Did You Really Beat Zero Escape?

MASSIVE ZERO ESCAPE SPOILERS AHEAD

How many video games have you beaten? Quite a few, if you're an avid gamer. Of course, not every game is beatable, multiplayer games have no endstate and games like The Sims just keep going. But for the most part, games are there to be beat. Defeated. Conquered by you, the player.

But what if you didn't? What if, despite reaching the endstate, you didn't really “beat” the game? And I'm not talking story failures, where you fail in the story at the end of the game but you beat all the levels. No. I mean you achieved the best ending, did everything right... but in no way are you really able to celebrate your achievement.

This is where Zero Escape comes in. With the release of the latest game, Zero Time Dilemma, it really reminded me just how damn good the writing and plot of the series is. Not only that, it wove the gameplay and story together that even after I beat it, I felt no true satisfaction because of what my victory meant.

But first, let's cover our bases. For those of you who don't remember the plot that well (You HAVE played it, right?) what I'm talking about here is specifically the timeline hopping, given the name of SHIFTing in Zero Time Dilemma. Jumping between timelines is integral to the story and gameplay. It's a nice way to go about the multiple paths in games and how it usually doesn't make much sense. But what's really interesting here is pertinent info revealed in ZTD.

SHIFTing is not just a simple jump. It's more consciousness swapping. The “you” from the other timeline is yanked into your own, while you go to the other timeline. Oh, and you can only SHIFT when you're about to die. Moral dilemma, anyone?

But seriously, I want to point out just how gosh dang amazing this is as a plot point. The usual game element of alt endings is given a horrifying tinge to it that will make you regret what you've done. This is where the entire point of this article comes back in.

In order to “beat” the game, you have to fail an immeasurable amount of times in other timelines. You have to actively murder other versions of yourself to save the world in a single timeline. You achieve victory in a single, solitary timeline, dwarfed by the millions of others filled with tragedy and sadness.

Think about how this clashes with other games. In most games, death is framed as the player failing to accurately portray the story. Mario didn't really fall down that pit, you screwed up. The story didn't end there, you just told it wrong. Death is not a serious concept in these games, because any and all failures on your part are simply swept aside as not having truly happened.

Zero Escape does the exact opposite. Every single failure you had is completely and utterly valid. Every death, mistake, and tragedy will exist. Forever. Everything you do is in a sense, permanent due to the timelines. Just because you find your way to the best timeline doesn't mean the others cease to exist.

So, think about this. If you fail dozens of times, deaths abound, and none of it can be erased, did you really win? Did you achieve victory, or simply stumble upon the best timeline? If there are dozens of still completely valid failstates alongside one valid winstate,

Would you still say you “beat” the game?