It's only been a week or so since I tried playing it, but I just had to make a thread for what's probably the best video game I've seen in the past year or so.
Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (often referred to as just
999) is a DS game that has just recently been released in English. It's a survival horror game that's primarily a point-and-click adventure visual novel (sort of like the
Ace Attorney series) with puzzles to solve (think
Professor Layton). It's made by Chunsoft and localized by Aksys, plus its author is also known for writing Ever17. Since its release, it has received unanimous praise from critics and gamers alike. However, it's still not very well-known due to its small initial release, so I feel it needs the attention that it deserves.
Character TrailerLaunch TrailerThe gameplay is solid, with puzzles that are quite intuitive in hindsight. I don't think I've ever been required to make any weird leaps of logic to figure out how to use an item or discover where to look (no pixel hunting!). The puzzles draw from an eclectic mix of subjects, such as mathematics, chemistry, history, literature, and more; however, everything you need is provided to you, so long as you look carefully. But as sound as the gameplay is, the real gem in this game is the story. I have never been as engrossed in a video game's story as I have here; it's just that good.
The game follows a 21-year-old college student named Junpei, who was kidnapped one from his apartment one night. He wakes up to find himself on board what looks to be a replica of the Titanic, and eventually meets eight other people who went through the same circumstances as he. A mysterious voice comes on over the ship's loudspeakers and informs them all that they have been selected to participate in something called the "Nonary Game", and each person has been given a bracelet (numbered 1-9) that's the key to solving the puzzles within the game. The bracelets come with a detonator, though, and breaking the rules of the game will cost the person their life. The ship will sink in 9 hours, so the participants must work together to find a way to escape. Which areas of the ship to explore, and which characters Junpei is willing to trust, are all up to the player to decide.
This game is rated M (a rarity for the DS) for the intense violence that may or may not result depending on the choices you make, as the danger of Junpei's situation will feel very real. While the images in the game tend to show discretion with the gorier scenes, the writing does not shy away from describing in grisly detail the demise of any unfortunate person. The game has several different story branches and endings (as much as 90% of the story and gameplay can be drastically different on any given playthrough), and there are very real consequences for your decisions. In other words, if your favorite character dies, it's all your fault and you should feel bad. However, the game does let you skip through dialogue that you've seen before, and it greys out decision choices that you've made prior, so subsequent playthroughs aren't that time-consuming or difficult to navigate. And trust me, you WILL want to replay this game.
The writing in this game is absolutely top-notch, which is important given how story-intensive the game is. Each of the characters may seem like trite stereotypes at first, but every single character is far more complex than they appear. During the puzzles and story sequences, you'll get countless opportunities to interact with them and hear what they have to say, which really fleshes them out and makes them seem more like people than video game characters. The excellent writing does a good job of making you care for them, so much so that their potential deaths will leave you anxious to play again just for a chance to save them. At its core, it's the characters that really carry this game, and I'm willing to bet you'll find at least some favorites among them.
Lastly, I just want to say that I've recently unlocked the game's true canonical ending, and I must declare that the final puzzle felt more epic to me than any final boss battle of any video game I've ever played. The build-up and execution of it was just phenominal.
Anyway, hopefully I've accomplished my mission of getting people interested in checking out this game. If you're curious about it, I recommend trying out the free playable demo of the game at
the official website. It's definitely the most satisfying game I've played in a very long time, and I hope you guys would agree.
If anyone wants to discuss the game's intricate story and other things with me, I'd love to do so! However, I have to emphasize the use of spoiler tags, because a story-driven game like this can really be ruined for people who are sensitive about such issues.