4.5/5 ★ – Lukie's review of 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors.

999: "Funyarinpa" Day of Review and Rating: 6/7/2022 Started: 5/7/2022 Finished: 5/9/2022 Length: ~ 21 Hours Completed: Main Game (No DLC or Post Game) Trophy Completion: N/A Played On: Laptop (Steam) The beginning of 2022 left me very disappointed due to the lack of engagement I had in all the games I played. Sure, the first 3 hours of Legends Arceus were a blast, but after that it became a little stale. Bloodborne did not manage to live up to my expectations, and was somehow less enjoyable than a dating simulator. With 999, I was looking for a game that would absolutely redeem this year. Using a visual novel as a savior was questionable at the time, but looking at it now, I do not regret buying this game. !!!WARNING: SPOILERS!!! I love death games, so the premise of one kept me engaged and not thinking too much about the dialogue. Looking back at the voice acting and dialogue, it was very awkward and unnecessary at times. It improved as the game went on, and was impressive in specific endings such as the safe ending. It is not too major, but one example is Junpei in serious situations. When in extreme situations, Junpei's voice acting was weak. There can be somebody almost dying and he can be a little worried. The next second, he is still back to his normal self acting like nothing happened. Sometimes, characters will do something in the game and act like nothing happened after. For example, after going through Door 3, nobody is reall mad at Junpei. I get that they need to move on with their time lowering, but it felt inconsequential. It was even more disappointing especially since Door 3 was an absolute masterpiece. Before going in, I was confused about what was happening. When I learned Junpei's intentions, I was completely shocked. It was one of the many times in this game where I had extreme goosebumps. The entire thing happening with them sprinting to the room was an adrenaline rush. To top it off, you are faced with the reveal of Snake's "death". It was mindblowing to me. The pressure in the room was let out a bit after the dialogue barely acknowledged Junpei's actions. However, it was completely cut off after figuring out it was all pointless. It was still a cool moment though. Despite all of that, Door 3 was one of the peaks in this game. This is all unstructured without any real distinction between paragraphs, but I am separating them to make it cleaner. The puzzles in the game were a bit lackluster. The puzzle rooms themselves had cool moments, but those were because of the story. They felt clunky and confusing at times. Some of them also required random clicking in the room to finally get that one piece under the pillow (What the fuck?). However, they do provide a nice break between the story bits, so in my opinion, they were kinda needed. The interesting story moments like Lotus' mind body thing and the Ice-9 were cool. I do find it kinda strange how they were talking about it when they were about to freeze to death though... The characters themselves are also likable too. My 2 favorites being Snake and Seven due to their roles in the story. They were mostly enjoyable except maybe 1 or 2 people. Though the characters were nice, none were lovable or that intriguing. Nevertheless, they were still good characters. This final paragraph is dedicated to the overall story in the game (Mostly the ending). Many interesting ideas like telepathy and the connecting field are cool. The experience of going through each door and learning new information each time was engaging to me. Some things might not have been fully explained, and it still kind of bugs me. However, the ending must be talked about. First, the puzzle rooms before the ending. The library puzzle room was awesomeeee as we learned about how Akane was actually dead in the fire a few years ago. This was a cool reveal that you can connect back to other characters like Santa. It changed a lot, and it only got better. The room itself felt like it was building up to that sweet, sweeeeeet finale. The pacing was great, and the group in those final few rooms was chill. Snake coming back was really nice and seeing everybody in the room interact was engaging and enjoyable. Then the next room came, and with it more reveals. First, some random ass puzzles that kinda made no sense were talked about, but we got the nice talk with Seven about gaining his memories back. That entire sequence was awesome, and AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHHH it was awesome. After, the group heads to the final incineration room. This is where things get a bit worse. I overall liked the ending, but some parts were a bit messy. The entire reveal of Junpei talking to Akane in the past was pretty cool (Apparently ruined in the port). However, the time travel aspect makes no sense. How would it be possible for the entire thing to happen if Akane died first. This hurts my brain so I am not going to try to explain it all. However, multiverses would account for all of this to make sense. The thing is, none of that is really talked in depth about. I know not everything needs to be explained, but the open-endedness of the ending is very frustrating especially when it has to do with time travel. Time travel is confusing already, but time travel with half-assed explaining is atrocious. Speaking of half-assed, the pacing of the entire thing was wayyyy too fast. It went by wayyy too quickly leaving little room for reflection. Abrupt endings are not bad, but this felt like it needed more padding. If June explained more of her motives and intentions in the desert, I would have liked it more. There would be more time to reflect during the game, while learning more of what happened. It would have also made me like June a lot more, despite her already being my 3rd favorite character in the game. Though the ending had a cool reveal, it felt a little too rushed and half-assed for me to adore it as much as I could have. Pros: + Engaging and enticing narrative that had me hooked for 2 days straight + Good cast of characters, none particulary THAT good + Good soundtrack that includes Morphogenetic Sorrow and Digital Root. The reveals that accomapny digital root are masterful + Interesting lore and ideas such as the dog and the brain similar to a wireless computer + AMAZING plot twists that kept me on edge and gave me extreme goosebumps + I enjoyed certain dynamics in the group: June + Junpei, Junpei + Seven + Lotus, and Snake + Clover + Junpei + Seven (Best one by far) + Flowchart was really good at telling me where to go to learn new information Cons: - Ending unsatisfying, confusing, and a bit too fast - June NEEDED dialogue at the end of the game. - Puzzles were clunky and either too easy and obvious, or too difficult and confusing - Some things not fully explained like the Submarine Ending - Voice acting and dialogue a bit weird at times especial in the beginning. Improved as time went on though and delivered in scenes such as the safe ending. At Time of Review: Low 9/10 Mechanics: 6/10 Story and Characters: 9/10 Presentation: 8/10 Enjoyability: 10/10 Edit (2/26/2025): Def a Solid 9/10