Zero Escape: The Nonary Games
Kidnapped and taken to an unfamiliar location, nine people find themselves forced to participate in a diabolical Nonary Game by an enigmatic mastermind called Zero. Why were they there? Why were they chosen to put their lives on the line? And more importantly, who can be trusted?
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Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma on Steam
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Nine participants awaken, trapped in an underground facility. To escape, they must play a game with deadly consequences. Who will live, and who will die? The choice is yours. Let the Decision Game begin…
Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma is a puzzle, visual novel and story rich game
developed and published by Spike Chunsoft Co. and Ltd..
Released on June 29th 2016 is available only on Windows.
It has received 4,347 reviews of which 3,598 were positive and 749 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.0 out of 10. 😎
The game is currently priced at 16.79€ on Steam.
The Steam community has classified Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma into these genres:
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System requirements
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Windows
- OS *: Windows 7
- Processor: Intel Core i3-530 CPU 2.93 GHz or better
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX650 1GB or AMD HD 7700 1GB(DirectX 11 graphic card required)
- DirectX: Version 11
- Storage: 4 GB available space
- Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card
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User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
This is the worst entry in Zero Escape series... ...but it's still a very good game. And I can — among others — call it my favorite. I don't recommend playing it without finishing the first two games of the trilogy. First, you'll rob yourself of an unforgettable gaming experience. Second, you won't understand at least half of the characters' motivations and will get tired of untangling the twists and turns of their relationships. Third, it's a direct sequel to Virtue's Last Reward, which in turn is a direct sequel to 999. So starting with Zero Time Dilemma is like picking up a long book with a convoluted plot after skipping the first 3/4 of it (that's 50–60 hours of gameplay). ZTD roughly breaks down into 4 parts: jumping between timelines across 3 teams of 3 people, escape rooms with puzzles, choices that genuinely determine what happens next, and the "visual novel." Sadly, that last part is delivered through cutscenes instead of text like in the previous games of the series. I don't know how it works on PC, but on the Steam Deck they'd skip whole paragraphs at a time. The in-game log is still there, but reading became far less convenient. There's no point talking about this game's plot, for the reasons mentioned above. For newcomers, it's laid out exhaustively in the game's description. I'll just add that it will especially appeal to fans of Bollywood melodramas. You know, the ones where everyone turns out to be related to everyone else, and it all ends with several weddings... was that really necessary in a sci-fi story? PROS Puzzles The escape rooms in this game are my favorite in the whole trilogy! There, I said it. In 999 they were, frankly, designed for middle schoolers, and in VLR they melted my brain. Here everything is logical and tight. Atmosphere The magnificent atmosphere of the first two games carried over into the third. That nagging sense of hopelessness and loneliness, the anticipation of something bad (which will definitely happen). Nothing makes sense, but it's fascinating. Yes, not every question will get an answer. Yes, you won't like all the answers you do get. But, unfortunately, Zero Escape games are about the journey, not the destination. CONS (this section is where I vent, so expect lots of spoilers) Oh, this game has only one con for me. But that con has 9 faces. Okay, 6. I've long gotten used to Phi being a snarky smartass, Mira somehow stirred no negative emotions in me, the concept of adult Sigma in a young body looks amusing, and Sean even came across as a cute little kid. As you've guessed, we're about to talk about the characters. Carlos — too handsome, too righteous, too kind, too brave. Basically a chocolate-covered marshmallow drizzled with honey and rolled in sugar. In psychology, by the way, his behavior is just as much of a deviation as, say, murdering people — only with a plus sign. At first he seemed fun, but then he started driving me up the wall. And the scene where he preaches about how wonderful he is against the backdrop of the American flag just makes me want to puke. Akane — I didn't care about her back in the first game, and by the third she's just perceived as an inevitable evil. Eric... forgive me, Uchikoshi-sensei, but you removed Ace from the series because fans didn't like him, and then you add THIS? Seriously? No, seriously??? I have never encountered a less charismatic, more annoying and unnecessary character in games, movies, cartoons, TV shows, or anime. Diana — a stereotypical damsel in distress with cow eyes. Skip. Junpei — my biggest disappointment. In the first game, we play as him. His eyes are our eyes. His hands are our hands. I feel deep shame for what they turned him into in ZTD. How could a brave, fair-minded guy become such a repulsive, whiny simp? He's a far more pleasant person even in VLR! Even though by old age he was supposed to become insufferable. On a purely human level, I just don't want to accept or forgive it. Q is a potentially interesting villain, and I feel like they could have done much more with him. At the very least, they could have dropped more hints that he was even there in the first place. When I replayed the game, I tried to notice any foreshadowing, but the clues were just too few and too vague. And his whole idea of killing 6 million people so that 8 million wouldn’t die because of one terrorist doesn’t really hold up at all. What if that very terrorist ended up being among the lucky 2 million? So there you have it. I'll end on that sad note. Gameplay-wise the game is good, but plot-wise I never stopped facepalming. Still — if you've finished 999 and VLR, you owe it to yourself to see this through.
The worst Zero Escape game by far, and yet I still recommend it. I'm a huge fan and love both 999 & VLR. In many ways, inclduing the puzzles, pasing of the story, art style choice, and the ending, it is a worse experience. Despite all of that, ZTD gets too much hate. The story is serviceable for sure, but the ending is very well..... it leaves a lot of questions unaswered and is very sudden. If you like Zero Escape, do yourself a favour and finish it off with ZTD. Just be careful with your expectations.
get true endings on 999 and VLR before playing this game or half of the stuff that goes on will go over your head. I thought that this game was going to be bad when I started playing because of the low quality animation, but the puzzles and and crazy lore are goated just like the other zero escape games. This game grew on me massively, however I still like the other two a bit more.
Criminally underrated game. Two major negatives that may be difficult to overcome for some players, but the story was more than worth it for me. You MUST play 999 and Virtue's Last Reward (available on Steam in a 2-in-1 package as The Nonary Games) first, but if you liked and enjoyed them you will probably like what's on offer here (especially if you liked the heavier sci-fi elements). Negative #1: The models and animations are rough (off-putting at times), but recall that this series is originally DS/3DS so it's not QUITE as bad as it looks. Negative #2: You cannot advance the text manually anymore - you either have to sit through cutscenes (the bulk of the gameplay) at their original fully voice-acted pace, or use the skip feature and constantly refer to the log to figure out what happened (meaning you aren't getting any voice or animation). Not a problem if you're a slow reader, or looking to enjoy something at a leisurely pace, but this was a constant source of frustration and almost made me drop the game in the opening hours. I'm glad I didn't though! Minor additional negatives: slow opening, unconventional fragmented narrative structure (which is integral to the plot of the game, so more of a positive overall, but a bit jarring to deal with at first), some disappointing characterizations of returning characters (mostly understandable in-universe), and at least one new character is so unlikable it sometimes has you wishing for a bad end to come sooner. So what do you get for dealing with this struggle? An extremely ambitious and clever plot (in multiple senses of the word), interesting characters and character interactions, tens of random tangents, and a unique and mostly successful means of telling a story through a video game. It would have 100% been worth 10 hours of your time, and it's probably still worth the 20 it will actually take. As others indicate, make sure to check the in-game Cinema files after you complete the true ending for some additional closure on character stories.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma is currently priced at 16.79€ on Steam.
No, Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 16.79€ on Steam.
Yes, Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma received 3,598 positive votes out of a total of 4,347 achieving a rating of 8.01.
😎
Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma was developed and published by Spike Chunsoft Co. and Ltd..
Yes, Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma is playable and fully supported on Windows.
No, Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma is not playable on MacOS.
No, Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma is not playable on Linux.
This information about Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma is not available yet.
This information about Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma is not available yet.
No, Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma does not support VR.
Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma is a single-player game.
No, Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma does not currently offer any DLC.
No, Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma does not support mods via Steam Workshop.
No, Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma does not support Steam Remote Play.
Yes, Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma.
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Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.
Last Updates| Steam data | 18 September 2026 22:29 UTC |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 12 October 2026 14:37 UTC |
| Steam price | 15 October 2026 03:00 UTC |
| Steam reviews | 11 October 2026 07:55 UTC |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma
- SteamCharts - Analysis of Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma compatibility
Game modes
Features
Online players
26
Developer
Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd.
Publisher
Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd.
Release
29 Jun 2016
Platforms