I was ready to give up. And by the end, I sought clues from FAQs/Walkthroughs for the game without regret, and in some instances, hesitation. The short of the matter is, to play Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward, a player must be willing to devote some 25-30 hours to reach complete conclusion.
I will try to keep the post as spoiler free as I can, but if one desires to avoid any or all mention of a title, best to stop now. Too much may have already been revealed. If one is on the fence, then maybe reading may swing a decision one way or the other. As an aside, some may argue for full effect, not only would one need to play through the 30 or so hours from this game, but one must play its predecessor, 999, first. I did not for what it's worth.
It's hard to explain VLR. The opening sequence contains flashbacks of an apparent abduction of the main character, Sigma, on December 25, 2028. He/you awake in a small, locked chamber with Phi, a fellow captive who seems to know and not know you. The game is divided into Novel and Escape sequences and drops the player into an Escape Room right away. Upon escape, Sigma learns he, and eight fellow captives, is being subjected to the whims of Zero and the Nonary Game. The basics of the game require players to score points to earn exit through the Number 9 door that can only occur once. There is no limit to how many players are able to exit at that time given they have the requisite score.
For the most part, I believed the Escape Rooms to be fair. I did not downgrade the difficulty level (easy offering more clues). More often than not, solutions were fairly clear, but at times, sensitivity to point-and-click solutions/success led to a bigger roadblock than the puzzle itself. Others were difficult and some, to the point where without referring to an outside source, I'd still be playing or have quite in frustration. I know on at least one occasion, progress was at a standstill for almost two weeks. It felt great working through the puzzles and I made frequent use of the in-game note taking system until the very end where pen and paper proved most efficient. The process reminded me of those earlier NES days, mapping the dungeons in Legend of Zelda. And that was kind of cool.
The Novel portions of the game carried a dual-edged sword of benefits and drawbacks. The word-heavy narrative creates depth and develops the intriguing story. The sections, however, could be extremely lengthy, sometimes creating more confusion than clarity. I finished the game, but the mythology and science are complex enough that re-telling it would be similar to knowing the Forerunners created the Halo device to destroy the Flood and that UNSC and Covenant were enemies until they weren't. The biggest drawback of the Novel sections, however, was the repetition of dialogue and sequences. in these portions. The game did create ways to jump to sections as well as offered options to automatically scroll through dialogue or even skip at an unreadable, quick-flashed pace. It didn't prevent points of hearing and seeing the same thing time and again. Or worse, skipping ahead could mean missing dialogue when changes occurred unexpectedly.
The game contains multiple story branches. And while some may view these as "endings," both good and bad, I believe there is no way a player could reach a partial ending and feel satisfied. In fact, I could see a player finishing every "ending" and still feel not completely satisfied. But perhaps I say too much.
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