Recent reviews by Athena

Overall: 6.5~7/10, good but there is a lot to improve upon.

As someone who has been playing these games since I was a child in the 90s, I was kind of reluctant to pick this one up due to the extreme change in graphics and overall style of the game. If you are like me and have played other installments in this series, it can be quite a bit of an adjustment having so many changes at once (the two biggest being Nancy's voice actress and the graphics). New players may be a bit put off by the graphics (specifically the character models), but as these games are (at least to me) more about the story and experience I feel that it's at least worth a try.

I told myself that even after seeing the underwhelming trailer and character models I would give this a fair shot, and I'm glad that I did. It's by far not the best game in the series. I also don't think it's the worst, and I mostly enjoyed the time I spent in game which is what is most important to me. The biggest issue I'm having with it so far is that it doesn't *feel* like a Nancy Drew game due to how different it is from the rest of the series (even counting the very first game, Secrets Can Kill, from 1998 with the cartoon characters). It's still worth playing, in my opinion, but it's something to keep in mind if you're looking for something very similar to the older games.


＋ PROS ＋
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＋ The environments are pretty, and easy on the eyes. Of course you can easily nitpick with these, but I found them enjoyable and nice to look at.

＋ The ambient sound is good, it makes the game feel more alive. I don't recall ambient sound being in previous games, only sound effects and music.

＋ The story is interesting, and there are multiple mysteries as opposed to the previous games (usually) having only one. This gives it an added layer of depth. I was able to piece together information given during the game to figure out a major plot point before the characters did, which felt satisfying.

＋ (Most of) the recurring characters have the same voice actors.

＋ There are a handful of references to previous games, such as Koko Kringle bars, phone icons for the characters being the same (Carson's golf ball icon comes to mind) and etc. which is welcome continuity.

＋ I enjoy the characters moving around and actually interacting with each other, it's a good change from previous games where they would mostly be in static locations by themselves throughout the entire game.

＋ Being able to manipulate items and inspect them in greater detail is interesting.

＋ There are a few pretty good puzzles in this game that I enjoyed, although some of them were too easy or too technical such as ghost hunting － ridiculously frustrating having to get the wavelengths 100% pixel perfect.

＋ It's obvious that in-depth research was done on Salem and its infamous witch trials, and I felt like I learned something.


－ CONS －
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－ There is no journal system as there has been in every game since the 6th game. With the game being this dialogue heavy, it's difficult to keep track of everything without anything to refer to.

－ I'm not a fan of the dialogue being shown one line at a time vs. previous games having a paragraph or two at once. I feel as if it's more difficult to keep track of than it was previously, and am really unhappy with this change. This might actually be the biggest con for me, as I have issues with attention span and having one line at a time that instantly disappears makes me feel like I'm constantly missing a few lines of dialogue (especially combined with no journal or any way to keep track of what has been said).

－ There is a lot to read in the game, and several of the notes/books I've come across read like they were not written by a native English speaker. One or two specifically made me feel like I was having a stroke or something trying to read them because while they were obviously in English, they made little to no sense. I've also come across quite a few typos, which is very noticeable since there is so much to read.

－ The game seems to be about 70% dialogue and 30% gameplay. This makes it feel more like a visual novel rather than an adventure game.

－ Some of the characters are really, really ugly. Don't look at their hands. Seriously, don't. The animation overall needs improvement, specifically the characters (fingers clipping through their phones and just awkward looking idle poses and movement overall). The lip sync also isn't great, but seems to vary quite a bit as sometimes it seems okay and other times it's distracting by how off it looks.

－ Some parts of the game seem to have very little attention to detail. For example, at breakfast on the second day no one ate a single bite of their pancakes and they were all just sitting there on the table completely untouched... even after the scene changed.

－ The navigation can, at times, feel clunky with it being difficult to find where to click to move forward. I played with the 2560x1440 resolution and the navigation arrows seemed way too small. The navigation is especially annoying when you have another character following you around as they stand DIRECTLY behind you (seriously, do any of these characters have respect for personal space?), so if you turn around and try to move forward you sometimes click on the other character by accident.

－ There are a few inconsistencies and glitches in the game. An example of one of the inconsistencies would be near the end of the game when there is a thunderstorm outside. Once you enter the courthouse and look out the window it looks sunny. Also, whenever I entered the courthouse even after the protestors left, I could hear the audio from them for a few seconds after entering the building. The audio in the game is also at awkward levels. Even after turning the music slider down quite a bit I still could barely hear the characters over it. I ended up having to leave it at about 5%.

－ The game ended with a few loose ends. For example, the drama with Ned and (end game spoilers) there was no explanation as to why Mei was randomly passed out on the floor in the tunnels .


～ NEUTRAL/MIXED ～
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～ If you've played the previous games, it's a bit jarring because there are a lot of changes at once. I feel the new voice actress did a pretty good job here, but after 32 games I'm finding it difficult to get used to her new voice. People new to the series probably won't have this issue, but it's notable for those who have.

～ This game is very, very dialogue heavy compared to other games in the series.

～ Graphically, the characters are wildly inconsistent. Deirdre is probably the worst looking character I've seen so far, but Frank and Joe Hardy, Jason and Judge Danforth look pretty good.

～ This game is a lot more linear than others in the series, which is both good and bad. It allows less freedom, but also makes the game feel more focused on the plot as opposed to previous games where you can get stuck or confused.


All in all, this game started off pretty weak but got a lot better a couple of hours in. I would recommend creating a new trailer. The current trailer showcases some of the worst parts of the game. I found the story enjoyable and had fun playing the game, which is why I'm recommending it. If anyone is wondering, the game took me about 10 hours to complete from start to finish.


TL;DR: Good story with a few loose ends, character animation (+ some of their models) and lip sync needs serious work, and I can think of tons of QoL changes that would help make the game better off the top of my head. I'm hoping the next game will improve upon the issues this game has, and that the developers will work with the constructive criticism they have been given.

Unfortunately, I don't feel like I can recommend this game until better options are in place.

This game made me physically ill due to the combination of forced mouse smoothing and motion blur. There are no options to turn them off in the settings. The mouse smoothing in particular doesn't respond the way I feel it should, it's really difficult to explain, but it doesn't "feel right" and is a huge issue for me. The motion blur accompanies what is already sickening in the worst way possible, and makes the whole experience a triple whammy of headaches, dizziness, and nausea. I wouldn't consider myself especially sensitive to this sort of thing, as I have *some* issues with first person games at times but can usually adapt or change settings to make it work for me. However, I literally played the game for 3-5 minutes before I needed to lie down because I felt so sick.

To its credit, the intro is very pretty and the story looks fantastic. From what I heard, the music is very nice too. However, the lack of options to turn off what the developers call a "deliberate design choice" make this game physically unplayable for myself and some others as well. I understand there are artistic choices a development team makes when creating games, but with no option to turn them off when they are making people physically ill is a bit of a slap in the face. I mean honestly, that sort of response - to me - makes it seem like you don't give a flying ♥♥♥♥ about people getting sick from your game's lack of options.

I will change my review if options to turn off mouse smoothing and motion blur are implemented. Until then, there is no possible way for me to play this game.

All in all, I'm very disappointed since this game seemed to have so much I (would) like about it, but ultimately it's unplayable for me because of the controls/"design choice" and lack of options concerning them. I really would love to play this game, so *please* consider implementing options to turn off the mouse smoothing and motion blur.

NO SPOILERS -

I've been following the Zero Escape series ever since the first game (999) was released in Japan. I was super excited for the conclusion to the trilogy, as it seemed as if this game wouldn't be made due to poor sales. After the long wait, I can safely say it lived up to my expectations.

Some plot points (and holes) seemed really strange to me coming from playing the other two in the series, but I could overlook them pretty easily considering the rest of the game is excellent. Also, it feels as if a lot of the BGM is reused from the other two games, but the music is good and there are some new tracks that I really liked as well.

I'm still not sure how I feel about the ending (it was a little weird to me), but I personally feel as if a game is about the entire experience, not just the ending.

It was a very enjoyable game, and I would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who may be on the fence about buying it. Just make sure to play the other two games in the series first, or you may be a bit lost on some of the plot and miss out on backstory with some returning characters.

The first game in the series is 999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors, and the second is Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward. 999 is available on Nintendo DS and as a visual novel with the gameplay elements removed on iOS. VLR is available on 3DS and PS Vita. The three games put together are an engaging and excellent experience with fantastic storytelling.