While "visual novel" games have been more popular in Japan than in the United States, there seems to be an exception when it comes to titles from Aksys Games. Releases such as “999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors” and “Virtue’s Last Reward” have proved popular.

Now, Aksys Games has announced a sequel to both those titles in “Zero Escape 3,” which will be coming to Sony's PlayStation Vita and Nintendo 3DS in the summer of 2016, although no specific date was mentioned. The game was announced during the recent Anime Expo 2015 in Los Angeles, at Aksys Games' “Panel of Ansolute Bedlam” -- where Kotaro Uchikoshi, writer and director of the “Zero Escape” series, made a surprise appearance.

After his talk, he introduced a teaser trailer that revealed “Zero Escape 3.”

According to Polygon, “Zero Escape 3” is just a working title. The game will reportedly have familiar faces from either “999” or “Virtue’s Last Reward,” as well as multiple endings based on the player’s decision. It also will have voice acting in both English and Japanese.

Later, Uchikoshi went on Twitter and thanked fans of “Zero Escape” for making a third game possible.

Both “999” and “Virtue’s Last Reward” have been praised by fans of the visual novel genre, with Eurogamer praising both games for being enjoyable and smart yet incredibly disturbing. “Zero Escape 3” will reportedly have one ending that has been described as “out of this world.”

Aksys Games AX 2015 Panel of Absolute Bedlam! (Credit: YouTube/Aksys Games Localization)

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