Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward

Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward
The game's cover art, featuring two stylized characters: Phi and Sigma, both seen from the shoulders and up and looking off to the side. Above them, a hooded figure wearing a gas mask is shown, facing the viewer. The game's logo, vertically centered between the hooded figure and Phi and Sigma, shows the words "Virtue's Last Reward", with an interpunct between each word. "Last" is written in red, while the rest of the logo is white.
North American cover art
Developer(s)Chunsoft
Publisher(s)
Director(s)Kotaro Uchikoshi
Designer(s)Akihiro Kaneko
Susumu Kotegawa
Programmer(s)Yasushi Takashina
Artist(s)Kinu Nishimura
Writer(s)Kotaro Uchikoshi
Composer(s)Shinji Hosoe
SeriesZero Escape
Platform(s)
Release
February 16, 2012
  • Nintendo 3DS, PS Vita
    • JP: February 16, 2012
    • NA: October 23, 2012
    • EU: November 23, 2012
    Microsoft Windows
    • NA/EU: March 24, 2017
    • JP: March 25, 2017
    PlayStation 4
    • NA/EU: March 24, 2017
    • JP: April 13, 2017
    Xbox One
    • WW: March 22, 2022
Genre(s)Adventure, visual novel, escape the room
Mode(s)Single-player

Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward[c] is a 2012 adventure game developed by Chunsoft. It is the second installment in the Zero Escape series, and was originally released for the Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita. The story follows the player character Sigma, who is abducted and forced along with eight other individuals to play the Nonary Game, which puts its participants in a life-or-death situation. As the story progresses, the characters unravel the secrets behind the Nonary Game.

The gameplay alternates between two types of sections: Escape sections, where the player completes puzzles in escape-the-room scenarios; and Novel sections, where the player reads the game's narrative through visual novel segments, and makes decisions that influence the story toward one of twenty-four different endings. The player is given access to a flowchart, which allows them to revisit any previously completed section, and choose a different option to cause the story to proceed in another direction.

The game was developed as a result of the unexpected critical success that its predecessor, Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, received in North America. Game director Kotaro Uchikoshi wrote the script, which was then localized by Aksys Games and Rising Star Games for North America and Europe respectively. Virtue's Last Reward was released to positive reviews. Critics praised the story and characters but were divided in their opinions of the Escape sections. Despite positive reviews, the game was a commercial failure in Japan, which led to the temporary cancellation of its sequel. Development on the sequel eventually resumed, and Zero Time Dilemma was released in 2016. In March 2017, Virtue's Last Reward was bundled with an enhanced port of its predecessor and released together as Zero Escape: The Nonary Games for PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita and Microsoft Windows. The bundle was also released for Xbox One and Xbox Game Pass in March 2022.


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  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Europe release date was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Japan release date was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "【まり探】"善人シボウ"に込められた意味とは？ 『極限脱出ADV 善人シボウデス』発売直前記者発表会レポート". Dengeki Online (in Japanese). ASCII Media Works. February 15, 2012. Archived from the original on March 17, 2015. Retrieved March 17, 2016.