Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward Demo Now Available For Vita

Nine people are trapped in a series of rooms. In order to leave one room and move onto the next, they must first solve a deadly puzzle. This is the world of Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward, and you can now sample it for yourself thanks to the recently released Vita demo on the PlayStation Network.

Sure, the plot sounds an awful lot like the Saw series of films. But unlike those movies that quickly degrade into graphic scenes of torture and death with little to no substance, Zero Escape is all about building deep characters and an engrossing narrative.

Sequel to the 2010 Nintendo DS hit, Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, Virtue’s Last Reward will be returning to its original console as well as the PlayStation Vita this time around. With a release date still to be announced sometime this fall, today’s PlayStation Network update features a demo of the game for those playing on Sony’s newest handheld.

Aksys Games’ Director of Production, Frank DeWindt, dropped by the PlayStation Blog today to fill everyone in on the demo’s details. According to DeWindt, Virtue’s Last Reward is “a visual novel-style game with puzzle elements that traps college student Sigma, a mysterious young woman named Phi, and seven other strangers in a game of life and death.”

The cast has been made unwilling participants of the Nonary Game: Ambidex Edition. Through the course of solving puzzles and learning from each of the characters, the player will progress further into a deadly labyrinth as everyone’s motivations and reasons for being involved in the Nonary Game become clear.

The demo offers a brief section of the game’s novel-eque story, along with an early Escape section in which a puzzle must be solved to spare everyone’s lives and move further into the game.

It’s unique, it’s dark, and you can try it out for yourself right now on the PlayStation Vita.