Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma

Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma

136 ratings
Chronological Fragment Guide [MINIMAL SPOILERS]
By GauRocks
By default, this game does not present its story in an obvious chronological order. However, it is possible to play the game chronologically. Here's how, with as few spoilers as possible.
5
   
Award
Favorite
Favorited
Unfavorite
Introduction
This guide is as spoiler-free as possible. It is a walkthrough for the important decisions you need to make to play the game with a linear, chronological narrative, but contains no plot or puzzle details.

Passwords are not included in this list for the sake of reducing spoilers. You will find every password before you need it, so write them down. Additionally, this list includes bad endings, some of which will be very obvious. Some bad ends are required triggers for future content, so don't attempt to skip them.

The walkthrough is not broken up in any way, to preserve the surprise of when a timeline is coming to an end. If you lose your place, see the endings section and hover over the spoiler that lists how many endings you have.
Important Warning!
Several fragments include actual randomness. I have included a quick way to identify which branch you are supposed to be on in these cases. To avoid seeing content out of order, you should pull up the menu and return to the flowchart immediately if you realize you're on the wrong route. You do not need to wait for the segment to end.
Walkthrough
First Choice -> Either (Random)
Any Team: Coincide (Only choice) -> Opposite answer
C Team: Execution (Only new) -> All three, Q
Q Team: Execution (Only new) -> All three, D
D Team: Execution (Only new) -> All three, C
C Team: First Come, First Saved (Bottom right) -> Press
You only have one choice at this point, play until you get a choice again.
Q Team: First Come, First Saved (Bottom left) -> Press
You only have one choice at this point, play until you get a choice again.
D Team: First Come, First Saved (Bottom right) -> Press
You only have one choice at this point, play until you get a choice again.
Q Team: Execution (3rd row, left) -> C
Q Team: Radical-6 (3rd row, middle) -> Don't
D Team: Outbreak (3rd row, right) -> Don't Run, Run
Q Team: Execution (3rd row, left) -> D (Yes, you have to redo it)
C Team: Execution (Top right) -> D
C Team: Suspicion (Top middle) -> Akane, Carlos
Q Team: Triangle (3rd row, right) -> Nobody, Mira, Eric
C Team: Execution (Top right) -> Q (Yes, you have to redo it)
D Team: Execution (Top middle) -> Q
C Team: Poison (3rd row, left) -> Wrong Answer, Correct Answer (Random, but solvable)
D Team: Fire (2nd row, left) -> Shoot Live (Random, retry if Phi says "Sigma...")
C Team: Anthropic Principle (3rd row, right) -> Lose, Win (Random, and yes, you really need to win, just keep replaying it until you do)
D Team: Fire (2nd row, left) -> Shoot Blank (Random, retry if Phi says "No... It can't be..."), Don't Drink, Drink
C Team: Ambidex (2nd row, left) -> Ally, Betray, Middle Branch
You only have one choice at this point, play until you get a choice again.
Q Team: Pop Off (Bottom right) -> At least one of [Eric, Mira, Carlos, Sigma, Gab, Zero, Me], Dunno
Q Team: Radical-6 (3rd row, middle) -> Inject
D Team: Suppression (Top left) -> Press, Don't
Q Team: Reality (2nd row, left) -> Refuse, Press, Left Branch, Right Branch
D Team: Fire (2nd row, left) -> Don't Shoot
C Team: Monty Hall (Bottom left) -> Don't Switch (Random, retry if locker is not empty), Switch (Random, retry if locker is empty)
D Team: Transporter (2nd row, middle) -> No, Yes
D Team: Transporter (Left)
D Team: Door of Truth (Only choice) -> Correct Answer
C Team: Get Back (2nd row, middle)
You only have one choice at this point, play until you get a choice again.
C Team: Apocalypse (3rd row, middle)
Q Team: Q (Top Middle) -> Wrong Answer, Correct Answer, at least one of (Sigma, Diana, Eric, Mira, Phi, Me, Gab), Real Name
Q Team: Triangle (3rd row, right) -> Real Name
OPTIONAL: Go back to each team's Execution fragment one last time and have C vote for D, Q vote for C, and D vote for Q.
C Team: First Come, First Saved (Bottom right) -> Don't Press
Q Team: First Come, First Saved (Bottom left) -> Don't Press
D Team: First Come, First Saved (Bottom right) -> Don't Press
C Team: Force Quit (Bottom middle) -> Correct Answer (Omit the space)
Q Team: Force Quit (Top left) -> Correct Numbers
D Team: Force Quit (Top right) -> Correct Answers (Include the space in the second one)
Any Team: Final Decision (All nine characters together) -> Don't Shift, Shift
Any Team: Coincide (Zero holding a coin) -> New Branch
Finally, check out the File section -> Post Payoff: Akane and Junpei, then Carlos, then Sean, Eric, and Mira
Ending Locations
If you lose your place in the walkthrough, hover over the spoiler next to the number of endings that are displayed on your save file. Inside the spoiler is the decision that led to that ending. From there, you can check each fragment's flowchart until you find the decision you need to make next

1 Ending: First Choice -> Either

2 Endings: D Team: Outbreak (3rd row, right) -> Run

3 Endings: Q Team: Triangle (3rd row, right) -> Eric

4 Endings: D Team: Transporter (Left)

5 Endings: C Team: Apocalypse (3rd row, middle)

6 Endings: Q Team: Q (Top Middle) -> Real Name

7 Endings: Any Team: Coincide (Zero holding a coin) -> New Branch
End Notes and Explanations
There are a lot of these, too many to list here. The explanations behind the route are also full of spoilers, so I have posted them in the forums here.

Please keep any corrections and suggestions to that thread, so that this guide's page remains as spoiler free as possible.
43 Comments
Nekkid Grandma 28 Nov, 2024 @ 8:22pm 
Is it really possible to get "Shoot Live" first in the Fire scene? I swear I've retried a dozen times and I just keep getting the "Shoot Blank" path
JAcKPoT 13 Jan, 2024 @ 11:34pm 
the old sneaky Monty Hall ey one for the real tragic stats nerds out there
Lucky Thirteen 15 Apr, 2023 @ 6:11am 
Oh, it's not about the randomness of it, it's about the wording. To better illustrate, here's what happened:
I actually picked the right locker on my 1st try, but I switched after given the option. This resulted in me satisfying the supposed "Switch" condition, but no oxygen mask. I then wasted some time trying to get the mask *without switching*, because I thought that was needed (since the second condition is listed as "Don't Swtich").

Granted, it's an unlikely scenario and I'm not a particularly bright person, but evidently, it's possible to end up in this situation and misinterpret what the guide says. If the guide simply listed the condition as "Random (repeat until you get the mask)", it'd be idiot-proof :tbpwink:
GauRocks  [author] 14 Apr, 2023 @ 9:19pm 
Lucky Thirteen: I did include a note there that it's random and that you should retry if you don't get the likely outcome, for basically that reason. You're right that I didn't explain why it's random, but I think you'll notice there's at least one other place where I also didn't explain how the randomness works.
Lucky Thirteen 14 Apr, 2023 @ 8:03pm 
For future readers: This guide is a bit misleading about the C-Team "Monty Hall" fragment.

Guide says "Switch, Don't switch", but the actual requirements are simply "Found mask, Didn't find mask". You have a higher chance to get the oxygen mask if you do switch when given the chance, but whether you switched or not has no effect on unlocking the branches :tbpwink:


Still, thanks for the guide! The game is much more immersive when the fragments are played in the correct order :tbphappy:
GauRocks  [author] 30 Mar, 2023 @ 3:45pm 
Zena: You're describing the Door of Truth fragment, so I believe you should go check C Team: Get Back (2nd row, middle) and continue on from that point
dynastystar 30 Mar, 2023 @ 3:18pm 
I can assure you thats not the end. You'll have to flip around the scenes you have to see whats been concluded. I will say though make sure that you've seen all three of the scenes where the team dies, as having only seen one team die(because thats who got voted on), I got locked out of more of the scenes.
Zena 30 Mar, 2023 @ 2:00pm 
Also how can I check the file selection and post payoff stuff?
Zena 30 Mar, 2023 @ 1:59pm 
Hiya, I took a long break from this game and have now forgotten where I was and quite a lot of details of the story. I might have played through it but I'm not sure. When I opened my game load I was at the part where Sigma and Diana discover Eric and Sean alive and the others (minus Carlos) are dead in the pods, including Sigma's and Diana's other bodies. After that they meet one handed Carlos and figure out that the bracelet times are 2h apart and the maps align. Then the time comes for Sigma and Diana to get punctured by the bracelet needles but they break them by inserting the alien cards between skin and the bracelet or something like that. That's how the scene ends and I was wondering what should I see next or is that just the end? It doesn't feel conclusive since I can't remember Carlos having one arm in any of the endings.
GauRocks  [author] 26 Feb, 2023 @ 11:01am 
Mikki: Yeah, it's better to just reopen the decision point from the flowchart and use the skip feature. Otherwise the RNG can get locked in on a single result. Glad you were able to figure it out.