10 Forgotten Masterpiece Video Games

6. Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors

Lost Odyssey
Chunsoft

In Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, college student, Junpei, is kidnapped alongside eight strangers, and placed on a sinking cruiser, where they're forced to take part in life-or-death tests.

What makes this Nintendo DS title surpass other visual novels is how nerve-racking it is. Every time a challenge is completed, things take an unexpected turn, a truth-bomb is unleashed, or there's a double-cross, which keeps players invested in the ensemble's dilemma and the overarching mystery.

It's also refreshing to see Nine Hours lacks many negative aspects of the genre, such as pixel hunting, dead ends, and red herrings. (Talking about you, Grim Fandango.) The puzzles are entertainingly diverse, demanding a mix of logic, lateral thinking, and math. These conundrums pose a fair challenge, but never reach Monkey Island levels of frustration.

Because there are six endings, Nine Hours has a huge replay factor. After the story mode is beaten, the player can fast-forward sections upon subsequent playthroughs, preventing the gameplay from getting tedious.

Even though Phoenix Wright and Professor Layton are hailed as the kings of visual novels, Nine Hours should also be considered top-calibre.

In this post: 
Video Games
 
Posted On: 
Contributor

James Egan has been with Whatculture for five years and prominently works on Horror, Film, and Video Games. He's written over 80 books including 1000 Facts about Horror Movies Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about The Greatest Films Ever Made Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about Video Games Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts About James Bond 1000 Facts About TV Shows