Last week, in a heartbreaking series of tweets, game director Kotaro Uchikoshi wrote that he hasn't been able to greenlight the third planned game in his Zero Escape series. The numbers just haven't worked out.
Those words might mean nothing to you, but Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward, released in 2012 for the 3DS and Vita, is totally fascinating and way under-appreciated. It's a gripping, twisty visual novel that is part terrifying and part heartbreaking, and I nominated it as Kotaku's 2012 Game of the Year because it deserves the honors. (The first game in the series, Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, is also worth your time.)
VLR also ends on something of a cliffhanger, so fans aren't reacting well to the news that Uchikoshi might not be able to make another game to resolve all those loose ends. But there's hope: Kickstarter, the best and worst website on the planet. Uchikoshi has expressed interest in crowdfunding his third Zero Escape game, and just today, he promised that they're considering new options for making it happen.
Fans have started a Facebook group to build support and Get Out The Message for Virtue's Last Reward—you can join it here—and they're putting together all sorts of cute images and memes, like the mosaic on top of this post. The good news—unlike some of the higher-profile fan campaigns, this one is likely to actually accomplish something. Uchikoshi wants to make this game, and thanks to the power of crowdfunding, that might just be good enough.