PODCAST · leisure
Zero Context
by KRITIQAL
Axe (they/them) and Nathalie (she/her) play through the Zero Escape trilogy. Join us as Nathalie learns what a visual novel is, Axe reveals the depths of their cursed fandom knowledge, and we try to figure out how exactly you podcast branching narratives.
Episodes
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Episode 25: Complex Motives
Content warning: this episode briefly discusses gun violence, blood, on-screen suicide, the death of a dog, and attempted sexual assault. It’s over. After being incinerated, dismembered, and blown up too many times to count, Axe and Nathalie have arrived at the end of Zero Time Dilemma, the end…
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Episode 24: Mama's Boy
Content warning: this episode briefly discusses gun violence, blood, on-screen suicide, and the death of a child. It’s the penultimate episode of Zero Context, which means Axe and Nathalie get to finally meet Zero in the flesh. With bloodshot eyes and cane in hand, he clues them in on the tragic...
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Episode 23: Not Living in a Society
Content warning: this episode briefly discusses starvation, sexual assault, domestic abuse, suicide and suicidal ideation, dismemberment, the death of infants, and gun violence. Through a chaotic sequence of various form of time travel, Axe and Nathalie have finally ended up at Zero Time…
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Episode 22: I Drink Your Milkshake
Content warning: this episode briefly discusses suicidal ideation, dismemberment, blood, and gore After last week’s malaise, Axe and Nathalie have been orb launched into two bewilderingly dense fragments. Zero Time Dilemma begins to reveal its secrets, as first our hosts close the loop on the...
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Episode 21: Gab is Zero
Content warning: this episode briefly discusses child abuse and death by suffocation Happy New Year! Returning from an arguably better videogame, Axe and Nathalie are back in the Zero Time Dilemma bomb shelter with our favorite cast of disorganized sickos. They learn about game show probability...
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Holiday Special: Kamaitachi no Yoru
Content warning: Kamaitachi no Yoru contains scenes of blood, dismemberment, murder, suicide, and transmisogyny, which are discussed briefly in this episode. Axe and Nathalie take a break from Zero Escape for the holidays, having scored an all-expenses-paid trip to a ski lodge from a mysterious…
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Episode 20: Zero's Plushie Empire
Content warning: this episode briefly discusses suicide and child abuse In an eerily brief set of fragments, Axe and Nathalie must contend with poison capsules, rotating rooms, and a belligerent shotgun wielding Eric as they scramble towards a still ambiguous resolution. They scan some brains and...
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Episode 19: Sadboy570
Content warning: this episode briefly mentions alcoholism and suicidal ideation After escaping from a eerily familiar shower game, Axe and Nathalie stand before the exit ready to emerge into the humid Nevada air. Instead, they are treated to incoherent asides about alien mouths, tournament...
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Episode 18: Incinerate Your Gays
Content warning: this episode discusses scenes involving characters melting and being burned alive, and a brief mention of suicide Awakening from an explosive nightmare, Axe and Nathalie are thrust into not one, not two, but three deadly decision games. First, they must choose whether to save...
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Episode 17: Big Head Blood Mode
Content warning: this episode discusses scenes involving heavy blood and gore, and briefly touches on suicide. After a brief 90 minute absence, Axe and Nathalie return to Zero Time Dilemma ready to dive into the game’s first set of puzzles. Once again trapped in a pantry, Nathalie gets hung up on…
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Episode 16: For Want of a Snail
Returning after volunteering on a Mars colonization experiment, Axe and Nathalie are back in the Nevada desert for the third and final (?) Zero Escape game, Zero Time Dilemma (Chime, 2016). Immediately thrust into another death game, Axe digs into the tumultuous development process, Nathalie gets...
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Episode 15: Death or Calculator
Content warning: suicide plays a central role in Virtue’s Last Reward and is discussed briefly in episode. After what feels like an eternity within the barren halls of Virtue’s Last Reward, Axe and Nathalie escape into a world they scarcely recognize. With little time to process what’s occur…
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Episode 14: My Life as a Death Game Robot
Content warning: suicide plays a central role in Virtue’s Last Reward and is discussed briefly in episode. Returning to the director’s office, Axe and Nathalie use their months of nonary knowledge to finally hack into the lion computer, finding no puzzles and fewer answers. Unmoved by Phi’s pleas...
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Episode 13: Rebuild of Sigma 1.11 ~ You Can (Not) Cum
Content warning: suicide plays a central role in Virtue’s Last Reward and is discussed briefly in episode. After a long sleep in the cryogenic pods, Axe and Nathalie are thrust back into Virtue’s Last Reward, the final end just out of reach. They fumble with dice in a neglected archive, spilling...
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Episode 12: Antimatter Baby
Content warning: suicide plays a central role in Virtue’s Last Reward and is discussed briefly in episode. Jumping all the way back up the termite mound, Axe and Nathalie finally enter the cyan door, a choice they maybe should have made at the start. They learn about Schrodinger’s Cat, Erotic...
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Episode 11: Tenmyouji's Revenge
Content warning: suicide plays a central role in Virtue’s Last Reward and is discussed briefly in episode. After the last bewildering lock, Axe and Nathalie take the long way down to warehouse B and finally get some answers. They learn about inflation with Tenmyouji, fend of Clover’s advances…
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Episode 10: Secreting Secrets
Content warning: suicide plays a central role in Virtue’s Last Reward and is discussed briefly in episode. After a brief taste of freedom, Axe and Nathalie plunge back into Virtue’s Last Reward, running headfirst into a lock before much of anything happens. Desperate to move on and (hopefully)…
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Episode 9: The Panty Room
After weeks locked in the Virtue’s Last Reward lounge, Axe and Nathalie finally step through the 9 door, only to discover a barren desert awaiting them. With nowhere left to go, they ponder the broken logic of the prisoner’s dilemma, why they have all these gold files, and who gets to use the big...
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Episode 8: Locked in the Pod
Content note: brief mention of incest in relation to YU-NO around 51:00 Axe and Nathalie groggily awake sometime after the start of Virtue’s Last Reward, only to discover they’ve been locked inside a cryogenic pod! Struggling against limited oxygen, they race through a blur of incomplete...
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Episode 7: *drool*
Content warning: suicide plays a central role in Virtue’s Last Reward and is discussed briefly in this episode. Axe and Nathalie venture further into Virtue’s Last Reward, getting trapped waiting for the password reset email as murder abounds. The workplace comedy death game continues to expand...
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Episode 6: Two Podcasters Go Comedy
Content warning: suicide plays a central role in Virtue’s Last Reward and is discussed throughout this episode. Welcome back, espers! Axe and Nathalie awake up from their slumber to once again find themselves trapped in the twisted hands of Zero Escape. This time they’ll be forced to navigate the...
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Holiday Special: Santa Got You an OVA
Happy holidays from Zero Context! Bridging the gap between 999 and Virtue’s Last Reward, Axe and Nathalie reconvene for a very special episode, live reacting to the VLR promotional OVA (watch it along with us here). Zero Context will return in the new year. Don’t forget to leave cookies for…
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Episode 5: Riding Into the Sunset
Content warning: brief mention of animal cruelty from 32:05-32:30; brief mention of incest from 1:11:19-1:11:52. We emerge from the gaming mines into the Nevada desert. It’s over. We’ve finished 999. As we depart in our Zero Escape promotional SUV, we reflect on our experience playing and…
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Episode 4: Truth is Asleep, Post Santa
The end of our 999 playthrough draws near as we stumble into the last (for real this time) bad ending. We finally get some answers about who’s been knifing everyone, discuss how the game begins to assert itself as an independent actor, and lament Clover’s continued degradation. Also, where’s...
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Episode 3: Thriving in Junpei's Mind Palace
The last Bad End is upon us and it sure lives up to it! Axe and Nate continue their playthrough of 999 (Kotaro Uchikoshi, 2009), working through the ax ending and all its disappointing conclusions. Elsewhere, they discuss the different mechanics of mystery vs puzzle box media, continued...
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Episode 2: The Death Sub
We’ve made it to route 2 of our 999 playthrough, not far enough to escape the Nonary Games but able to glimpse the sub just out of reach. This time, Axe and Nate went through doors 4 -> 3 -> 2, leading everyone to a terrible end but a terrific route to get there. We dig in to what it means for…
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Episode 1: Is Podcasting a Death Game?
Welcome to episode 1 of Zero Context, where we kick off our Zero Escape playthrough with the trilogy’s first game, Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (Chunsoft, 2009). We dive headfirst into the game’s lore-heavy exposition, speculate on how 999 fits within the death game media landscape, and,...
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Episode 0: Context
Welcome to Zero Context, a show where Nate Kiernan (any/all) and Axe Binondo (they/them) play through the Zero Escape series. Join us as Nate learns what a visual novel is, Axe reveals the depths of their cursed fandom knowledge, and we try to figure out how exactly you podcast branching...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Axe (they/them) and Nathalie (she/her) play through the Zero Escape trilogy. Join us as Nathalie learns what a visual novel is, Axe reveals the depths of their cursed fandom knowledge, and we try to figure out how exactly you podcast branching narratives.
HOSTED BY
KRITIQAL
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Zero Context have?
Zero Context currently has 28 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Zero Context about?
Axe (they/them) and Nathalie (she/her) play through the Zero Escape trilogy. Join us as Nathalie learns what a visual novel is, Axe reveals the depths of their cursed fandom knowledge, and we try to figure out how exactly you podcast branching narratives.
How often does Zero Context release new episodes?
Zero Context has 28 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Zero Context?
You can listen to Zero Context on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Zero Context?
Zero Context is created and hosted by KRITIQAL.
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