While the puzzles are never horrible, they are rarely particularly amazing or thoroughly fun, merely proving to be an aside to the game's story, and while most video games have a story as an assist to the core gameplay it's more the other way around here the puzzles certainly do their job at moving the plot forward at a steady but not effortless pace. The puzzles are mostly (though not all) basically mathematical and they vary from relatively simple to occasionally frustrating, and it is here that the game's first, and probably only, real flaw can be found. Don't worry, though, while the first play-through might feel like it is quite lengthy indeed, the second play-through and onwards will allow for the skipping of text already read, slowing down just as players happen across a line of writing not viewed before no matter how minor, not one tiny piece of information will be missed, nor will boredom creep in from going over previously read text repeatedly. Of course, spoiling what door nets which ending, or even how shocking any particular ending may be, would be tantamount to ruining the whole journey, but it must be stressed that they are all definitely important. Whereas many visual novels are linear, the choices made throughout 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors very much influence the game's outcome, and depending on which order of doors are gone through, there will be the treat of one out of six different endings, though it's highly recommended to get each and every one to fully enjoy and soak up every piece of the plot's puzzle in order to make it a truly satisfying experience. After all, they are in danger of drowning or exploding, their moral clocks quickly becoming unstable and the player will be witness to a fair share of breakdowns and unexpected character actions as progress is made in whichever order has been chosen to navigate through these doors.
#NINE HOURS NINE PERSONS NINE DOORS PC DOWNLOAD SERIES#
There are, supposedly and non-surprisingly, 9 numbered doors dotted around the ship, each with a series of puzzles and clues inside, and further exploration of the ship sometimes means the groups of characters must decide whether it's in their best interests to trust or not to trust, to help or hinder the others. From the get go the characters are split up and Junpei has the 'honour' of deciding for himself what door he wants to take, and, in fact, the lucky guy mysteriously has this power of choice for the majority of the adventure. It seems like almost everywhere on the ship is locked, and in order to proceed the characters must team up, making use of their assigned number to add up to the digits on the door they wish to enter. This is merely the introduction it's from here on out that the structure of the game starts to become apparent. However, they have no choice but to proceed in the increasingly morbid and sickening puzzles and riddles dotted around the ship as they search for a door with the number '9' on it. Not all the characters seem at all up for this either with the introduction of some who are little older than kids, understandably white as ghosts at the realisation that there are bombs inside them after having been mysteriously abducted. Throwing in a couple of non-removable bomb detonator wristbands, the bombs of which will cause a character to implode if failure is met, really puts on the pressure and excitement right from the beginning. As with many visual novels, the crutch of the game is based around the decisions made from the perspective of the unfortunate protagonist, Junpei, who awakens at the beginning of the game to find himself on a ship slowly filling up with water.Ī few panicked puzzles later and he discovers he's been flung against his will into an extremely sadistic game called the 'Nonary Game' in which himself and eight other unfortunate 'victims' try to escape this sinking ship with no instruction other than those of their captor, someone who calls themselves Zero. 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors is an almost entirely text-driven game, as one would expect from the genre. What probably sounds like a gimmicky title strangely obsessed with the number '9' leads many to enter the game with no real expectations the visual novel is after all still an emerging genre amongst western audiences with no real comparisons to draw from besides perhaps Capcom's Ace Attorney series.