999 is coming to iOS without puzzles

Spike Chunsoft's visual novel Zero Escape: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (aka 999), is getting ported to iOS on 17th March, sort of.

Published by Aksys Games, this mobile rendition of the cult DS hit, simply titled 999: The Novel, will eschew all the puzzles from the original game, so it can focus entirely on the plot and player decisions. Additionally, the art has been redone in a higher resolution and conversations have been reformatted so they're told via comic book-style dialogue bubbles rather than boxes of text ala an Ace Attorney game.

Excitingly, a flow chart is being added, so players can keep track of which narrative paths they've gone down. This should make it a lot easier to experiment with the story's numerous branching possibilities.

According to Gemastu, this release will cost $4.99 (about £3).

For the uninitiated, 999's high-concept premise follows a series of characters trapped in a sadistic experiment where they need to solve riddles lest they be exploded by their tormentor. It sounds pretty silly, but those who've played the game tend to have nice things to say about its twisted, labyrinthine plot. EG-contributor Chris Schilling was fond of the horror story and noted in his 999 review that "the puzzles aren't the focus; they're merely a sporadic diversion from the branching plot," suggesting their omission here could be a good thing.

The original Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors was succeeded by a 3DS and Vita sequel entitled Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward - a game that our Martin Robinson called "strange, frustrating and incredibly smart" in his review.