Zero Time Dilemma

The third game in the Zero Escape series, Zero Time Dilemma is a 2016 Visual Novel.

Nine people awaken inside a bomb shelter in Nevada, United States. They are held against their will by a masked, mysterious figure called Zero. He wants them to play a game that will affect the future of the captives, Zero and apparently mankind itself. The first challenge is simple:guess the result of a coin flip. And then....That's where we have to stop because the result of this early challenge that is played even before the proper opening begins can trigger an early ending. Yup, this game is...unusual.

Developed by Chime.

Tropes used in Zero Time Dilemma include:

• Abusive Parent: Eric's dad became....meaner after his wife dies.
• Alcoholic Dad: Eric's dad, at least after his wife died, as evidenced by the bottles that we see on a picture and his voice.
• A Child Shall Lead Them: Zero makes Q the leader of his team.
• Air Vent Passageway: Averted, at best a dog can walk through it. It is still of some use because the dog can be used to transmit messages between teams.
• A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: In the "Gun and Incinerator" dilemma, if you choose to shoot the gun and the result is a dead Sigma, Phi, overwhelmed by emotion, calls Diana a "murderer" seconds after the poor girl is forced to take this horrible decision. The end result? Two corpses and a immediate Game Over since Diana is the playable character.
• Air Vent Passageway: Averted, at best a dog can walk through it. It is still of some use because the dog can be used to transmit messages between teams.
• Brother-Sister Incest: Akane imples that between Carlos and his little sister as retribution for him teasing her about her and Junpei.
• Child Prodigy: Q is much smarter than he looks like at first. Not only he knows a lot about the virus Radical-6, he knows how to explain it in proper terms
• Couldn't Find a Pen: Codes for lockers written in blood. You use an aerosol to find them.to Mira and Eric.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: Diana does that to Sigma after he is stabbed and killed by a hooded figure.
• Disaster Dominoes: Zero seems to be a firm believer on this trope, though he uses a snail rather than the traditional Butterfly of Doom.
• Driven to Suicide: Oh boy.
  • In the "Gun and Incinerator" dilemma, Diana kills herself should you kill Sigma .
  • In the "Suspicion" dilemma, Carlos will kill himself after presuming it was him who killed Junpei.
• Emotions vs. Stoicism: The crux of the relationship between Sigma and Phi, with she being the emotive and him the rational. Since Diana is the playable character, you also get stuck between the two very soon.
• Good Job Breaking It Hero: Taken to the extreme; Diana may accidentally blow the entire bomb shelter on one ending, despite the blatant warning to not press the button that activates self-destruction. Everyone is killed including Zero and is an immediate game over.
• I Gave My Word: Probably the most exaggerated example to ever come from a villain. Zero does releases all nine of his captives if Carlos(that is, the player) guesses right the flip of a coin.
• Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: It's New Year's Eve, that Zero helpfully tells his captives early the game.
• Legacy Character: Akane and Junpei believe that the present Zero is this to a past one.
• Malevolent Masked Man: Zero, wearing a plague doctor's mask.
• Mental Time Travel: Sigma and Phi are able to do this through SHIFTing.
• Mood Whiplash: The game is generally very dark and serious with some dark jokes there and there. Eric's flashback to his childhood with his family is so heartwarming and nice it crosses right back into hilarious, specially when we see a zoom of adult Eric apparently thinking about this, with a goofy open mouth smile on his face.
• Ms. Fanservice: Mira is clearly built to attract, showing her legs and with an open jacket exposing her bra that is containing...well, some volume.
• Older Than He Looks: Sigma looks 22, but is mentally 67.
• Reality Ensues: Junpei is so cynical and pessimistic all the time that Carlos mistakes his joke about "hot dog" for an implication that the dog is really gonna be killed.
• Sarcasm Blind: Carlos really can't get Junpei's jokes.
• Schmuck Bait: The big blue button. Don't press it. If you do, it's an immediate game over where everyone dies. The characters even discuss of how obvious it is and maybe they should press it because no trap should be that obvious.
• Shipper on Deck: Carlos is really into Akane x Junpei.
• Stepford Smiler: Eric was one in the past to try to endure through his hard life.
• Take Your Time: You can take as much time as you want resolving a puzzle while being poisoned. Mind you, thanks to the out-of-order nature of the story, some times you can even play a section of the game where the characters are poisoned but don't know it yet.
• Too Soon: Junpei mentions the trope while making a joke about the very risky situation his team is in. You could say it is exaggerated since the fact isn't even over yet.
• Violation of Common Sense:
  • In the "Gun and Incinerator" dilemma, it's more obvious to do what Sigma suggests and risk shooting him since Phi will survive regardless,right? Wrong. If you kill him, you trigger an "Game Over", but the game continues 100% of the time if you let Phi die..
  • In the "Inject the Radical-6" dilemma, using statistical probabilities, you(and Q will demonstrate it to Mira and Eric if you chose the right choice in accord with this way of thinking) can determine that the chances of survival for the team will be bigger if they inject the virus. Right? Wrong, Mira will kill both Eric and Q if you do that, triggering yet another "Game Over".