Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors



""On April 14th, 1912, the famous ocean liner, known as the Titanic crashed into an iceberg. After remaining afloat for two hours and forty minutes, it sank between the waters of the North Atlantic. I will give you more time. Nine Hours. That is the time you will be given to make your escape.""

Junpei, a normal 21-year-old college student, arrives at home one night to find his window open. Upon closing it, he spots a cloaked figure in a gas mask in the reflection--and the last thing he can remember before passing out is being told that he's just been chosen to participate in the "Nonary Game"...

He then wakes up in a third-class room on an early 20th-century ship. Upon escaping from there, he finds out that he's trapped on the ship with eight other people who were similarly chosen, and forced to play the game lest the bombs planted inside their bodies go off. Needless to say, things get worse, and they're forced to trust each other and race against the 9-hour time limit to figure out what's happening and why they're on the ship.

The first game in the Zero Escape series, 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors, or 999 as it is sometimes known, itself plays as one part "escape from the room" games, one part Saw and one part Visual Novel. The puzzles are the game play and the visual novel parts influence how the game will progress. There are several branching paths and your decisions impact the ending.

It sadly never was released outside Japan and North America. Even then, most game stores had to specifically request the game to stock. As an original DS game, it can be imported and played on original "phat" style DS and the DS Lite redesign.

A fandub is currently being set up over on Youtube at the moment.

A sequel titled Virtue's Last Reward (in the original Japanese, Kyokugen Dasshutsu ADV Zennin Shibô Desu, or roughly, Extreme Escape Adventure: Good People Die) was announced for the Nintendo 3DS and Play Station Vita in August 2011. It was released in Japan on February 16, 2012, with an American release planned for late 2012.

Seek a way out!
"Ace: "There's nothing in the drawer anymore."
 * Abandoned Hospital: A large part of the ship is a converted hospital. Some of the rooms are pretty creepy.
 * Area 51: Building Q, out in the middle of the Nevada desert, where part of the Nonary Project experimentation is carried out ... In a nod to the real status of the site, it is a private building of a multinational rather than a gvt. bldg.
 * Arc Number: Nine, you schmuck. To be specific:
 * The Nonary Game itself: 9 victims, 9 hours to escape, numbered doors from 1 to 9, 9 seconds before the numbered doors close when they open them, and 81 seconds (9*9) to find the detonator-deactivation-scanner once inside
 * Speaking of ages, the digital root of everyone's age? Ace (50) + Snake (24) + Santa (24) + Clover (18) + Junpei (21) + June (21) + Seven (45) + Lotus (40) = 243 = 2 + 4 + 3 = 9. The 9th man doesn't count, unless his age is a digital root of 9 on its own.
 * In several parts of the game you use different bases substituting a letter for an extra number. Taking the whole alphabet into account (A=10, B=11...Z=35, 10=36), if you substitute the letters in zero for numbers you get 35+14+27+24=99. Using digital roots 9+9=18, 1+8=9. Therefore the word Zero equals nine.
 * If you got the True Ending, you'll have gone through nine puzzle rooms.
 * Possibly related: Numerological Motif, as 9 in Japan is considered cursed.
 * Various bits of dialogue from examining things in puzzles can result in conversations like:

Junpei: "Nuh-uh, there's air."

Ace: "How old are you, 9?!""

"Santa: Look, Ace! It's some kind of snowman secret meeting!
 * In the  after telling   she takes 6 paces to the left, 6 paces to the right, then 6 paces to the left. 6+6+6=18 > 1+8=9
 * A key aspect of the game revolved around the calculation of Digital Roots. Although not explicitly stated, calculating a Digital Root is mathematically equivalent to calculating the number modulo 9.
 * Affectionate Nickname: Junpei is called "Jumpy" by his childhood friend June, while June is called by Junpei.
 * Air Vent Passageway
 * All There in the Manual: There's a bit of backstory that's only available in an interview with the game's director.
 * Artificial Limbs:
 * Asshole Victim: Although you have to admit you feel pity for them.
 * Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other / Belligerent Sexual Tension:.
 * Confirmed by Word of God.
 * Ax Crazy:, in the Ax ending.
 * Bag of Spilling: It possibly occurs after every puzzle except for vital items such as keys. However, the keys are removed from your inventory but still shown to be in your possession so it is possible that you still have everything else.
 * Actually, when Junpei is asked for matches later in the game, he says he has none, even if you pick them up back in room 4.
 * The matches wouldn't have done any good,  None of the equipment even appears to be of any use otside the room it is placed in.
 * Also Seven has been shown to use some of the items to hold the doors open so the group can backtrack.
 * Batman Gambit: Junpei pulls this off in a few scenes. In two of them, Junpei tricks the other players so he can choose the doors he wants. In another scene,
 * Berserk Button: When Lotus is called old or otherwise, such as being called an "exhibitionist grandma."
 * Also,
 * Big Bad:.
 * Big Brother Instinct: Snake and.
 * Big Damn Heroes:
 * Big Red Button: There's one
 * : What happens to the "True Ending" if you don't go through the Safe Ending first.
 * Break the Cutie: Clover, when it isn't
 * Brother-Sister Team: Snake and Clover.
 * The Chessmaster:.
 * Chekhov's Gun: Plenty, including an actual gun.
 * Childhood Friend Romance: Junpei and June.
 * Christmas Cake: Lotus.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Arguably Junpei, as some of his thoughts and responses can be REALLY out there ("Apologize to funyarinpa!"). June also qualifies at some points. On second thought, scratch that, the entire main cast is probably this if they have the time to make puns in a dire situation under a strict time limit.
 * Cluster F-Bomb: Except Snake and June. Santa is the primary offender, though.
 * The Comically Serious: Ace, mainly around Santa and Junpei.
 * Cluster F-Bomb: Except Snake and June. Santa is the primary offender, though.
 * The Comically Serious: Ace, mainly around Santa and Junpei.
 * The Comically Serious: Ace, mainly around Santa and Junpei.

Ace: Those are just bags full of sand. You use them as a counterweight when you're lifting something with a pully system.

Santa: Man, you're too serious..."

""This game is fiction. All names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious.""
 * Companion Cube: In Room 8, have Junpei examine the mannequin more than several times for him to eventually dub it "Science Boy". His attachment to Science Boy can lead to a Funny Moments or two,
 * Computer Equals Monitor: Lotus mentions this trope in conjunction with a wireless monitor and mentions how someone who wouldn't know better might just assume the computer is the monitor. This ties into the ongoing theme with morphogenetic fields and the theory of seemingly unconnected things passing information between them.
 * Conveniently an Orphan:.
 * Cooldown Hug: Junpei embraces June to calm her
 * Cool Old Guy: Ace.
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive:.
 * Cowboy Cop:
 * Dead Little Sister:
 * Deadpan Snarker: Santa. You can always count on him to make some biting comment insulting Junpei's intelligence.
 * Also Junpei, in some instances.
 * Disabled Snarker: Snake goes throughout the game making sarcastic comments. He also happens to be blind, and if you make the mistake of underestimating him, he'll bathe you in snark.
 * Decoy Protagonist: An odd example:
 * Description Porn: Your mileage may vary, but the visual novel sections tend to describe the grisly bodies in horrific detail while showing only an image of the general area around the body, not the body itself.
 * Description Gorn?
 * Justified though, since it's also an effective way to deliver a certain subtle plot point.
 * Dialogue Tree: This game is like a Choose Your Own Adventure / Visual Novel, so this is natural.
 * Determinator: in the Safe ending.
 * Diabolus Ex Machina: Invoked in the Knife ending's narration.
 * Died in Your Arms Tonight: The song accompanying the scene doesn't help.
 * Does This Remind You of Anything?: In the freezer, you can examine a piece of meat for June to say "It's really hard", which Junpei asks her too say again. And again. Doesn't help that his face was red. Also, this scene.
 * Door to Before: Most of the numbered doors either return those who go through them to an earlier area or provide keys that unlock hallways in an earlier area. Most of the time the protagonists don't want or need to go to an earlier area but it comes in handy a few times. Seven also applies doorjambs to a few areas specifically so he can backtrack.
 * Downer Ending: Most of the bad endings, but are two notable ones.
 * The official Q&A even turned the True End into one for Junpei since
 * That particular Q&A answer seems to be generally seen as sarcasm due to it being shorter and snappier than the rest of the answers. Of course this could just be fans wanting it their way.
 * Actually, he mentions it several times in the interview in different forms. The other forms are vaguer than the short answer, but still make out that
 * For a comparison:
 * The " " ending ends with  Of course,
 * The " " has
 * The " "
 * The " " has  taking a dive into the deep end
 * The "True" ending is of course an Earn Your Happy Ending.
 * Dwindling Party
 * Earn Your Happy Ending: The True Ending.
 * Easily Forgiven: On the True Ending path, Junpei and the others seem to pretty easily forgive the culprits once everything's revealed.
 * To be fair, said culprits were
 * And it's not as if they're Karma Houdinis,
 * If Junpei
 * Easy Amnesia: Seven. Unlike most examples, it's justified in that it's probably a side effect of the gas. This type of amnesia goes away in a couple of days. However there is that pesky nine hour time limit. Hinted to be a subversion in the True Ending.
 * The End or Is It: After the credits of the and  endings.
 * The Enneagram: Word of God says the nine characters were based on the nine character archetypes of the Enneagram of Personality. Specifically Ace is an Achiever (3), Snake an Investigator (5), Santa an Enthusiast (7), Clover a Loyalist (6), Junpei a Challenger (8), June a Peacemaker (9), Seven a Helper (2), Lotus an Individualist (4) and the Ninth Man a Reformer (1). Note that these are their Enneagram numbers and have no relationship to their bracelet numbers.
 * Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" / Being Watched: Early in the game, all the characters except for Junpei take a codename in case Zero just randomly kidnapped them but is keeping surveillance on them. Never mind that in most cases, they were probably carrying ID when kidnapped...
 * Evil Laugh:, quite a few times actually.
 * Exact Time to Failure: It's right there in the title!
 * Expy: Some fans see Snake as a calmer, nicer, blind Miles Edgeworth.
 * Eyes Always Shut: Snake. Justified in that he's blind. He only ever opens them when:
 * In one of the puzzles, when Seven/Clover/Snake/Junpei spell "pipe" in a cheer-leading fashion. Snake has his eyes wide open as he shouts "Gimme a P and an E!"
 * In the Safe Ending,
 * When they're putting together what happened to Snake, his eyes are open in the still where he's going for the DEAD
 * Failed a Spot Check: Seems to be the main reason that.
 * An example is in the Knife Ending, when
 * Another example is the Axe Ending, where
 * Fauxshadow
 * Feelies: If you pre-ordered from Gamestop online you got a replica of the bracelets. Thankfully it functions as a normal watch. Also, you can buy them for 5 bucks from the official store.
 * Final Exam Boss: The game's final escape room has remixed versions of previous puzzles.
 * First Person Perspective
 * Fission Mailed/Nonstandard Game Over: While there are Multiple Endings, you cannot achieve the True Ending on your first play-through.
 * Foreshadowing: On certain routes, the team finds Upon experimentation, they discover it
 * There's foreshadowing all over the place; one particularly subtle bit is in a Panty Shot gag of all things.
 * When the group is looking for Snake, Junpei can talk to Ace, and remark that he's surprised that Clover and Snake are siblings. Ace asks why, and when Junpei replies it's because they look so different, Ace says he supposes so.
 * This one's a double!
 * In the 'Safe' ending, Junpei learns from Santa Ace's real identity, and that Ace told him this himself.
 * The iron-plated windows slightly hint at
 * Not too important, but when you look at the lights in the 1st Class Cabin, Snake looks surprised until Junpei clarifies where they are.
 * In the bad endings, you'll often come across another player who has just died, with the exception of If you've already gotten another bad ending,
 * Another subtle sign of bad endings are
 * Take a good look at bracelet on the cover.
 * In a bit of genius, during the safe ending
 * The detonators is hinted at in a couple of places, specifically
 * I'm surprised no ones mentioned this yet, but in the beginning of the game
 * When choosing door
 * Big Bad -
 * The Dragon -
 * The Evil Genius -
 * The Brute -
 * Forced Into Evil: Zero, who is
 * Four Is Death: Not related to the puzzles, per se, but the history and people behind the Nonary Game:
 * The Axe ending.
 * Four Leaf Clover:.
 * Freudian Excuse: The reason gives for starting the Nonary Game.
 * Gainax Ending:
 * Gainaxing / Gag Boobs: Lotus.
 * Gas Mask Trenchcoat: Zero. And justified as Zero threw incapacitating smoke bombs at the players to kidnap them.
 * Gambit Roulette:
 * Generation Xerox: Take one look at Nona and you'll immediately see her as.
 * Genre Savvy: Junpei can be this if you choose the right dialogue choices.
 * Gone Horribly Right:
 * Gorn: Meticulously detailed descriptions of exploded corpses, anyone?
 * Gory Discretion Shot: The game refuses to directly show you any of the exploded people, but to undo that, gives sickeningly detailed descriptions of the corpses in text.
 * Thies doubles as a way to avoid a spoiler with the second victim, since if the corpse was shown any decently observant player might notice that
 * Guide Dang It: One of the most common criticisms of the game was that the path to the true ending was very well hidden, practically requiring the player to make random guesses in order to find it. Considering the game does contain clues for the correct choices for the two hidden endings.
 * Yes and no, since you unlock "Previews" for finishing the Coffin Ending and the Safe Ending (Which gives you the path towards the Safe and True endings, respectively.) You still, however, gotta look for clues/random guess your way through the Coffin Ending.
 * Though, if you play the game like you're supposed to, and do all the puzzle rooms, it's not that hard to figure out how to get to the Coffin Ending.
 * Guile Hero: Junpei, by making it so that he can.
 * He Knows Too Much:
 * Heroic Sacrifice: Ace. Subverted in that it wasn't needed.
 * Hidden Depths: EVERYBODY.
 * The director had this in mind creating the game - building the characters upon stereotypes, then subverting them.
 * Hollywood Hacking: Surprisingly averted; when a console needs to be hacked, said hacker writes a simple program to perform a basic but valid operation, namely brute-forcing the password. Unfortunately, programming does not work that way, especially on what is basically a DOS Prompt that is locked.
 * Justified, since
 * Further justified, because
 * Hot Mom:
 * Hurricane of Euphemisms: Junpei and June at the Saturn elevator, if you choose to assume the right (that is to say, wrong) reason for her nervousness. Doubles as Innocent Innuendo, but works better as this trope simply because of how long they go at it before Junpei realizes what June is referring to.
 * Spoiler for the curious:
 * Paradoxically,
 * There's also a  dimension to this: it's unlikely you'd realize
 * Hurricane of Puns: Pick a door, any door. Chances are that you'll see at least one pun if you examine everything multiple times. Junpei, June, Clover, and Seven are the most major offenders of this trope.
 * Idiot Ball: Junpei can hold onto this firmly depending on the player's actions.
 * I Gave My Word
 * Informed Deformity: Other characters keep commenting on how old Lotus is. She doesn't look old..
 * Although one could argue that the three characters who comment on that most often - Santa, Junpei, and Seven - are mainly doing it to dick with her. Junpei seems pretty...overwhelmed by her presence when he first meets her and at one point Akane laments how she knows guys would prefer someone who looks like Lotus over herself.
 * Innocent Innuendo: Besides the Saturn elevator example above, there's also the frozen chicken in the kitchen freezer beyond door 4. If Junpei examines it, June will say his "chunk of meat" is "really hard." Junpei will ask her to repeat the "really hard" part multiple times.
 * Interface Screw: You have to  for the final puzzle. This actually makes sense in-story, because.
 * In the Back:
 * It's Up to You: In spite of everyone working to escape the place, you're the only one who actually does any real work in the groups you're in.
 * It does avert it from time to time - such as in the Hollywood Hacking aversion above, where Junpei just watches while does the work. Further averted, because
 * Justified:
 * Jigsaw Puzzle Plot: The fourth ending contains many plot-relevant revelations that are required to unlock the true ending.
 * Leitmotif:
 * Lack of Empathy:
 * Let's Split Up Gang.Justified by the way the numbered doors work.
 * The Library of Babel:
 * Locked in A Freezer: Door 4.
 * Lost in Translation: Unfortunately, what's lost is a pronunciation pun...which is rather important during the climax of the True End, and makes no sense for the players unless they know Japanese.
 * Junpei's deduction of
 * YMMV on whether it's Averted Trope or not.
 * Love Transcends Spacetime: See Power of Love
 * Magic Square Puzzle
 * Mind Screw: Done well and makes sense when you think about it.
 * Mirror Scare: Right at the beginning, in the flashback to when Junpei was caught.
 * Mood Whiplash: The game goes from mystery to funny to dark to funny again to really dark. In a moment of Fridge Brilliance that's how humans in a similar situation would respond.
 * Moon Logic Puzzle: Averted, unusually for the genre. Sometimes you have to look around some more and examine things more thoroughly, but you'll be able to solve everything.
 * My Greatest Failure:
 * Never Say Die: When on the elevator with Junpei, June inadvertently fuels existing sexual tension by referring to dying as going to heaven instead.
 * New Game Plus: How you keep track of what endings you already got.
 * Nine Little Murder Victims
 * No Name Given: The 9th Man.
 * No One Gets Left Behind: In the true ending,
 * And before that,
 * Not to mention
 * One Dialogue, Two Conversations: The Saturn elevator conversation mentioned in Hurricane of Euphemisms.
 * Only Known By Their Nickname: Invoked for everyone except for Junpei. Doubles as Meaningful Rename as the names are themed after the bracelet numbers.
 * Actually  is exempt too since
 * OOC Is Serious Business: Done by several people but notably
 * Opening Narration: "Why do I...know? Why...Why do I know...these things?"
 * Painting the Fourth Wall: Ending spoilers follow:
 * Plot Time: Might as well list the whole index. Suffice it to say that your characters do things in exactly the amount of time they are allowed to get things done, no matter how long or how short a time it takes for you to solve puzzles, read dialogue, and walk around the ship.
 * Point and Click Game
 * The Power of Love:
 * Preorder Bonus: See Feelies above.
 * Red Herring: can seem like this...right up until the final scene.
 * Except
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: Clover and Snake, with the colors to match. However,
 * Running Gag: Lotus tends to get quite abusive when mentioning that she is a Christmas Cake or, well, abusive. Expect some Comic Relief scene for most of the time.
 * Sanity Slippage: in the 3rd ending.
 * in the "safe" ending.
 * Scare Chord: Whenever somebody shows up dead. And then some.
 * Scars Are Forever: Word of God reveals that Seven got his scars from an incident before. He fought a large evil organization.
 * Scary Black Man: Seven at first.
 * Scrolling Text
 * Sequel Hook:
 * Sequence Breaking: In-game, Seven puts things into the doors so they won't lock. These tend to be plot points.
 * Checking out before the characters are supposed to leads to an inescapable bad end.
 * Shipper On Deck: EVERYONE with Junpei and June, primarily Lotus, who repeatedly teases you about June. Twice as funny due to the boat pun you can make this trope into.
 * Shoot the Shaggy Dog: Ending 5, where you learn very little of importance and are killed right in the middle of trying to figure out stuff. It is very confusing for both you and Junpei. Even the other "bad" endings give you more hope than this.
 * The safe ending can seem this, if you don't know that
 * Shout Out: Cats Cradle with Ice-9 and the name of Cradle Pharmaceutical.
 * There's also instances where Junpei says "Well, Excuse Me, Princess!" and "Why so serious?" during conversations with Lotus/Santa in the kitchen.
 * Also from the kitchen: Who the hell do you think I am!?
 * While exploring the first class rooms, if Junpei examines the lit candle while in the room with Lotus, she'll comment "I'm sure it'll be a light in dark places, when all other lights have gone out."
 * Urge to kill... rising...
 * "The keyboard! It does nothing!"
 * June's reference to could allude to Ever 17, where  Just a coincidence? The writer of Ever17 did lead the design team of 999...
 * Shown Their Work: The Gigantic? That one's mostly real. It was to be the intended name of the third ship Britannic. William Thomas Stead is also completely authentic. The mummy, however, is a debunked legend, just Historical Fiction.
 * Skyward Scream: In the fourth, or Safe, ending.
 * Slasher Smile: in ending 3.
 * Spinventory
 * The Stinger: The very last scene.
 * Summation Gathering:
 * Surrogate Soliloquy: Junpei
 * Take Your Time: All the puzzles aren't on a time limit and when people start talking they can talk a while. This gets kinda of silly when Junpei is locked in a flooding room or they're talking while freezing to death in a sub zero freezer. Apparently Talking Is a Free Action.
 * Taking the Bullet:, from in Safe ending.
 * Taking You With Me
 * The Tetris Effect: Play through the game often enough and you may start calculating digital roots out of impulse. Alternatively, numbers begin taking on more meaning.
 * Theme Naming: Everyone takes up code names based off their number, except Junpei. Ace (1), Snake (as in "snake eyes," 2), Santa ("san" is "3" in Japanese, plus he's got a few stories about "Santa" to tell), Clover (4, like the leaves), June (The 6th month), Seven (which, uh, probably sounded cool and foreign in Japanese), and Lotus (8, like the petals on the flower).
 * The same applies in the Japanese version, where most of their assumed names either have the character for their number in them, or are similar in sound (again, except Junpei). Ace is Ichimiya ("ichi" is "1"), Snake is Ni(e)ls ("ni" is "two"), Santa is the same, Clover is Yotsuba ("clover" in Japanese), June is Murasaki (the character for "six" can be pronounced "mu"), Seven is... Seven, and Lotus is Yashiro (the character for "eight" can be pronounced "ya").
 * Averted in that.
 * This Is a Work of Fiction: At the beginning of the game.
 * Shout Out: Cats Cradle with Ice-9 and the name of Cradle Pharmaceutical.
 * There's also instances where Junpei says "Well, Excuse Me, Princess!" and "Why so serious?" during conversations with Lotus/Santa in the kitchen.
 * Also from the kitchen: Who the hell do you think I am!?
 * While exploring the first class rooms, if Junpei examines the lit candle while in the room with Lotus, she'll comment "I'm sure it'll be a light in dark places, when all other lights have gone out."
 * Urge to kill... rising...
 * "The keyboard! It does nothing!"
 * June's reference to could allude to Ever 17, where  Just a coincidence? The writer of Ever17 did lead the design team of 999...
 * Shown Their Work: The Gigantic? That one's mostly real. It was to be the intended name of the third ship Britannic. William Thomas Stead is also completely authentic. The mummy, however, is a debunked legend, just Historical Fiction.
 * Skyward Scream: In the fourth, or Safe, ending.
 * Slasher Smile: in ending 3.
 * Spinventory
 * The Stinger: The very last scene.
 * Summation Gathering:
 * Surrogate Soliloquy: Junpei
 * Take Your Time: All the puzzles aren't on a time limit and when people start talking they can talk a while. This gets kinda of silly when Junpei is locked in a flooding room or they're talking while freezing to death in a sub zero freezer. Apparently Talking Is a Free Action.
 * Taking the Bullet:, from in Safe ending.
 * Taking You With Me
 * The Tetris Effect: Play through the game often enough and you may start calculating digital roots out of impulse. Alternatively, numbers begin taking on more meaning.
 * Theme Naming: Everyone takes up code names based off their number, except Junpei. Ace (1), Snake (as in "snake eyes," 2), Santa ("san" is "3" in Japanese, plus he's got a few stories about "Santa" to tell), Clover (4, like the leaves), June (The 6th month), Seven (which, uh, probably sounded cool and foreign in Japanese), and Lotus (8, like the petals on the flower).
 * The same applies in the Japanese version, where most of their assumed names either have the character for their number in them, or are similar in sound (again, except Junpei). Ace is Ichimiya ("ichi" is "1"), Snake is Ni(e)ls ("ni" is "two"), Santa is the same, Clover is Yotsuba ("clover" in Japanese), June is Murasaki (the character for "six" can be pronounced "mu"), Seven is... Seven, and Lotus is Yashiro (the character for "eight" can be pronounced "ya").
 * Averted in that.
 * This Is a Work of Fiction: At the beginning of the game.
 * Taking the Bullet:, from in Safe ending.
 * Taking You With Me
 * The Tetris Effect: Play through the game often enough and you may start calculating digital roots out of impulse. Alternatively, numbers begin taking on more meaning.
 * Theme Naming: Everyone takes up code names based off their number, except Junpei. Ace (1), Snake (as in "snake eyes," 2), Santa ("san" is "3" in Japanese, plus he's got a few stories about "Santa" to tell), Clover (4, like the leaves), June (The 6th month), Seven (which, uh, probably sounded cool and foreign in Japanese), and Lotus (8, like the petals on the flower).
 * The same applies in the Japanese version, where most of their assumed names either have the character for their number in them, or are similar in sound (again, except Junpei). Ace is Ichimiya ("ichi" is "1"), Snake is Ni(e)ls ("ni" is "two"), Santa is the same, Clover is Yotsuba ("clover" in Japanese), June is Murasaki (the character for "six" can be pronounced "mu"), Seven is... Seven, and Lotus is Yashiro (the character for "eight" can be pronounced "ya").
 * Averted in that.
 * This Is a Work of Fiction: At the beginning of the game.
 * The same applies in the Japanese version, where most of their assumed names either have the character for their number in them, or are similar in sound (again, except Junpei). Ace is Ichimiya ("ichi" is "1"), Snake is Ni(e)ls ("ni" is "two"), Santa is the same, Clover is Yotsuba ("clover" in Japanese), June is Murasaki (the character for "six" can be pronounced "mu"), Seven is... Seven, and Lotus is Yashiro (the character for "eight" can be pronounced "ya").
 * Averted in that.
 * This Is a Work of Fiction: At the beginning of the game.


 * The Three Faces of Eve: Clover (child), June (wife), and Lotus (seductress).
 * Time Bomb: Invoked in the text, see above.
 * Torture Cellar: Door 2.
 * However,
 * Trial and Error Gameplay: The path to certain endings may seem like this at first, although more and more hints pop up as the game progresses. Plot-wise,
 * Trope 2000: Pushmaster 5000.
 * Underestimating Badassery: Junpei decides not to test Snake after he informs him that, despite his blindness, he is quite capable of beating him up.
 * Unfazed Everyman: Junpei. He seems to be the only one without some horrible back story.
 * Villainous Breakdown:
 * Weird Science: Some of the paths make repeated references to "morphogenetic fields," the ability to transmit information between seemingly unconnected things. Morphogenetic fields are an actual phenomena - though it's very localized and revolves around discreet biochemical signals(and the shapes cells will conform to) rather than memories and image-sending. The game actually uses the concept of that name developed by Rupert Sheldrake (who is mentioned by name at one point when the concept is being explained).
 * Not to mention Ice-9 and the entire Alice incident.
 * Westminster Chimes: Used as a puzzle; you have to play the tune on a piano that's had its keys rearranged.
 * Wham Line: One can be seen in one of the previews: "".
 * "The answer to that is easy. "
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: The game's equivalent of the final boss is
 * What the Hell, Hero?: People get pissed if you
 * When It All Began:
 * Although,
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy: at first in the Coffin (2) and True Endings (1), then subverted because it was all part of a big plan to.
 * Would You Like to Hear How They Died:
 * Yank the Dog's Chain: Meta-example.
 * Your Head Asplode: In this case it's your bowels. No less lethal though.
 * You Wake Up in A Room: The game starts with your character waking up in the cabin of a large passenger ship. Of the nine characters involved, however, only one has amnesia and it isn't you. In fact, Junpei only needs a few minutes to get his bearings before the player sees exactly how he was abducted from his apartment.
 * You Wake Up in A Room: The game starts with your character waking up in the cabin of a large passenger ship. Of the nine characters involved, however, only one has amnesia and it isn't you. In fact, Junpei only needs a few minutes to get his bearings before the player sees exactly how he was abducted from his apartment.

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