This is part of a Siliconera interview with the Zero Escape series creator Kotaro Uchikoshi...

Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors had an air of tension with a time limit and bombs strapped to the players. The feeling of fear was palpable, but in Virtue's Last Reward the game had a different feeling. Players could take their time to explore and characters would casually talk about their back stories during puzzles. Why did you make the change?

Kotaro Uchikoshi, Director: When we were developing Virtue's Last Reward, we asked people in Japan who didn't buy 999 why they didn't buy it. Most of the answers we got was because it looks scary. One of the decisions made by the higher ups was for the next one make sure to tone it down. I made it more mellow and lessened the tension. That's why in the first game you explore, but in the second game there was the needle. I didn't have a choice, but to tone it down.


What about the next Zero Escape game or the third one in the series? Will you bring it back up?

KU: In the next game, I plan to bring it up a little because I had a lot of fans on Twitter that they liked the sense of fear in 999. I haven't decided how much, but I will up it.