“Yeah I, I hit the bottom. Hit the bottom and escape. Escape.” - Radiohead, (Weird Fishes / Arpeggi, In Rainbows)
Escape, the end, the goal. We all want to escape. We want to escape bad circumstances, we want to escape our past, or maybe we want to escape our fate, escape death. Nine Hours Nine Persons Nine Doors [also known as 999] is about escape. The gameplay, and the narrative are focused on escaping. And despite how focused the game is on escaping, I found myself wanting to do the opposite by the time the final credits wrapped up and the game ended.
999, for those unfamiliar, is a puzzle escape game release originally for the Nintendo DS, and rereleased on various consoles and PC in the years following its original release. The game’s protagonist is a young man by the name of Junpei. Who is kidnapped by a mysterious person known as Zero. From then Junpei awakes upon a cruise liner and is thrusted into the deadly Nonary Game alongside 8 other individuals. All Junpei and the 8 persons are tasked with finding a door with a 9 on it in 9 hours, or else the cruise will sink.
From this point forward your character has to make it through various numbered doors containing puzzle rooms akin to those you’d find on those dingy and grimy iPad escape room games. With each door and character combination you’ll find new information that provides a wider image to what exactly is going on in 999. After entering any combination of doors you’ll find yourself at one of the 6 endings, each with their own significance upon the story of the game.
One of my favorites parts of this game is how each room combination recontextualizes the story and characters for you. With each individual playthrough you’ll find yourself rethinking what what you know and what you learned. You’ll also find yourself rethinking each character, their motives, their words, and their actions. It’s a masterpiece in storytelling by letting the player in on enough information to build suspense, confusion, and excitement. All of it builds up with an absolutely hard-hitting and thought provoking ending which absolutely flips the story on its head and fills in most narrative holes quite perfectly, there’s still stuff I’m realizing about the games story even as I write this. It is one of the most well written insane plots I’ve ever seen in a video game.
It’s not perfect though, there’s one particular big plot thread that had a majorly underwhelming conclusion, I don’t think it’ll be quite a problem the next time I play this game (because I will 100% replay this), but it still slightly irritates me. That being said, a game this narratively dense can’t be perfect in every way, and the overall story is one that doesn’t let you down in the slightest.
I almost forgot to add, but if you look like June dm me. That is all.
I give this game a GIVE ME A P, GIVE ME AN I, GIVE ME A P, GIVE ME AN E. WHAT DOES THAT SPELL?!/10
Escape, the end, the goal. We all want to escape. We want to escape bad circumstances, we want to escape our past, or maybe we want to escape our fate, escape death. Nine Hours Nine Persons Nine Doors [also known as 999] is about escape. The gameplay, and the narrative are focused on escaping. And despite how focused the game is on escaping, I found myself wanting to do the opposite by the time the final credits wrapped up and the game ended.
999, for those unfamiliar, is a puzzle escape game release originally for the Nintendo DS, and rereleased on various consoles and PC in the years following its original release. The game’s protagonist is a young man by the name of Junpei. Who is kidnapped by a mysterious person known as Zero. From then Junpei awakes upon a cruise liner and is thrusted into the deadly Nonary Game alongside 8 other individuals. All Junpei and the 8 persons are tasked with finding a door with a 9 on it in 9 hours, or else the cruise will sink.
From this point forward your character has to make it through various numbered doors containing puzzle rooms akin to those you’d find on those dingy and grimy iPad escape room games. With each door and character combination you’ll find new information that provides a wider image to what exactly is going on in 999. After entering any combination of doors you’ll find yourself at one of the 6 endings, each with their own significance upon the story of the game.
One of my favorites parts of this game is how each room combination recontextualizes the story and characters for you. With each individual playthrough you’ll find yourself rethinking what what you know and what you learned. You’ll also find yourself rethinking each character, their motives, their words, and their actions. It’s a masterpiece in storytelling by letting the player in on enough information to build suspense, confusion, and excitement. All of it builds up with an absolutely hard-hitting and thought provoking ending which absolutely flips the story on its head and fills in most narrative holes quite perfectly, there’s still stuff I’m realizing about the games story even as I write this. It is one of the most well written insane plots I’ve ever seen in a video game.
It’s not perfect though, there’s one particular big plot thread that had a majorly underwhelming conclusion, I don’t think it’ll be quite a problem the next time I play this game (because I will 100% replay this), but it still slightly irritates me. That being said, a game this narratively dense can’t be perfect in every way, and the overall story is one that doesn’t let you down in the slightest.
I almost forgot to add, but if you look like June dm me. That is all.
I give this game a GIVE ME A P, GIVE ME AN I, GIVE ME A P, GIVE ME AN E. WHAT DOES THAT SPELL?!/10