Adventure
Zero Escape: The Nonary Games
Give it 35 hours
Gets good by 35h then rated almost like by veterans
Reach the ending at least 100% of players who started
Started playing 50% of owners
Steam reviews 93% positive of 7,467
What the data shows
- In the first 2 hours 1 in 5 reviews are negative (21%); after 35h it's 1 in 30 (4%).
- At least 100% of players who start reach the ending.
- Most players drop off before “To Each According to His Needle” (Opened the first lock in VLR): only 60% of starters get there.
- Only 50% of owners have even the first achievement — the rest barely played.
When it gets good
Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.
before it gets good opening up fully opened up
Based on all 7,487 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 300 reviews: 39.3h for positive, 18h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.
Where players quit
Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (50.3% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
- Started playing 100%
- To Each According to His Needle Opened the first lock in VLR. Most players quit here 60% −40
- I Can't Believe It's Not Murder! Opened the second lock in VLR. 61% +1
- Gotta Hand It To You Opened the third lock in VLR. 59% −2
- If I Told You You Had A Nice Antibody... Opened the fourth lock in VLR. 60% +1
- He Was Convicted of a String of Numbers Opened the fifth lock in VLR. 59% −1
- No Lying Down On the Job Opened the sixth lock in VLR. 60% +1
- Who Set Up Us The Bomb, Part 1 Opened the seventh lock in VLR. 59% −2
- Why'd You Do That, You Dumas! Opened the eighth lock in VLR. 62% +3
- Who Set Up Us The Bomb, Part A Opened the ninth lock in VLR. 59% −3
- Some Days You Just Can't Get Rid of a Bomb Opened the tenth lock in VLR. 58%
- We All Die By a Yellow Submarine Saw the Submarine ending in 999. ≥100% +42
story milestone ending (most common ending) biggest drop-off
Story milestones were labeled by AI from achievement names and descriptions; mistakes are possible.
All achievements (38)
story milestone ending side
- We All Die By a Yellow Submarine Saw the Submarine ending in 999. 100%
- Chance of Loss is Not Zero Saw the Zero Lost ending in 999. 98%
- Cut and Run Saw the Knife ending in 999. 97%
- Let Me Ax You a Question Saw the Ax ending in 999. 95%
- A Sixth Sense of What's Coming Saw all previews in 999. 94%
- Is That Your Final Answer? Solved the final question in 999. 93%
- Don't Forget Your Towel Finished all scenarios in 999. 92%
- Escapey Escaped on Hard difficulty in VLR. 90%
- Seek a Way Out Again Gained all Memories of Escape in 999. 82%
- Every Ending Begins Somewhere Saw any of the endings in VLR. 70%
- That Wasn't Supposed to Happen Saw any of the bad endings. 69%
- Master of Escapology Escaped from eight rooms in VLR. 63%
- Behind Blue Eyes Saw Dio's ending in VLR. 63%
- Secret Agent Woman Saw Clover's ending in VLR. 62%
- Why'd You Do That, You Dumas! Opened the eighth lock in VLR. 62%
- I Can't Believe It's Not Murder! Opened the second lock in VLR. 61%
- In Root Beer Veritas Saw Tenmyouji's ending in VLR. 61%
- No Lying Down On the Job Opened the sixth lock in VLR. 60%
- If I Told You You Had A Nice Antibody... Opened the fourth lock in VLR. 60%
- To Each According to His Needle Opened the first lock in VLR. 60%
- Through the Looking Glass Saw K's ending in VLR. 60%
- Tears in the Rain Saw Luna's ending in VLR. 59%
- He Was Convicted of a String of Numbers Opened the fifth lock in VLR. 59%
- Best Served Cold Saw Alice's ending in VLR. 59%
- Who Set Up Us The Bomb, Part 1 Opened the seventh lock in VLR. 59%
- Who Set Up Us The Bomb, Part A Opened the ninth lock in VLR. 59%
- Arms Race Saw Sigma's ending in VLR. 59%
- Gotta Hand It To You Opened the third lock in VLR. 59%
- An Equal and Opposite Reaction Saw Quark's ending in VLR. 59%
- Some Days You Just Can't Get Rid of a Bomb Opened the tenth lock in VLR. 58%
- Doctor of Escapology Escaped from sixteen rooms in VLR. 58%
- Time After Time Saw Phi's ending in VLR. 58%
- Fire and Ice Saw the end. Or maybe the beginning? 58%
- Escapest Escaped everything on Hard difficulty in VLR. 55%
- A Certain Point of View Caught a glimpse of another time. 51%
- Redacted Found ALL the secrets in VLR! 45%
- A Consumate Collection Found ALL the files in VLR! 45%
- You Found It Gained all trophies. 33%
Steam page Updated: 2026-10-19.