Announced last year for a 3DS and PS Vita summer 2016 release by Aksys Games and series producer Kotaro Uchikoshi via a month-long teaser website, Zero Time Dilemma is the third and final entry in the Zero Escape series that will reportedly solve all mysteries left from its predecessors, 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors and Virtue's Last Reward. The japanese Famitsu magazine is preparing a feature of the game to reveal it to the public and now a scan of the cast has surfaced online.

• Carlos (voiced by Tomokazu Sugita)
• Akane (voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro)
• Junpei (voiced by Tatsuhisa Suzuki)
• Q (voiced by Aki Toyosaki)
• Eric (voiced by Akira Ishida)
• Mira (voiced by Maaya Sakamoto)
• Diana (voiced by Mamiko Noto)
• Phi (voiced by Chiaki Omigawa)
• Sigma (voiced by Daisuke Ono)

Further, information from a Kotaro Uchikoshi interview suggests that Zero Time Dilemma will probably be the first 3DS game with a CERO Z rating (adults-only). Apparently this time Kotaru wasn't asked to tune down the game to get a lower age rating, instead he created the game exactly how he wanted it to be created.

As the final chapter, will all mysteries be resolved?

All of the mysteries from the previous games will be solved. We're making sure that the people who play it for the first time will also enjoy it.

Are there any extreme scenes?

The 'Ultimate Choice' is a thing where one's life is put at risk. I want the player to be well-worried. Since we don't want to soften up the presentation for the sake of age regulations, we're putting out the presentation how I want it without changes. So the possibility that this is the first Z-rated game for 3DS is high. (Laughs.)

Source

 

[Abcdfv]

I need to finish 999. I played VLR first cause I didn't know any better. Went into the series blind.

 

[TobiasAmaranth]

Obviously you are not familiar with the games if you think there'd be any kind of simple summary of the mindscrew that is Zero Escape.

I am. Edited my original post. I'm sure a summary exists, even if it's 'long' for a summary. I'm bad with people and names and stuff and while I remember the basics, I'm going to be at an extreme disadvantage at launch without a way to get refreshed that doesn't involve spending 40 hours sitting through really slow text. As fun of games as they are, I'm not the type to replay things like that.

 

[Potato hoarder]

YES! Not pirating this, definitely want to support this release. I think this series is the only one that I won't have to worry about changing content in the western release.

 

[Abcdfv]

YES! Not pirating this, definitely want to support this release. I think this series is the only one that I won't have to worry about changing content in the western release.

Yeah I'm looking forward to actually buying copy.

 

[Lycan911]

I am. Edited my original post. I'm sure a summary exists, even if it's 'long' for a summary. I'm bad with people and names and stuff and while I remember the basics, I'm going to be at an extreme disadvantage at launch without a way to get refreshed that doesn't involve spending 40 hours sitting through really slow text. As fun of games as they are, I'm not the type to replay things like that.

This thread on reddit summarized the first two games: https://www.reddit.com/r/ZeroEscape/comments/48utuk/can_i_get_a_longquick_summary_of_the_past_two/

Short, kinda comedic summary (999 and VLR spoilers, obviously):

Spoiler

There is this dude and he wakes up on a ship, but it really isn't a ship and then there's this girl and she's his childhood friend but really she kidnapped him and 6 other people to reenact things she witnessed 9 years ago so she doesn't die. Then some many years later she goes kinda more crazy and helps another dude kidnap more people to do kinda the same thing again to awake the ability to travel through time in some of them so that they can change the past because humanity kinda died. They think they are on earth but they are really not because they are on the moon and what they thin is the moon is the earth and they several years in the future because they were in cold sleep

Longer, more serious summary (999 and VLR spoilers, obviously):

Spoiler

In these explanations I'm going to assume you know the characters and main points like the Nonary Game, morphogenetic field, or espers.

999: Junpei wakes up on a sinking ship with eight other people and is forced to play the Second Nonary Game. In the end it is revealed that Akane is Zero and created the Second Nonary Game since she had a vision of it in the past when she played the First Nonary Game, created by Gentarou Hongou, one of the players in the Second Nonary Game, where she almost died but was only able to survive with the help of Junpei playing the Second Nonary Game, contacting him through the morphogenetic field. Junpei and co. escape and discover that there was no danger at all, as the threat of bombs in them were fake, and the sinking ship was an illusion. Junpei looks for Akane, but she has fled and is nowhere to be seen...

VLR: Sigma is kidnapped in 2027 and thrown into the Third Nonary Game where he meets Phi. Eventually it is revealed that Akane and future Sigma are Zero, they are in the future in 2074, and the point of the game was to train Sigma and Phi's abilities as espers by providing different choices to create different timelines that the two could jump between, jumps being triggered by the adrenaline and atmosphere cause by the danger of the Nonary Game. The reason for training Sigma and Phi's abilities was so they could go back in time, first to 45 years before the Third Nonary Game, where Sigma would invent the technology for the game while Phi would be put in cold sleep, then they would go back 46 years before the Third Nonary Game to the Mars Mission Test Site, and prevent the the release of Radical 6, a deadly virus which killed almost all of humanity.

Admittedly, the summaries are a bit wordy, but they are understandable and they summarize the main points needed to understand the events of the game and more importantly, facts you need to know to play Zero Time Dilemma.

 

[Sakitoshi]

The setting of ZTD is one year after the events at the Nevada test site (999).

Timeline from the Famitsu scans (heavy VLR spoiler) :

Spoiler

Then no wonder Phi looks younger and cuter.

Spoiler

She is 20 in VLR and was "kidnapped" in 2029 (a year after Sigma), that without taking in consideration cold sleep aging (you still age, just slower)

I think I'm gonna replay 999 emulated on my phone (you can play just with the touchscreen anyway) and then VLR on Vita. I played the 3DS version before just for the stylus, even though I had the Vita version free thanks to PS+ (and was a hard game to find on 3DS).

EDIT:

I am. Edited my original post. I'm sure a summary exists, even if it's 'long' for a summary. I'm bad with people and names and stuff and while I remember the basics, I'm going to be at an extreme disadvantage at launch without a way to get refreshed that doesn't involve spending 40 hours sitting through really slow text. As fun of games as they are, I'm not the type to replay things like that.

I can give you my save file (100%) if that helps. I remember you can hurry the text of already played routes.
Other solution is play in an emulator with increased speed.

 

[FranckKnight]

The first two games were so damn interesting, gotta love when a mind fuck is done right. This is a sure buy for me.

 

[Arras]

Some screenshots from Gematsu:

 

[Super.Nova]

Some screenshots from Gematsu:

Wow, they're drawn way better than VLW!
Not that that would've made me any more excited, but good graphics surely have their way of connecting you to the scene.

 

[Abcdfv]

Wow, they're drawn way better than VLW!
Not that that would've made me any more excited, but good graphics surely have their way of connecting you to the scene.

Really looking forward to seeing how well the 3D does. VLW is one of the only games I can have 3D on constantly for.

 

[Gingerbread Crumb]

I am really excited for this game Ive been waiting since it got announced. Im also glad they gave him creative freedom.

 

[pokemoner2500]

This was absolutely the best part of that entire interview, honestly, although I wonder how Aksys would handle things if it looked like the game was going to get something like an AO rating (highly unlikely regardless of content), or what would happen if European ratings boards refused classification (although the Vita version is region-free, at least). Glad it still seems to be on track for a summer release, anyways; given the silence right up to the moment of announcement I was worried maybe that was a little too ambitious.

Also, just because I like to brag: This took hours of refreshing to do.

Spoiler

I tweeted at one of the creators as soon as I saw that, seems like we're fine.
https://twitter.com/Aksys_June/status/707261539649064960

 

[keven3477]

I am just concerned that maybe the cero rating might scare Nintendo to either censor or not release the game in the U.S.
And what happened to junpei's and akane's hair color, they look unrecognizable to me.
Also, what are the chances that the second person in the magazine image is santa/akane's brother.

 

[Potato hoarder]

I am just concerned that maybe the cero rating might scare Nintendo to either censor or not release the game in the U.S.
And what happened to junpei's and akane's hair color, they look unrecognizable to me.
Also, what are the chances that the second person in the magazine image is santa/akane's brother.

If I'm not mistaken, Nintendo has no part in this game's release.

 

[keven3477]

But doesn't Nintendo approve the game to be on the 3ds?

 

[Pedeadstrian]

But doesn't Nintendo approve the game to be for the 3ds?

There's a handful of games rated M for the 3DS (including VLR). You don't have to worry about not releasing the game in the US, because they've already confirmed it'll be a worldwide release. Considering this game is third party, and clearly intended for adults (or mature teenagers), I highly doubt they'll go out of their way to make ZTD kid-friendly.

 

[pokemoner2500]

I am just concerned that maybe the cero rating might scare Nintendo to either censor or not release the game in the U.S.
And what happened to junpei's and akane's hair color, they look unrecognizable to me.
Also, what are the chances that the second person in the magazine image is santa/akane's brother.

There's a handful of games rated M for the 3DS (including VLR). You don't have to worry about not releasing the game in the US, because they've already confirmed it'll be a worldwide release. Considering this game is third party, and clearly intended for adults (or mature teenagers), I highly doubt they'll go out of their way to make ZTD kid-friendly.

We're fine, it's been confirmed to not be censored.
https://twitter.com/Aksys_June/status/707261539649064960

 

[jesterscourt]

Anyone else think the VLR watch looks better than the new watch? Rounded versus square, I guess..

 

[Pedeadstrian]

Anyone else think the VLR watch looks better than the new watch? Rounded versus square, I guess..

I imagine the Nonary Game participants care more about surviving than their fashion sense. Except for maybe Lotus... and Dio...

 

[jesterscourt]

I imagine the Nonary Game participants care more about surviving than their fashion sense. Except for maybe Lotus... and Dio...

Ha, too funny!

Was actually referring to the one in the screenshot for the third game, and imagining what the pre-order watch will look like. I wonder if everyone was like me and ordered both the Vita and 3DS versions...