Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma

 PlayStation 4
User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 62 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 44 out of 62
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 62
  3. Negative: 10 out of 62
Buy Now
Buy on

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. setuis
    Aug 7, 2018
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The Gui interface in this game is how they managed to mess up as they have a secondary window for selecting the segment you wish to play to change choice. If you played zero escape the nonary games you will understand what i mean by this. - The interface change and overall shorter length is what dragged this franchise down most likely due to production costs at least we had a kind of ending despite never really finding out how delta was able to set up such a game in the first place. Its an essential purchase for game owners but make sure to play the superior zero escape nonary games first.… Expand
  2. Diegochocho
    Jul 3, 2018
    9
    Gran cierre de la trilogía de Zero Escape, pocos juegos son dignos de tener un cierre así con una historia tan compleja.
  3. tomvs123
    Nov 5, 2018
    3
    It's almost inconceivable to me that this was written and directed by the same person who did the last two games. He must have been in a completely different state of mind or the new studio pushed him down a different path.

    I like good writing, but everyone's understanding of what "good" is is different, so let me rephrase by saying that I like intelligently written stories with no    It's almost inconceivable to me that this was written and directed by the same person who did the last two games. He must have been in a completely different state of mind or the new studio pushed him down a different path.

    I like good writing, but everyone's understanding of what "good" is is different, so let me rephrase by saying that I like intelligently written stories with no major plot holes or inconsistencies. This is coming from a 40-year old who studies particle physics and astrophysics in his spare time.

    The prior two games have some of the best writing I've ever experienced. Even though they were overly-complex to almost unbelievable levels, their plots remained solid and intelligent. However, this game is like a fan fiction that packs in as many references to the previous games as possible. By doing so, it fails to make its own compelling story with a solid plot.

    Without spoiling anything, here's what it does poorly:

    - Returning characters. There's too many in this game. Considering that the previous game happens in the future, this is a bad thing. And the game makes up far-fetched reasons as to why these characters remember what they do, while also making the characters act very differently than you'd expect.

    - Unreasonable blood lust. People to go into murderous rampages. Even established characters who we know are highly intelligent. They always had a good reason in the previous game, but not this one.

    - The villan's motivations are very weak and overly complex for no reason. There's plenty of ways he/she could have achieved his/her goals without doing what was done. There's also major conflicts in relation to the villain, timeline, and established lore in the previous game.

    - Everyone has special powers. There's even new special powers that didn't exist before. There's no new science to back this up. It just magically happens. I miss the established scientific theory that was intertwined within the story for the last games.

    - No worldbuilding. In the last game, you learned more about the world and your dilemma through the puzzles, documents, and character interactions. Each new piece was a profound twist that you didn't see coming, which made complete sense once it was revealed. In this new installment, the puzzles are completely separate from the story. There's no worthwhile world-building, and each new twist just adds to the plot holes.

    - Fragmented storytelling. Shortly after starting the game, you instantly have access to dozens of different story lines that take place in different timelines. You'll have no idea whether the fragment you're choosing is in the same timeline, at the end of the game, or the beginning of the game. This makes most of your big decisions meaningless, since you don't see the direct effect of your decisions by continuing in that story line - you have no idea where you'll end up.

    - Decisions have no impact. In the previous game, I dreaded choosing to betray someone because I knew that I had to face that person or the full group immediately after I made my choice. There's no such thing in this game. Your decisions are done privately. You don't interact with the people who are affected by them. And your own team members don't care too much if you make a bad decision.

    - No profound and touching moments. You know that one character's scene in the last game. Yeah, you know the one. Nothing like that here. Well, they tried to emulate something like that, but it fell flat due to plot holes.

    - Power of friendship. There are sections in certain games or kids shows where everyone works together through "the power of friendship," and they point out to the bad guy that they have this "power of friendship" so they can't lose? Yeah, that happens here.

    I could go on, but I don't have time to deconstruct each plot point, and that would involve spoilers. In summary, the writing is horrid. There are a few good moments, but they're normally completely invalidated by later plot holes.

    The game is shorter than its predecessor by at least 10 hours. That was a good thing for me, at least.

    The puzzles are good, but there's less of them than there was in the last game. And it recycles puzzles a few times. It used the jigsaw-type puzzle and cube-rotating puzzle about 3 times each. After you do this once, the others are incredibly easy.

    You'll spend the last ~4 hours in cut scenes. There is no final master puzzle room like there was in the previous game.

    To conclude, If you were expecting intelligent storytelling that matched the previous game, you won't find it here. If that's important to you, I'd skip this game and make up your own conclusion to the cliffhanger to the previous game. It will likely be better than what happened here.    … Expand
  4. Tellus12
    Jan 7, 2018
    9
    Incredible finale to the trilogy. I can't see what people are moaning about with this one, even after having completed them all. It has it's faults for sure, shoddy cutscene graphics and mechanics, crashes occasionally. But the story, length, atmosphere, in game-graphics and sheer effort that has gone into its production after being written off as never bound to happen, all add to theIncredible finale to the trilogy. I can't see what people are moaning about with this one, even after having completed them all. It has it's faults for sure, shoddy cutscene graphics and mechanics, crashes occasionally. But the story, length, atmosphere, in game-graphics and sheer effort that has gone into its production after being written off as never bound to happen, all add to the value that this game brings to the fans. The final conclusion was actually very well thought out and people who are claiming that it 'doesn't tie everything up' perhaps didn't understand it due to its complexity. I can't recommend this series enough, but do yourself a favour, play the first one first!… Expand
  5. aditya1101
    Dec 1, 2018
    2
    This game was by far my least favorite in the trilogy - the story was full of plot holes and felt poorly thought through (I think they tried way too hard to include tons of references to the previous games and ended up going pretty off the rails), the animations were pretty low quality and often were really janky, and even the escape rooms, while still good, were in general easier and lessThis game was by far my least favorite in the trilogy - the story was full of plot holes and felt poorly thought through (I think they tried way too hard to include tons of references to the previous games and ended up going pretty off the rails), the animations were pretty low quality and often were really janky, and even the escape rooms, while still good, were in general easier and less interesting than in the previous games. I definitely appreciate everything they tried to do with this game, but at the end of the day I think they just tried to do too much, both in terms of the production and the story, and ended up with a half-baked final product.… Expand
  6. bergcamp101
    Jul 19, 2021
    9
    It's always sad, when the great franchise reaches its end, but nevertheless this game really tries to answer all questions, you accumulated after first two games, and it still holds all key items and mechanics, that I loved so much in this epic series.
  7. AceAscendus
    Mar 22, 2020
    0
    Every decade, one might experience the rare phenomena that a game in a franchise comes out that is so disgustingly bad that it kills the franchise and ruins the memories of the previous games. I could type out all the flaws with this garbage game, but it would be a waste of time. All you need to know is that Zero Time Dilemma is one of the worst games ever made in the history of gaming.Every decade, one might experience the rare phenomena that a game in a franchise comes out that is so disgustingly bad that it kills the franchise and ruins the memories of the previous games. I could type out all the flaws with this garbage game, but it would be a waste of time. All you need to know is that Zero Time Dilemma is one of the worst games ever made in the history of gaming. Just play the first two game and pretend this game doesn't exist, that is the best way to enjoy this franchise if you are interested.… Expand
  8. chekovsgun
    Nov 13, 2020
    5
    I seem to be about three-fourths of the way through this entry, and it's had its moments but really suffers from a slew of weaknesses.

    The puzzles have been alright. As with 999 and VLR some rooms are fun and others are duds. My real gripe is the story. I'd say it has two major problems: storytelling format and character choice. I'll start with the format. If you've played the first    I seem to be about three-fourths of the way through this entry, and it's had its moments but really suffers from a slew of weaknesses.

    The puzzles have been alright. As with 999 and VLR some rooms are fun and others are duds. My real gripe is the story. I'd say it has two major problems: storytelling format and character choice.

    I'll start with the format. If you've played the first two games (and if you haven't, why are you here?) you know the creator likes his parallel worlds and flowcharts. It worked pretty well in the first two entries. 999 brought the idea in as a small twist that revved up its stakes further, serving the story well. VLR dialed it up majorly and had you branching down far more paths with far more decisions, to the point it became much more present. I didn't necessarily "prefer" VLR but its story beats kept up with the format so I'd say it worked as well or at least nearly as well as 999.

    Along comes Zero Time Dilemma, and the format has gotten too big for its britches. The disjointed, fragment structure it decides to go with removes any sense of chronology, making it difficult to latch onto the events. It's feels less like one story connected by parallel worlds and more like... multiple possible disposable stories that become rather difficult to care about. On top of that, it really doesn't shut up about that aspect this time around; a regular feature of dialogue is the timeline shifting. Some may like this, but to me it just seems masturbatory. Like, we get it Uchikoshi, there are parallel worlds. You didn't have to dedicate the whole game to going off about that. But whatever, I knew he'd get weirder/dive deeper and I could probably forgive it more easily if not for the next problem.

    See, part of the appeal of 999 and VLR to me were characters. 999's in particular were very good and while VLR's didn't shine as brightly in my opinion, I could at least say they felt like human beings who acted consistently and logically.

    And that's where Zero Time Dilemma loses me. More than once, characters act in ways that aren't rational. At least three times now I've witnessed characters deciding, casually, to take their time and engage in conversations at times where THEY HAD NO TIME TO TALK. When they aren't doing that they're deciding at random intervals to alternate between being completely standoffish vs spilling their life stories to each other. No I don't always mean from scene to scene, I'm talking often within the same scene via some very very poor transitions. No one really develops either, once you've seen them spew what their deal is the first time, they just go in circles reminding you of it either via repetitive words or cyclical actions. I suppose there's still some time for that to change but it is running out.

    I plan to update this review when I complete the game, but I'm starting to feel like getting that far will be a chore.    … Expand
  9. jvdahmen
    Dec 12, 2021
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I'm at least 30 minutes into this trash game (I LOVE the first 2) and I have not played ONE escape. Zero escape is a great name for the 3rd installment of this ruined game. Seriously? I have had the game end TWICE and not one escape sequence. 5 is only because I love the series.… Expand
  10. knur
    Oct 13, 2020
    6
    First of all, I'd really suggest to finish the previous games (Zero Escape: The Nonary Games) before this one.
    Quite enjoyable but definitely the worst of the trilogy. Plot got crazy in the second part (VLR) and here it goes even crazier but unfortunately ridiculous at the same time to the point you're not taking it serious. I'd still recommend it if you liked the previous games but be    First of all, I'd really suggest to finish the previous games (Zero Escape: The Nonary Games) before this one.
    Quite enjoyable but definitely the worst of the trilogy. Plot got crazy in the second part (VLR) and here it goes even crazier but unfortunately ridiculous at the same time to the point you're not taking it serious. I'd still recommend it if you liked the previous games but be warned that basically all aspects except from graphics and audio are worse than before - especially puzzles, atmosphere and the plot. Getting the closure for the series is worth the gameplay. Just don't get your hopes up so you won't be disappointed that much ;).    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

66
#66 Best PS4 Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 8 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 8
  3. Negative: 0 out of 8
  1. Digitally Downloaded
    Oct 5, 2017
    70
    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.
    Read full review
  2. GameSpew
    Sep 7, 2017
    80
    For the most part, Zero Time Dilemma is a challenging, fantastical ride. Its puzzles are perfectly pitched, and while it may take you a while to wrap your head around the game’s story, you’ll delight in slowly piecing together its winding narrative.
    Read full review
  3. Video Chums
    Sep 5, 2017
    71
    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. It may have dated graphics and sound but that shouldn't stop you from playing it through to see all of its endings.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »