By its very nature, this page includes spoilers for the entire series. All Zero Escape spoilers on this page will be untagged. You Have Been Warned.
Though never achieving the same success that franchises like Ace Attorney or its own sister series Danganronpa have obtained, the Zero Escape trilogy of visual novel games has a dedicated following of fans who enjoy the themes and puzzles spread throughout each installment.
This page details the various do's and don'ts of writing a story or game in the style of Zero Escape series.
Necessary Tropes
- Anyone Can Die: Even though most deaths in the story will not stick due to the multiple timelines plot, there are several dozen ways for the characters to face untimely ends, and not even the games' antagonists and main characters are immune to this. No one is safe in the world of Zero Escape.
- Arc Number: Numbers and math are major themes in Zero Escape. Though 9 is easily the biggest Arc Number in the series, other numbers have been used for this trope as a central theme as well. Zero Time Dilemma uses 6 and 10 as its Arc Numbers, for instance.
- Deadly Game: Well, no duh. This setting is the entire premise of the series.
- Ensemble Cast: While certain characters will no doubt have more importance than others, particularly The Protagonist, ultimately, everyone participating in the game has their role to play, even if they do not initially appear to.
- Hidden Depths: Many characters have hidden backstories that are not immediately apparent, and playing through the game and its varying outcomes will uncover the secrets of each person one by one.
- The Mole: Besides Zero, one or more players in the game is a villain aiming to sabotage the efforts of the others and win the game for themselves. On top of that, Zero themselves is also hiding amongst the players, and it is up to the remaining teammates to uncover the identities of every hidden bad guy who snuck their way into the game.
- Room Escape Game: The escape rooms make up the main meat of Zero Escape's gameplay. These comprise of various puzzles the characters need to solve in order to progress with the game and solve the mysteries surrounding it.
- Split Timelines Plot: Particularly in later games, events in alternate timelines influencing each other is a major factor in how the game plays out. An event or fact learned in one timeline may be vital to solving a conflict that occurs in another.
- Story Branching: Zero Escape relies heavily on branching paths and decision making. The player's choices on who to side with and which escape rooms to solve will play a major factor into how the story unfolds and which ending the player receives.
- You All Meet in a Cell: Though some characters may already know each other in the backstory, meeting each other at the start of the game is how the game's cast of characters is introduced to the player.
Choices, Choices
- Complexity Addiction: The Deadly Game doesn't need to be cryptically complicated, but making it too simple and by the numbers will not make for an interesting journey, either.
- Sacrificial Lamb / Sacrificial Lion: Particularly if this character isn't among the main nine players, having characters get killed offscreen and learned about postmortem can still be as effective as learning about them while they are still alive. The 9th Man in 999 is the most notable example of this trope in the series.
Pitfalls
- But Thou Must!: Zero Escape is a game that is heavily reliant on the choices the player makes throughout. While there is nothing wrong with having some outcomes provide some similar results, forcing the player to make choices against their will or having their decisions not matter in the long run will break the illusion of choice and bring the quality of your work down.
- Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: While Zero Escape is no doubt a very dark franchise, putting the players in settings where there is no ways to attain a happy ending or having the entire cast be so unlikable and repulsive so as to bring the mood down will deter players away from your story and make it so that they do not see your game to the end.
Potential Subversions
- You don't necessarily have to have nine players playing in your game. You are welcome to increase or decrease the amount of players in your game as you see fit. In fact, each game in the trilogy has at least one secret player outside of the main nine characters of the story. (Nijisaki and Musashido in 999, Akane/The Old Woman in VLR, Q (Both Sean and Delta) in ZTD)
Writers' Lounge
Suggested Themes and Aesops
- Connected All Along: Having characters who do not initially seem to be related in the slightest have more of a connection than initially believed, sometimes without any of the parties involved knowing, is a recurring theme throughout the series.
Potential Motifs
- The Power of Friendship: The players uniting together to overcome Zero's traps and challenges can make for an effective narrative for the game. The Mole attempting to get the players to distrust one another or remove suspicion from themselves can also be used as a plot point.
Suggested Plots
- The Future Affecting The Past: Decisions made in the game can put the player in a timeline where the backstories of certain other characters is different than if other decisions were chosen. For instance, choosing which of the first set of Chromatic Doors to enter in Virtue's Last Reward will decide who was under K's armor throughout the AB Game and which threat the other players will have to contend with throughout the remainder of the game.
Departments
Set Designer / Location Scout
- Just like with Danganronpa, you need to set up a location for your Deadly Game that has the players completely isolated from the outside world. However, this doesn't entirely limit your options for settings.
- Your setting should have various groups of escape rooms that unlock as the players progress further into the game. Typically, Zero Escape titles are broken into a prologue escape room to set up the game followed by three more sets of rooms on the way to the ending.
Props Department
Costume Designer
Casting Director
- The Protagonist: The main character of the story.
- Examples: Junpei, Sigma, Carlos, Diana
- The Second Lead: These are the characters the main player has the strongest connection with. Behind the main character, they have the most vital role in the game
- Examples: Akane, Phi
- Zero, The Mastermind: Zero is the primary instigator of the plot and the main driving force behind the Nonary Game. Though this identity has been taken up by multiple characters throughout the series, the overall role of Zero remains the same: abduct the players to make them play the game and accomplish the overall goal that the game was set to achieve. While the game may initially appear to just be killing off the players as a twisted joke, it eventually turns out that there is a much bigger driving force behind Zero's actions.
- Examples: Akane, Sigma, Lagomorph, Delta
- The Hidden Antagonist: Zero is not the only villain running amok in the game. There are other antagonistic characters among those captured who have their own malicious goals. If Zero isn't the most evil character in the game, then chances are, it's this person. These characters can either be working directly against Zero to stop the overall goal of the game or be a secret accomplice working alongside Zero to make sure everything is going according to plan.
- Examples: Ace, Dio, Mira, Delta
- The False Antagonist: Throughout certain routes in the game, the other characters may suspect these people to be the driving force (or at least a major player) behind their suffering, though finishing the routes in question will reveal that they are not nearly as malicious as the other characters believe. These characters typically work alongside Zero to stamp out the other villains, though exceptions do exist.
- Examples: Santa, Luna, Sean
- The Deadly Game Veteran: To some of the characters, the current game is not their first rodeo. The Deadly Game Veteran is a character who has been involved in a previous game and has once again been abducted to participate in another. These characters can aid the others with their prior knowledge of the game by offering backstory behind past events, as well as tips on how the game works and how to properly solve it.
- Examples: Snake, Santa, Clover, Akane, Junpei Tenmyouji, Sigma, Phi
- The Amnesiac: Each game in the series has at least one character who suffers from amnesia.
- Examples: Seven, K, Sean
