Zero Time Dilemma's first screens debut new look for Zero Escape series (correction)

The latest issue of Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu included the first screenshots of Zero Time Dilemma, the final installment in Spike Chunsoft's Zero Escape visual novel series. The handful of images from the game, which will launch on PlayStation Vita and Nintendo 3DS later this year, show off its 3D, cinematic art style — a look that differs from the style typical of the previous games.

Famitsu spoke to Kotaro Uchikoshi, director of the Zero Escape series, who revealed new details about the game. He explained that Zero Time Dilemma will solve "all of the mysteries from the previous games," according to a translation by Gematsu.

Uchikoshi also said that, to accommodate the more cinematic cutscenes, a new character designer was brought on for the game. "I wanted to give the impression that [this game] has changed significantly from the previous game," he said.

Zero Time Dilemma is set one year after the events of 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, which launched on Nintendo DS and was later ported to iOS. The game will see the return of characters from that game as well as its follow-up, Virtue's Last Reward, which arrived on 3DS and Vita in 2013.

Production on the final Zero Escape game was halted in February 2014 due to low sales of the previous games. Uchikoshi announced that development had resumed last year, however, revealing a teaser trailer at Anime Expo 2015. In October, he confirmed the game's title.

While there's still no release date scheduled for Zero Time Dilemma, fans of the series can check out a real-life simulation of its puzzle mechanics. An interactive escape room based on the franchise will open in Los Angeles next month.

Correction: Zero Time Dilemma features 3D character models as well as backgrounds, as does Virtue's Last Reward. The text above has been corrected to reflect this.