This may be one of the best games I’ve ever encountered on the Nintendo DS.

Some years back, my cousin introduced me to a subgenre of point-and-click adventure type games called room escape. In room escape games, you must find a way to escape from a locked room by finding clues hidden around the room that will eventually lead to a way out, which can often be unconventional. The story was often minimal, often involving some unexplained or even supernatural force at work. Yet, the strange puzzles really drew me in, forcing me to think outside the box in order to figure out just what I need to do.

What I first heard about this game, I was immediately intrigued by it’s premise. One part visual novel and one part room escape, Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (999 for short) brings a unique experience to the DS that I think no other game offers.

999 begins with Junpei, a college student, waking up on a sinking boat. He has no memory of how he got there, but he realizes that he has been kidnapped, and that his life is in danger. Upon escaping, he meets up with 8 other people who are captives just like him, and discover that they are being forced to play a twisted game called “the Nonary Game.”

From there, things become a matter of life and death. Each person is assigned a bracelet with a single number from 1 to 9. The “players” need to work together to find the number 9 door hidden somewhere on the ship and escape before it sinks. To make matters worse, they each have a bomb inside their bodies, which will explode if they don’t follow the rules. Of course, personalities begin to clash and tensions rise with each passing hour, making the prospect of escape even more tense as the game goes on.

The real meat of the gameplay in this game are the escape rooms. During these interactive sections, you use the DS stylus to examine the rooms for items and riddles as you try to find the next key card that will unlock your way out. This usually involves solving some kind of strange riddle or puzzle in order to gain access to new information or a new item. The DS is perfect for escape room games, both for the touch screen on the bottom for examining items and the top screen for showing useful information and dialogue without having to switch back and forth on one screen.

The puzzles can be devious. You sometimes need to look very closely at an item for a clue that you might have missed at first glance. Some puzzles can be straightforward, such as gathering up sheet music to play on the piano. Other times they can be intensely frustrating, such as a puzzle involving base-10 counting (math is my kryptonite). One feature I would’ve like is an in-game notepad so I can jot down notes while I’m solving puzzles. Several times I had to get out a pen and paper while doing a puzzle in order to help me solve it.

When you’re not trapped in a room looking for a way out, you’re treated with the “novel” portions of the game. These parts read just like a visual novel, with a bit of a twist. At certain points in the game, you get to choose which door you go into next. It’s a bit like those “Choose Your Own Adventure” books, and each choice can seriously affect the outcome of the game and ultimately which of the game’s six endings you get.

While lengthy at times, the narrative is engrossing. The game’s writer does an excellent job showing the tense situation that these characters find themselves in, and you get a real sense of urgency in their actions. Each character gets enough time to fully develop their personalities, and with such a distinct cast of characters, that isn’t an easy thing to do. You usually end up going into the locked rooms with several of the characters, providing great moments of insight as you search for a way out together.

I say that this game is perfect for the DS not only for the escape sequences, but in the way the narrative unfolds. Depending on certain choices within the game, you will end up with one of six endings. One ending leaves many questions left unanswered, and the curiosity of knowing what would happen had you chosen a different path is a great incentive for playing through the game multiple times. To get the true ending however, you must unlock a certain ending first. I don’t want to spoil what happens, but the game manages to explain the multiple endings in a way that will blow your mind. It is a brilliant moment of storytelling that left me jaw agape the entire time.

Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors is a mind-bending game that keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire time. The tension feels real, the characters are memorable, and the puzzles are just so much fun. 999 lures you in with its escape room puzzles, but keeps you hooked on the unfolding narrative. It kept me up for nights after completing the true ending. If you have a DS, do not miss this game.