray in order to escape and leave someone else for death, sometimes you choose ally in order to save a life. But there are much more different reasons other than living or dying.

Furthermore, the mechanics have improved as well as the puzzles, partially because of a Hard and Easy mode being present, which are interchangeable only once. A much needed memo pad is present, and a flowchart has also been added, giving a very convenient overview of the available routes to take towards the endings. It even has its own secrets, like several other objects through the game.

There's a chance that it might seem tedious with going through all of the different playthroughs. The skipping button is there for a reason, for not having to read all of the stuff you have seen already. So use it. You can always jump to another route using the flowchart for various reasons.

As you are no doubt about to approach a bad ending or a game over, you will have to go to previous important choices in order to take their routes and see the consequences. If you have beaten 999 accordingly, then you would know that the best thing about both games are their intriguing endings.

Even so, don't get discouraged or think that all of the deadends are the same, because they are not. The best stuff is hidden, you just have to work and fight your way through the many dead traps or false leads.

Only then will you grasp the compelling writing of Virtue's Last Reward. Say for instance, you are unable to continue at a certain route. If you then proceed with making a different choice in a previous Ambidex Game for example, Sigma, your playable character, will note sometimes that his opponent's decision was different in the past(gamewise...or beyond?).

As the characters themselves act a lot like detectives, you too, will most likely start thinking about all of the different scenarios which have happened in all of the playthroughs so far, trying to connect all of it together. Make sense of it.

Virtue's Last Reward will also have some disturbing scenes, just like 999 before it. One ending for instance showed everyone dead in a single room except for you and 1 other person. In another event, we see a person reaching for their lungs inside a pod after getting no more oxygen. And there's plenty more creepy scenes actually.

Although each puzzle room had its own song, I must say that I prefer 999's overall soundtrack over this. But perhaps it's too early to say, there are definitely some standouts such as Biotope, Dispensary and Pantry. What that game didn't have though is voice acting. And I must say that it's pleasant to hear these Japanese voice actors acting their hearts out.

My favorite puzzle room from both games by the way are the Operating Room in 999 and the  Biotope Garden in VLR. Puzzles in both games range from being common sense or capable towards being mentally challenging but never unfair.

There's only 1 save slot, the character models are inferior for me and that's about the only criticism I can give. Judging the game without having seen all of the possible routes to take will mean that you would most likely have seen barely the surface of where the overall story is going to. The graphics are subpar at best for me, but they work.

About the antagonist, I suspected Luna as Zero Sr. during the playthroughs for being the most normal person in my opinion. I also believed the killer and Zero Sr. to be different persons before any twists happened. Zero Jr. is despite his suspicious appearance, just a programmed A.I., that was my deduction.

Only if you have seen the true ending towards Virtue's Last Reward will you be able to see why it's such a great, no, an outstanding game. It's brilliant writing starts with a mysterious new Nonary Game with plenty of questions to solve, but the fun really begins when you start reaching the different endings and THEN see the true one.

Old Akane, old Junpei, a red earth and more shocking truths made me fascinated as well as satisfied. The ultimate purpose of the AB game is to prevent the nuclear winter and ultimately Radical-6, going back through time with consciousnesses traveling with memories using the morphogenic field. Maybe best of all is how the game's title finally makes sense. Sigma and Phi are Virtue's Last Reward.

It would be very tempting to say who Zero.Sr is at this point, but no, that is the game's ultimate joy. Kotaro Uchikosi managed to beat 999's already amazing script, that's for sure in my opinion. There are a few plot parts still unknown regarding their nature, but a ZE3 is bound to change that.

As far as storytelling goes from a videogame perspective, I cannot remember it being so effective and rewarding as seen here with Virtue's Last Reward. Zero Escape has easily become one hell of a new franchise to definitely watch growing up with close surveillance.

You think that you have seen it all regarding video games and storytelling? Then definitely give these newcomers a chance. Will you be able to escape, or will that possibility be on a scale between one through ten simply mean zero opportunity?

Rating: 9.0