999 Burries a compelling story behind frustrating puzzle solving
999 is a game broken up into two parts. There is the story parts that make up the majority of the game time, especially at the begining and end. There is also the escape room type puzzles that you have to figure out to solve. The game splits its self into these two sections and I am going to therefore give my opinion of the game as in these two part with writing much about how they interact. Because they don't really interact. You see some story then solve a puzzle where there is a story from one the characters, finishing solving the puzzle, repeat.
When the game first starts you are introduced to ten characters. There is the player character, the eight others trapped with you and, the person who trapped you who is called Zero. The main thrust of the story then becomes figuring out who these other people are and why are you all trapped on this ship. There is also the added twist of everyone wanting to be secretive as to not let Zero know anything more than they already do. It is a great setup. It establishes not only mystery but a good reason for the mystery to exist. It was the driving force for me finishing the game. These really good character reveals as you slowly over the course of the entire game figure out who everyone is and why they are on this ship with you. None of these reveals feel contrived either as every character has a good reason for not telling that information earlier. The only exception to this being the character who has amnesia until they conveniently remember everything in the game's final moments. Which didn't bother me to much due to the other bigger problem.
The bigger problem I have with the story is hard to articulate without spoiling the entire game. So, here is the spoiler free version and incredibly vague version. There are a few things that happen in the game that are unbelievable. As in I don't think they could ever actually happen. If suspend your disbelief just a little to allow for a world where the game could take place then, it is not that hard to believe most of what happens. This is because the characters all have entirely believable motivations for doing what they do. The plot also makes sense as it revolves around these characters doing believable things in situation. This is what makes the very few parts of the game where something happens that isn't believable feel bullshit because it harshly contrasts with the rest of the game which is not.
The other half of the game is puzzle solving. Inbetween story sections you have to do some light puzzle solving. The puzzles are not very good. The type of puzzles in 999 are like that of an adventure game. As a result I found them to be as frustrating as that of an adventure game. Most of the puzzles in the game require you to collect a series of items from around a room and use them to unlock a drawer with the key card to progress. The difficulty deriving almost entirely from finding the objects needed to solve the next piece of the puzzle. This lead to a lot of frustration when I didn't find everything I need in my initial search and had to look at every object multiple times to try and see what I missed. This was exacerbated by the inconsistent visual communication about what is interactable. There is also lack of communication about when interacting with different parts of an object leads to different results. The most egregious example of this being a tarp that for some inexplicable reason did not move if I clicked on the bottom or middle of the tarp. I had to click on the top of the tarp in order for it to be moved despite it having no discernible features. Most of the time these discrepancies are not an issue but it occasionally all piled on at once when I didn't know what I was missing in order to progress.
Overall I liked the game. I found that I wanted to see the end of the story. To know who everyone is and why a mysterious person kidnapped these specific people. I also found the answers worthwhile even if I don't like the specifics of how it ends I am happy that I saw it through to the end. The puzzles mostly simple and sometimes frustrating but provided much needed breaks from the story sections. I am glad that I played all of 999. You should play it as well. Just be aware that it is a visual novel with some light puzzle solving elements.
