- "The most horrible thing about death is how it turns a person into a thing. It's a thing that looks like your friend, but it's not them anymore. Just this strange, cold shell, and every time you look at it you feel a little of that coldness creeping in around the edges of your soul."
- — Sigma, finding Luna's corpse
Sigma Klim is the protagonist of Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward.
In Virtue's Last Reward, he is a seemingly ordinary college student who has been abducted and forced to play the Nonary Game: Ambidex Edition. Sigma is generally a kind and honest young man, but his tendency to be easily swayed by his emotions makes him a poor choice for a game about trust and betrayal.
Sigma is the only character in Virtue's Last Reward who is unvoiced; like the original 999 for DS, his dialogue results in voice beeps. In reality, this is done intentionally because the Sigma played as during Virtue's Last Reward is his 22-year old mind infused in his 67-year old body.
In Zero Time Dilemma, Sigma reappears in the reverse scenario (67-year-old mind in 22-year-old body) as a member of Team D alongside Phi and Diana in the Decision Game to determine the ultimate fate of humanity.
Appearance[]
At first, Sigma is thought by the player to be a young man with short black spiky hair. He has a slightly muscular build and his forearms are remarkably buff. When compared with Dio's and Tenmyouji's, his are noticeably bigger.
In reality, Sigma is in his 67-year old body. His hair is gray, longer than it was when his body was younger, and somewhat thinned. He has cybernetic arms with ABT (Artificial Biological Tissue), giving the appearance of his youthful arms. Also, his left eye has been replaced with a bionic eye. This is also why the female players get angry at him when he makes sexual innuendos.
In Virtue's Last Reward, he wears a blue shirt with numerous designs on it, including a Circle-A anarchy sign, a woman's silhouette, "BAD", "STAFF", "DANGER", "SAFETY", a grenade, and a winged skull. He wears patternless blue pants and black-and-white shoes. Like everyone else, he wears a bracelet on his left wrist.
In Zero Time Dilemma, Sigma wears a navy blue polo, white khakis, and all-black shoes. His shirt has "XVIII" on the left sleeve (which is 18 in Roman numerals) and "18" on the right, both in white print. His shirt's left breast has a gold and red emblem that says "XVIII". This is because his name, Sigma, is the 18th letter in the Greek alphabet (the digital root of 18 is also 9). The right side has a purple airplane. Like everyone else, he wears a black bracelet on his left wrist.
Personality[]
- "Now consider humans. Why are we alive? Why do we love, and give birth? Why do we create? From where do our cultures spring? There are many theories, but no one knows the truth. We are oblivious cogs in a tremendous machine programmed by millions of years of human DNA. We trudge through our lives with no greater understanding of our ultimate goal. You might say we don't understand what we're building. Only an intelligence of a higher order than ours can understand what we're doing. Imagine how we might look to such an intelligence."
- — Zero Sr. to Sigma, comparing humans to termites and being programmed by DNA
Due to being a playable character, much of Sigma's actions are decided by the player. A good example of this is whether or not the player decides to ally or betray first.
Despite this, Sigma is generally kind, honest and sincere, and he feels guilt when he chooses betray. Both Phi and Luna call Sigma a "good person". Sigma is rather positive in most cases, almost trusting everyone by default. In Alice END, when Alice cries during her emotional breakdown, he brushes his thumb across her cheek, taking her tears with it, showing he can be compassionate. He sacrifices his own life by saving Phi's in K END. At one point in the game, he feels ashamed of himself and wondering what the hell is wrong with him for considering betraying a helpless child. He also shows deep feelings for Diana.
He's easily swayed by his emotions, which makes him a poor choice for a game about trust and betrayal. He does, however, easily change opinion because of the ideas and comments of the people around him, and those comments can cause him to make different decisions than he might have normally made. Because of this, Sigma can seem weak-willed and a fool who is easily taken advantage of. This is also because of player input.
Sigma can be rude, immature and inappropriate at times. At one point in the laboratory, he may ask Clover if she was "dropped as a kid" for offering to kiss a frog, which could be seen as insensitive. He is also prone to occasionally slipping sexual innuendos in the direction of female players, or making outright suggestive comments. For example, he asks them to dress in swimsuits during Phi END, resulting in predominantly negative responses. Sigma may be slightly cacophobic, or at least can be inappropriate with his like of beauty in women, as he has has indicated that he picked particular choices based on the physical looks of those he'll be teamed with, although he claimed to be joking about it.[1]
Despite being immature at times, Sigma has proven that he is capable of being mature where it counts, such as when he attempts to calm down everyone during disputes, when he comforts Luna and Alice in their respective endings, when he ultimately chooses not to betray a sick Quark in one of the routes (and is disgusted with himself, questioning how that was ever an option in the first place), when he apologizes to Diana and admits his faults to her in D-END: 2, etc. Zero Sr. is also on a very different of maturity when it comes to Sigma in VLR.
Sigma has a few unusual quirks. He has stellar memory, able to remember any code or password once seen. Sigma has a tic from a young age that causes him to speak with cat puns whenever he is talking about cats. In the Japanese version, he tends to end his sentences with "~nya", which is the Japanese onomatopoeia equivalent of "meow".
As a paternal figure to Kyle, Sigma shows some level of ineptitude. Of course, Sigma had no choice but to become a father since he needed to recreate the future. However, it's also possible that Sigma couldn't show too much love to Kyle or else it would disrupt the AB Project since the entire point of K END is for K to test whether or not Sigma truly loved him and to receive the MILKEVOLI password.
In Zero Time Dilemma, Sigma displays a higher level of maturity due to the fact that his older 67-year-old consciousness inhabits his 22-year-old body. Sigma is much more rational and logical, thinking things from a broader perspective. He also may come off as cold at times, even when trying to comfort his teammates, and is unwilling to open up to others; he states at one point he is afraid of losing something important by becoming vulnerable. Ultimately, Sigma is supportive and cares a great deal for Phi and is willing to sacrifice himself to save her. He also develops a close bond with Diana, having established a relationship with her in an alternate future and obviously has feelings for her.
There are heavy implications that Sigma is atheist or agnostic, as he has said "I don't believe in God" and "There is no God" in the series. He mentions when he used to help others, he always expected recompense in the back of his mind, whether it be gratitude, praise, or for a higher power to approve of him. After the birth of "Phi", he realizes how selfish such thinking is. He no longer feels he needs to do things to be approved by or appease some divine being for earthly rewards.
Despite his perversion towards Phi, Sigma doesn't appear to actually consider her that good-looking. With regards to the first choice for the chromatic doors, Sigma comments that it had been a toss up between "pretty woman plus malnourished harpy, malnourished harpy plus ugly old dude, and pretty woman plus sexy tease". However he claimed to be joking after Phi hits him for it.
Background[]
When Sigma was in preschool, there was a deserted house near his school that everyone called the Cat Mansion. He had always loved cats, so every day he would visit the Cat Mansion and give the cats that lived there some of his lunch. One day, he realized that he could understand what the cats were saying to one another. A magical black cat appeared, and told him that it has given him this gift in exchange for giving food to its fellows. "But you can never tell anyone about your gift," the magical black cat warned. "If you do, you'll be cursed." But young Sigma was so happy about his new-found ability that he slipped and told a girl about it, so the black cat cursed him. His curse was to speak only in cat puns for the rest of his life. Fortunately for him, a magical white cat came along soon afterward, felt the curse was a little too harsh and lessened it, so that he would only talk in cat puns when he talked about cats.
At one point in his life, Sigma fell into an ice lake with with a group of friends and woke up in his bed.
Sigma broke his arm once when he was a kid, and the doctor told him he had very strong bones.
In 2020, Sigma found a dead frog, but didn't know what to do with it.
At some point in time, he allegedly got wasted and had a one night stand with the mistress of a prominent politician. Sigma says, "SHE was the one who went after ME."
Just before he was abducted, it is said that Sigma was in California, implying he's lived in California for some time.
Sigma's girlfriend broke up with him on December 18, 2028 so he decided not to go to the party they planned to attend. She broke up with him through e-mail and he wasn't able to contact her at all afterward. Sigma's home computer mysteriously stopped working, and his Buddhist professor said he still had to work on Christmas and hand in his paper that night. All three events were orchestrated by Akane Kurashiki and Crash Keys.
Early Christmas morning in 2028, while heading back from the research building, Sigma found himself unable to start his car, and after numerous failed attempts, he heard a weird noise coming from the engine. Suddenly, the whole vehicle was filled with white smoke. In confusion, he tried to escape, but he was unable to open the door. Before passing out, he noticed a person wearing a gas mask standing behind his car. Unknown to him, his consciousness jumped to Rhizome 9 on the Moon in January 2074, while his body went to the Mars Mission Test Site in Nevada.
Dcom experiment and Decision Game[]
Using Crash Keys' assets, they hacked the admin server and altered the original subject list and data to include Sigma, Phi and Akane.
On December 26, 2028, Sigma attempts to tell everyone that six billion people will die, but is ignored when most of the others don't believe him and suspect he has gone completely insane. He is physically restrained and almost sent into confinement. Phi tells Sigma that they shouldn't mention the future to anyone. Sigma, Phi and Akane search the facility but can't find any signs of Radical-6.
On December 29, 2028, Sigma and Diana talk for the first time in Dcom's gymnasium.
On December 30, 2028, everyone meets again, but Sigma, Phi and Akane reluctantly await the events of tomorrow, unaware of what is to come.
On December 31, 2028, however, it turns out that the simulation was a trap and the Decision Game occurs. In the D-END: 1 route, Sigma loses his arms and an eye. Phi is injected with Radical-6 by Mira. Knowing what will occur in the near future, Phi asks Diana to burn her body to keep the virus from spreading. Diana tazes Phi with a stun gun to knock her unconscious and vows to save both Sigma and Phi. Phi is presumably sent to a hospital, but there, the virus spreads, leading to the events of Virtue's Last Reward.
Months later, the events of End or Beginning? and AB Project occur in which Sigma moves to the Moon for 45 years.
Virtue's Last Reward[]
In January 2074, Sigma (his young consciousness in his older body) eventually wakes up in a small elevator-like room. Trying to figure out what this place is, he finds a girl named Phi sitting in the corner of the room. Sigma asks her about the place they're in, but unfortunately, he is unable to communicate with her very well. She even calls him "grandpa", foreshadowing that he is really 67 years old. Eventually, they find bracelets with "3" on their wrists, and Sigma forcefully tries to take the bracelet off, but as much as he tries, he is unable to.
While he starts getting impatient, something appears on the small screen near the elevator door. Sigma draws closer to the screen and sees a rabbit-like cartoon character, an artificial intelligence, who introduces himself as Zero III. Zero III explains that their elevator is about to fall, and that they must escape before it does. After managing to get the key in the safe, the hatch on the roof of the elevator opens, allowing them to climb up through it. Sigma asks who she is, and she replies her name is Phi.
The pair find themselves in an abandoned warehouse alongside seven other people: Alice, Clover, Dio, K, Tenmyouji, Quark, and Luna. Their goal is to escape from the building. However, they find themselves enrolled in a game known as the Nonary Game: Ambidex Edition, which relies on a system called "Bracelet Points" ("BP"), which are won by cooperating with or betraying other players in AB Rooms. A player is allowed to leave the warehouse through the Number Nine Door only if they possess nine or more BP; however, if a player's BP reaches zero, they are killed by a lethal tubocurarine injection.
Branching timelines[]
- Main article: Virtue's Last Reward endings
As the story goes on, Sigma discovers the ability to jump backwards and forwards in time to live out different timelines to the one he originally chose, though he originally doesn't realise it. He uses this to gain codes and secrets from other timelines in an attempt to find an outcome where everyone can survive.
Several revelations appear about the other players and even Sigma himself;
- Tenmyouji is Junpei from Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, and Quark is his adopted grandson.
- Alice and Clover are both Special Office of Internal Security agents who have been searching for a cult named Free the Soul, who was partially responsible for the First Nonary Game.
- Sigma discovers he has somehow obtained cybernetic arms which ooze white "blood", made of titanium alloy "bones", artificial biological tissue and artificial nerves.
- Luna is a GAULEM, a type of robot.
- Dio is a member of Free the Soul, a clone of Left, the brother of Brother, the cult's leader. This last revelation leads to Sigma discovering that Dio has planted bombs in the facility and the world has been devastated by the detonation of antimatter reactors in an attempt to remove the virus Radical-6, unleashed by an unknown source at the Mars Mission Test Site. Several players also contract Radical-6 and kill themselves in several endings, but Sigma uses his ability to avoid any bombs being detonated and to prevent anyone from killing themselves.
Sigma END[]
Sigma goes through the cyan Chromatic Door with Alice and Phi into the Crew Quarters. At the AB Game, Sigma, remembering Alice picking betray, picks betray so he won't lose points. However, Alice picks ally, much to her annoyance and Sigma's surprise. Sigma remembers picking ally when Alice picked betray. Sigma apologizes, but Alice says she won't trust Sigma or Phi again.
At the second set of Chromatic Doors, Alice wants the people with 1 BP to choose which Chromatic Doors to go through due to their disadvantage, which is her and Tenmyouji, she wants Option B, which mean Sigma and Luna would go in the Red Door with Phi, which Tenmyouji is fine with. Sigma opposes this and chooses Option A instead, with Sigma and Luna going through the Green Door with Clover. Alice is initially opposed but Tenmyouji states there is something he wants to talk to Alice about, and she reluctantly agrees to go through Option A.
After going through the Archives, they leave and find a bloody message saying "MEMENTO MORI, IF THE NINETH LION ATE THE SUN", with Luna noticing "NINETH" is wrong as it should be "NINTH" without an extra E. After Dio opens an AB Room, Quark is unconscious and everyone goes to the Infirmary, where he tries to kill himself but is restrained. Similarly, Alice begins to succumb to Radical-6, and runs away. Sigma searches for her, but later finds her dead in the Crew Quarters. However, Sigma somehow transfers his consciousness back a few minutes, and remembering Alice's death in the Crew Quarters, is able to restrain her as she ends up unconscious instead of dying, but Sigma ends up cutting his hand on the scalpel she was holding.
Since Clover refuses to leave Alice, Sigma and Luna vote without an opponent. Before voting, Luna notices something white on Sigma's hand and he realizes it is where he cut himself and the liquid is still coming out. She asks if he is alright, and he makes an excuse that he spilled milk from the Pantry while searching for Alice, which he realizes sounds stupid. After Luna questions this, he angrily tells her to shut up. Sigma immediately apologizes and tells her not to worry about it, although he is quite horrified. He picks ally, and later looks at his hand, remembering that it bled red before, until Dio tells him to look at the results, where everyone picks ally.
Afterwards Luna talks to Sigma in the garden about her blue bird pendant and her past. Luna asks Sigma why he knows about the garden, since he never went there while looking for the garden, due to him going here in the timeline where he failed to save Alice. Luna asks if Sigma is a robot, due to his knowledge of the garden and the white liquid from Sigma's cut. She tells him about Artificial Biological Tissue and how it can make robots look like humans. She also tells him about the three laws of robotics. They realize the ADAM can be used to figure out if Sigma is human or robotic. They hear Phi trying to spy on them. She notices Bomb #1 on the tree. They then go to the infirmary and tells everyone about the bomb. Phi decides to search everyone for the bombs, but Sigma tells everyone Dio planted the bomb because he remembered it from another history.
He exposes Dio by telling him that he knows about the Myrmidons, Free the Soul and Brother, which causes Dio to slip up. After Dio admits he is the leader of the Myrmidons and that his real name is Left, Sigma tries to stop him, but Dio pulls out the bomb switch. Tenmyouji knocks it out of his hand, but since it goes 1 meter away from Dio, the bombs are set on a 30 minute countdown. Dio tells them the password for Bomb #2, but they neither have the input device, nor have they found Bomb #2. Dio tries to inject poison into himself like another timeline but Sigma restrains him.
After initially searching with Phi in the Crew Quarters, he goes to the Infirmary, where he finds Luna. She offers to use the ADAM to scan Sigma, but he initially rejects it, wanting to look for Bomb #2 and the input device since knowing the truth of his body won't mean a thing if he's dead. However he allows her to scan him after she tells him that it won't take long. Sigma learns that he is human but has cyber-kinetic arms. Luna explains that they are supposed to work like real arms, so the tubocurarine inside the bracelets would still be a problem.
Just before the bombs explode, Luna is calm, which Sigma describes as machine like, and she tells him that she received very specific instructions and tells him a string of numbers and letters (her product ID) which will open the first gate. After this Luna tells Sigma that she hopes to see him again, and the bombs then explode, destroying the facility and everyone inside it.
Phi END[]
For the first round of the AB Game, Sigma and Phi pair up with Alice and go to the Crew Quarters. After Phi tells Sigma about the Prisoner's Dilemma, he betrays Alice who picked ally, much to his surprise, as he remembered in another timeline, Alice picked betray and they had picked ally, with her stating that picking ally was a foolish choice.
For the next round of the AB Game, Phi is a Magenta Solo, and she goes with Sigma and Luna into the red door and heads into the Control Room. After escaping, Phi betrays Sigma and Luna in the AB Game, who ally, wanting revenge for an alternative timeline where she picked ally, but Sigma betrayed her. Sigma eventually remembers this and is able to convince Phi not to leave, partially due to her wanting to know the truth about the game, much to the relief of the others.
At the infirmary, Sigma remembers other timelines and remembers Dio owning the bombs. He tricks him into admitting it, Dio pulls out the detonator and has everyone move back, except for Tenmyouji who kicks him. This causes the detonator to move one meter away from Dio, putting it on countdown mode. Using the other timelines, Sigma and Phi are able to remember the bomb locations (except from Bomb 0, but Sigma successfully deduces a possible location) and passwords, deactivating the bombs with a minute to spare.
Phi along with Tenmyouji and Sigma head into room Q and learn some of the truth of the Nonary Game from a hologram of Akane Kurashiki.
AB Room: Past[]
Sigma, in the true ending, jumps back into the past, one hour before the start of the Nonary Game, to prevent Dio from killing Akane Kurashiki. By saving her, they altered the past, bringing a new future.
Akane explains to Sigma that every player is infected with Radical-6. She then ties a key to Sigma around his ankle, just before he is forcibly pushed back into the future and tells him "tu fui, ego eris."
Phi END continued[]
Sigma and the group successfully escape through the Number Nine Door, leaving Dio handcuffed to a sink in the Infirmary. Upon leaving the facility, they find out from Tenmyouji that they are on the Moon and the current date is January 25th, 2074. The "Red Moon" outside is actually planet Earth after 18 reactors on Earth had simultaneously exploded in order to hopefully stop Radical-6. The fallout of the blasts blotted out the Sun and killed millions of different lifeforms on Earth. Even in the present, 45 years later, the state of the world is bad, and the sky is still red due to the large amounts of particles in the air. Sigma eventually remembers the key around his ankle and the grave in the B. Garden. He decides to go back into Rhizome 9 and everyone else decides to follow, hopefully to learn more about what is going on.
Sigma leads everyone to the B. Garden, where he unlocks the grave marked "tu fui, ego eris". A treatment pod appears, presumably holding Akane, however it must defrost for a while. While they wait, K explains about everybody's importance in the Nonary Game. When K finishes, the pod opens, revealing a Sigma clone. Everyone is confused as to who he is, saying that they've never seen him before. Sigma tries to get everyone to stop playing around, but no one seems to be joking. Panicking, Sigma finds a small pond in the Garden and looks at his reflection. Shocked, Sigma discovers his 22-year old mind in an older version of himself. The reason he did not notice his older body was because of the Moon's gravity. Suddenly, K sheds his armor showing that, in this timeline, K was actually Akane.
Akane explains that this was all a part of the AB Project and that his current young mind switched places with his older mind, revealing that he is Zero Sr. Akane explains that Sigma was there to develop his time jumping abilities along with Phi. With his training complete, Akane tells Sigma that it is his time to return to his past body. Akane then proceeds to attack Phi with the knife she recovered earlier from Dio. Sigma throws himself in front of Phi to protect her and is seemingly stabbed, but Akane merely hits him with the handle of the blade. This causes Sigma's mind to return to the past.
End or Beginning?[]
The transfer is successful and Sigma arrives in his body on April 13th, 2029. Outside, Sigma hears terrified screaming and the wailing of sirens. After watching a news reporter's suicide on public television, he meets 22-year old Akane, who was the person behind the gas mask in December. Akane reassures him that she didn't really kill him in the future, but merely gave him and Phi a death situation to make their minds jump to a different time, an ability known as SHIFTing.
Akane tells Sigma it's time to put the AB Project into motion and that he must go to the Moon with the three treatment pods holding Alice, Clover, and Phi. There he will research genetics, cloning, and robotics in order to set up the events of the Nonary Game: Ambidex Edition, 45 years in the future. She also tells him that he will create Kyle, Luna, Lagomorph, the Chromatic Doors, the bracelets, and all aspects of the Nonary Game: Ambidex Edition in order to succeed.
He also discovers that on December 31st, 2028, he lost his arms and his right eye in order to save a woman from the facility where Radical-6 first was reported since the facility was full of traps. Sigma had bionic arms instead.
Suddenly, a large explosion occurs outside of the building. One of the reactors that created the Earth's state in 2074 explodes as part of the Antimatter Plant Explosions. Sigma prepares to leave for the Moon to prevent this event from happening, feeling that he must do so, having no choice.
After these events, on April 14, 2029, the shuttle arrives on the Moon with Akane, Sigma, Alice, Clover, and Phi on board. They all go to Rhizome 9. Phi, Alice and Clover are still in treatment pods, and are stored away for 45 years.
AB Project[]
Following the events of D-END: 1 of Zero Time Dilemma and Sigma's original consciousness' return from the events of Virtue's Last Reward, Sigma immediately moved to the Moon to began the AB Project.
Diana, having developed a close bond with Sigma during the Decision Game, decides to follow him to the Moon, eventually living with him from May 2029. Sigma spends the next 45 years developing the AB Project by researching genetic engineering and artificial intelligence programming, working the first three in tandem with Diana. With the two working closely together, they built a happy, romantic relationship. Living together, they researched genetics and studied various subjects like quantum mechanics, cosmology, biochemistry and artificial intelligence.
However, after three years in 2032, the weak gravity of the Moon took its toll on Diana's health and she obtained a fatal circulatory illness. She peacefully passes away in Sigma's cybernetic arms as she dreams of another future where the two could live together happily.
Overwhelmed with grief, Sigma decides it's time to focus on creating Luna. Sigma kept Diana's music box for decades. When Luna was complete, she eventually felt so lonely that it hurt her so he gave it to her without explaining why.
Working with Akane, Sigma would develop much of the AB Project in Rhizome 9. He successfully makes numerous GAULEM units, including Luna and G-OLM, and also completely creates and programs Zero III for the Nonary Game: Ambidex Edition.
Kyle Klim[]
Sometime around the year 2052, Sigma managed to make a young clone of himself named Kyle Klim using his DNA, since Sigma knew that Kyle's creation was vital for the AB Project to succeed. Kyle was developed in the water tank on the wall of the laboratory of Rhizome 9. This tank acted as an artificial uterus.
For much of his childhood, Kyle spent his time alone as he could not go near his father while he worked in a laboratory and only could see him when he slept. To keep him busy, Kyle was given educational computer software and video games such as Angry Birds.
Due to Kyle's limited socializing with humans, he was generally emotionless, since the normal ways of communicating such as body language and gestures was not needed with the software he was given. After learning to read and write, Kyle felt odd with the way he lived. In the books he read, he found that a family usually has a "mother", something Kyle did not have. This drove Kyle's desire to have a mother, and to live an average human life and family life, so Kyle asked his father for one. His father complied, which delighted Kyle.
A few months later, Kyle's father called him into the lab and introduced him to a young woman. Kyle was ecstatic, that is, until her name-or rather, her ID number, GTF-DM-L-016, was said. It was Luna, a GAULEM modeled after Diana, the woman he once loved. While it resembled a human, Kyle wanted a real mother, a real human, something a robot could never be, since they are programmed to show certain emotions. When he complained, his father chastised him and shooed him away from the lab and called him a whiner. Kyle was shocked, then angry.
Still, Kyle spent some time with Luna. Despite that Luna was a robot, she acted, talked, and looked like a real human. However, Kyle refused to be with her and locked himself into his room since she was still a robot. Kyle would gain nothing from this robot that his educational software couldn't provide anyways. Due to his lack of relation to Luna, she felt sad, but Kyle coldly reminded himself that she was just a robot. Ultimately, Kyle stopped expecting things from his father and began to realize he never really had a real relationship with his father. What Kyle really wanted was a relationship with his father.
However, everything changed when Kyle was eighteen in approximately 2070. Kyle left his room to find a woman, Akane Kurashiki, the first human being he'd ever seen, aside from his father. Kyle expected her to be just another robot, but she kindly laughed off Kyle's statement and stated that she came to help his father. Akane was much older than Kyle, but acted like a girl. She told Kyle about the world outside and Kyle loved her stories. Since she was not helping his father with his research, Akane would spend most of her days with Kyle. Akane told Kyle that his father had once been in love, which made Kyle think that Akane was secretly his mother.
With Akane living with Kyle and Sigma, their relationship changed. For the first time in eighteen years, Kyle ate dinner with people. Due to his lack of table manners and his father reading a research paper on the table, Akane scolded both, which made Kyle share laughter with his father for the first time. Kyle began to truly live an average family life, fulfilling his childhood dreams.
Akane suggested to help his father's research in genetic engineering, which he developed an interest in. Since they were working together, they now could talk a great deal together, like a father and son. He felt proud and happy whenever he impressed his father, which made his days more meaningful and, most importantly, happy.
Four years later, Kyle overheard his father and Akane talking in a serious tone. When Kyle listened closely, he overheard that she was going to give her life to achieve their goal. Kyle pleaded with his father to stop his research, but he refused and Akane agreed with his father. Akane told Kyle that this was how it was planned to be since the beginning.
Confused and distraught, Kyle began to investigate what exactly he was helping his father to research, in hopes of keeping Akane alive. In the end, Kyle discovered he was nothing more than a clone, intended to be a spare for his father if he dies. Kyle was intended to continue in his place if such an event would happen. Kyle furiously decided to destroy the facility along with his father, Akane, and the research, but was ultimately stopped by Akane, who foresaw this event. Kyle was locked up in his room until the research was completed.
This would all accumulate to January 25th, 2074 when his 67-year old conscious mind switches with his 22-year old mind on December 25th, 2028 in order to infiltrate the Mars Mission Test Site and stop Radical-6 from being spread to the general population. The events of Dcom experiment repeat themselves.
Zero Time Dilemma[]
Sigma reappears in Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma as a participant of the Decision Game created by Zero II. His body is possessed by his older consciousness. Sigma is a member of Team D with Phi and Diana. He and his team are trapped in Ward D in the Underground Shelter.
Branching timelines[]
In the Trash Disposal Room, Sigma is trapped in a chair. The gun next to Sigma's chair has three live rounds and three blanks, which has a 50/50 chance of killing him. The game calculates the odds each time so in one playthrough, he may live, while in another, he may die.
D-END: 1[]
In D-END: 1, Sigma loses his eye and arms due to the explosion of a bomb in the Decontamination Room, since he decided to take Diana's place in stopping the bomb. He escapes the underground shelter with Phi (infected with Radical-6) and Diana.
It is never explained how Sigma survived the Radical-6 outbreak since he was near the source of it (both Phi and Nevada), but it is said that Radical-6 has a mortality rate of 75% so it's possible that Sigma was one of the lucky 25%. It's also possible that Sigma, knowing what it is to come, began to prepare to survive the Radical-6 apocalypse.
Four months later, Sigma meets up with Crash Keys and goes to their headquarters, and meets up with Akane to prepare to go to the Moon. Sometime around this, Sigma received cybernetic arms. This leads up to the events of Virtue's Last Reward, and the cycle of End or Beginning? and AB Project repeat.
D-END: 2[]
Should Diana choose not to fire the gun at Sigma, Phi is incinerated as a penalty for not pulling the trigger. The two despair over the death of Phi and the only memento left of her is her brooch which managed to survive the incineration. However, they are not given long to mourn as they are knocked out by their bracelets. Later, they awaken in the Transporter Room where they learn about the transportation devices in the room and eventually power them up to work. Seeing the transporters as a possible means to escape, they utilize it by copying their atomic data. However, since it can only copy their data, Sigma and Diana are still left in the facility.
Upon awakening once more in Ward D, Sigma and Diana are left stranded in the shelter since Akane had used the X-Door, thus preventing them from leaving themselves. With no way out, Sigma and Diana settle down and wait in hope that Akane will eventually return with help, with little over ten months' worth of food available.
At first, Diana takes things well, finding her time with Sigma to be pleasant and peaceful, free from the worries of the outside world. However, a month into their lock-in, Diana's stress begins to rise, believing that Akane had abandoned them. Sigma reveals that he knows about her past with her abusive ex-husband. She eventually starts drinking heavily and lashes out at Sigma for knowing things he should not, and becomes sick of Sigma's presence.
Sigma becomes concerned when Diana drinks too much and stops acting like herself. He attempts to forcefully take her alcohol, causing Diana to lash out at him. Diana begs Sigma for sex but Sigma remains silent, prompting her to call him a coward with no balls. She asks Sigma to kill her, resulting in Sigma slapping her.
Depressed, Diana returns to the Transporter Room to cry by herself. Sigma eventually comes to her and finally opens up to her, saying that he was afraid of losing her, just as his younger self lost her many years ago, or like the blue bird in the cage represented in her necklace.
Sigma and Diana consummate their relationship in the Transporter and Diana is soon pregnant. Sigma reduces his own rations to give Diana more food in an attempt to guarantee the child is born as healthy as possible. To Sigma's surprise, Diana gives birth to twins November 16th, 2029. However, with no food left in their storage, Sigma and Diana decide to copy the twin's atomic data into the Transporter in order to save them. Before starting the process, the couple gives their children their names. Diana names their son Delta, after Sigma who is also named after a Greek letter as well as having a "D"-name like her. Sigma names their daughter Phi in honor of Phi herself. Diana gives her daughter Phi's brooch and his son the bluebird music box. Needing a safe point to transfer their children, Phi and Delta's codes are sent prior to Zero II's acquisition of the devices, sometime before 2009. Sigma and Diana flip the switch, and hope that their children will live happier lives.
What happens to Sigma, Diana, the original Phi and Delta, and Gab is unknown. It is possible they were rescued, but it is also possible the five of them starved to death.
Force Quit: D[]
With all three teams spreading the votes during the first Decision Game as well as not pressing the yellow button in the Decontamination Room, D-Team, like the others teams, eventually awaken in the Lounge alive, but still by themselves. However, the mysterious Force Quit Box, which was previously closed, is now open. Inside, the screen displays a message asking for "Mother's Mementos". If D-END 2 is completed, Diana realizes that the mementos refer to the gifts she gave to her children in that route. After Diana suddenly embraces Phi, both Sigma and Phi, through morphogenetic resonance, recall that past as well, revealing that Phi is a reconstructed version of their daughter. The family tearfully embrace, now fully aware of their reunion in another history.
CQD-END: 2[]
In the True Ending route, Sigma realizes both Phi and Delta are his children. Sigma learns from Delta that he and Diana were brought into the Decision Game to be stressed, causing epigenetic changes in their reproductive cells, in order to ensure the births of Phi and Delta.
Sigma survives in the True ending of the game. His fate after the events of the Decision Game in this ending is unknown, including whether or not he pursues the religious fanatic with the others, whether or not he still pursues a career in science/medicine, whether or not he returns to college, whether or not he continues his relationship with Diana or returns to his former girlfriend (as it is heavily implied Crash Keys lied about their break up), whether or not he lives with Diana/Phi after, etc.
It is also unknown if Sigma's older consciousness remained in this version of him. However, in the history where he and Diana are trapped in the shelter for ten months, his consciousness does not appear to SHIFT back to 2074. It's possible that his younger consciousness can only return to the timeline arising from the release of Radical-6 and his older consciousness remains in any other timeline.
Given that he remembers his relations with Phi and Diana, it could also be theorized that instead of a consciousness swap, his memories of the events of Zero Time Dilemma and Virtue's Last Reward have all been merged into a single consciousness with all memories.
Quotes[]
Virtue's Last Reward[]
- "A bed. It looks... bedy."
- "I'm always remembering shit!"
- "Goddamnit! You stupid piece of shit!" (when his car doesn't start in a flashback)
- "What do I do... what do I do... I don't know what to do...!" (contemplating ally or betray)
- "What the... you fucking dick!" (to Zero III)
- "Huh? No, wait! We have questions! Of course we have questions! What's the point of this game?! Why did you take US?! Where are we?! And-- and who the hell is the real Zero!?" (to Zero III)
- "Try as I might, I couldn't think of anything I'd done that could have landed me in Zero's game. I hadn't pissed anyone off, at least not THIS bad, I didn't owe anybody money, and my family certainly wasn't rich-- if anyone was hoping to get a fat ransom payout for me, they were going to be very disappointed. Obviously, I wasn't some kind of genius, nor was I an Olympic athlete, and I certainly haven't been chosen by God to fulfill some great purpose on His Earth. Well... at least if I was, I didn't know it yet. Had I started a fight with a frightening and mysterious new religion? No... Had I hacked into some terrorist group's server? No... Had I witnessed an assassination? No... Had I gotten wasted and had a one night stand with the mistress of a prominent politician? Well, yes... But it was just the one time... And SHE was the one who went after ME... Anyway, I was just an ordinary college student. If there was a reason I'd been abducted and put in the Nonary Game, I sure couldn't see it."
- "All right guys, pay attention. You've probably already all figured this out, but we can't keep going like this. If we don't start being a little more trusting, we're never gonna get out of here. We need to work together!"
- "ARGH! GODDAMNIT! ENOUGH ALREADY! Guys, listen to me. We REALLY don't have time for this." (to the other players who are arguing and bickering)
- "...No, wait... wait! Wait wait wait wait WAIT! Why the fuck was I talking so casually about going back in time?! That kind of stuff doesn't happen in real life!"
- "You must be really desperate to get high." (after Phi jumps onto an elevator roof)
- "They say sitting on a park bench with your boyfriend is pretty romantic... You ever done that Luna?"
- "Cool, but... Can you, like... kind of slide it down into your cleavage and then take a bite...?" (to Alice about a cucumber)
- "A lance. Apparently people sat on horses and used them to pierce things. The lances pierced things, I mean. Not the horses."
- "Clover-chan is hella moe! Clover-chan is hella moe!"
- "I just solved the SHIT out of this puzzle!" (after solving the nutritional balance in the pantry)
- "Of course! This machine must be here so we can just make all the ice cream we want—are you nuts?! You're one idiotic girl, you know that? In other words, an IG!" (to Clover about the IG replicator)
- "Would it really kill you to take that disdain down, like, ten percent?" (to Phi)
- "If you're a C cup, I'm packing twelve inches!" (to Phi after she claims she has big breasts)
- "Lemme be straight with you: Your shit is wack. Like, hella wack." (to Phi)
- "My heart sank into my stomach like a lump of lead. I'd lost something very precious. Like they say, trust takes years to build but only a second to break. If only I could have taken that second back... But that was impossible. Life only moves in one direction, and you only get to make your choices once. The past is the past, and it stays there." (after betraying Luna)
- "Our time had run out. We watched the white doors open... Were they doors to heaven...? Or to hell? The thoughts barely had time to flutter through my mind before everything went white. We didn’t even have time to say goodbye. A thousand emotions flooded my brain in those last moments. Why? How? How had we ended up this way? Then a blistering wave of heat, like the surface of the sun itself, wiped out any lingering thoughts. My consciousness slipped away into a bottomless pool of darkness. Neither heaven nor hell... only the void."
- "Hey, that's more than just a little bit. That's like someone trading in a Shih Tzu for a German Shepherd!" (Sigma makes a small and big dog comparison to Clover)
- "Like hell I'm happy! That's some shady shit, Tenmyouji!"
- Tenmyouji: "The last guy I fought went home in an ambulance!"
Sigma: "Shouldn't have picked a fight with a paramedic then!" - "Uh, that's a little too rich for my blood, thanks..." (accidentally calling a prostitution line which charges $24.95 a minute)
- "Well, what do you think? Does a bear shit in the woods?" (to Luna)
- "What?! No! This is ridiculous! I think replacing my arms with robot ones is something I'd remember!"
- "What's it mean by "instrument"? Was she stabbed with a clarinet or something?" (to Luna after she reveals an instrument being used as a murder weapon)
- "No! No you don't! Even if you HAD done something, you would have been killed anyway! You can't blame yourself! You did what you could. You're not wrong! This game is what's wrong! Forcing you to watch your friends die is what's wrong!" (to Luna)
- "Luna! LUNA! It's going to be okay! I'm not gonna let them do this! You're gonna be fine, I promise!"
- "With one last, quiet chime, the music box wound down. I was left with nothing but silence and the cold pool of tears over my heart." (Luna END)
- "Oh God... This is it. It's all over... This is how it ends. That's right... I have to end it. This nightmare will finally be over... Time to... wake up... My fingers scraped across the floor as I picked up the scalpel. I lifted it slowly, carefully, to my neck, as if someone were guiding my hand with theirs... And drew it across my throat." (in Clover END)
- "Wow. Um... Damn. I have... a lot of questions. I don't even know where to start. I don't even know where to start knowing where to start." (learning billions of people died)
- "Akane...? What the fuck!? You KILLED me!"
- "WHAT THE HELL!?" (looking at his bionic arms)
- "Would I... Would WE really be able to change the course of history? No... that was the wrong way to look at it. It couldn't be a question. I HAD to change history. We could save the world. I'm going to change history."
Zero Time Dilemma[]
- "FUCK THAT!" (when Zero says Sigma will be forced to play the Decision Game)
- Diana: "What are you looking at?"
Sigma: "A box."
Phi: "What kind of box?"
Sigma: "Well, I'm looking into it because I don't know." - Phi: "Sigma, why don't you try dying once?"
Sigma: "I politely, but firmly, refrain." - "...Well, there IS something important there." (to Diana, when she examines his special zone)
- "Why not try it on? You might look good." (to Diana, while examining the gas mask in the Trash Disposal Room)
- "I'm sorry... It's all my fault. Forgive me, Diana... I could see how you felt. I knew you were crying out for help. But not once did I offer a hand. I couldn't. If we got too close, then I felt like something would shatter... You said the shelter was peaceful. That happiness could be found here. I knew you were putting on a brave face. In reality, the one who believed what you said... was me. It's just like you said. I'm not brave. I'm a coward and a wimp. Deep down inside, I was scared of change. I didn't want to lose you... Like that time... Like that blue bird..." (to Diana)
- "You know how people claim "unconditional love"? I hated that phrase. I thought it was a lie. I thought, there's no way something like that exists. I'm a selfish bastard. Every time I help someone, in the back of my mind I'm expecting recompense. Whether it be gratitude, praise, or for a higher power to approve of me. But now I know. There really is such a thing as unconditional love in this world." (to Diana)
- "I don't believe in God."
- "If only there was a cat in here. Meow that would purrfectly calm my nerves... Ah, if you can't tail, I kind of have a litter tic. Whenever I talk about cats, I..."
- "You don't have to say anything... This is enough for now..." (hugging Phi and Diana)
Trivia[]
Hints of true appearance[]
One of the biggest plot twists in VLR is that Sigma is actually 67 years old; although all of the other characters can clearly see this, the player doesn't learn this until the very end because up until the very end of the game (when Sigma sees his reflection in the pond in the B. Garden), there are no cutscene photos or videos that show Sigma's face that take place in the present day. The clear shots of Sigma's face shown in his flashbacks to his last memories before being kidnapped after Round 1, as well as promotional material for the game (like the box art and cover art), would all mislead the player into thinking that he looked the same but he was actually quite different.
There are a number of hints as to his true appearance:
- Right at the start of the game, Phi says to Sigma, "Back off Grandpa!".
- Soon after choosing Ally in Round 2 of the AB Game in the path to Sigma END, Dio says, "Hey man, it was a joke. You remember what that is? A joke? You're in pretty bad shape, huh..."
- During Sigma END, Dio says, "Thanks to this old fart, you get to try and defuse a bunch of activated bombs on a countdown." Although one could interpret the "old fart" as Tenmyouji who took the detonator from Dio, it could also be interpreted as Sigma who accused Dio of planting the bombs and caused the entire situation in the first place. It is unknown if Dio was referring to Sigma or Tenmyouji, but the ambiguous possibility of Sigma is notable.
- When Sigma tells Phi his age, she retorts with "You must have done a lot of drugs to look like that at 22". In response, Sigma calls her a "little punk", and Phi replies, "Don't call me little! I'm an adult, you dried-up asshole!"
- Near the end of K END, Phi says that she feels tired just looking at Sigma and that his face is like a "week-old sock".
- Alice says Sigma reminds her of her father.
- On the Cyan route, Sigma mentions that he's studying for a PhD. Alice comments that he must have been studying for it for a while.
- In the Treatment Center, Sigma says there's nothing strange about a clock, to which Clover points out five abnormalities. At the end of this conversation, she says, "Your eyes must be worse than I thought."
- When checking on Dio in the Infirmary after already passing through the Cyan door, Sigma explains that he searched every inch of this room, to which Dio replies "I don't trust your eyes" and insists on inspecting it further.
- There's a number of times when the characters will tell Sigma he should rest, only for Sigma to refuse. Admittedly, this is not so much a hint as it is something that makes sense in retrospect.
- During Quark END (which requires significant progress in the game to get to), Dio refers to Sigma as a "senile old fuck". This is perhaps the clearest hint.
- In one route, Phi says, "Oh... I guess your hearing's starting to go. How sad..." when Sigma doesn't notice her. Sigma is somewhat offended and thinks Phi is joking around, but Phi remains serious.
- Characters in the game tend to get disturbed when Sigma makes passes at the female players. This makes sense because from their POV, Sigma is a perverted old guy making sexually suggestive comments.
- The game's cover shows Sigma with gray-white hair and a light in his eye - the eye he lost.
Additionally, Sigma is given a true face and a young man's voice in the anime. It can be theorized that the shots of his face and the sounds of his voice are Sigma's imagination, as he still has his 22-year old mind.
Other Trivia[]
- There is art of Sigma with one hand behind his head that has existed since the game's release, but it is unknown if it is actually official or fanart as no official source has been given.
- Sigma was designed to look on the "manly" and "mature" side because the developers wanted him to contrast the "boyish" look of Junpei.[2]
- Sigma's surname Klim is a short form for the Russian and Ukrainian version of the given name Clement, the name of 14 popes and Clement of Alexandria, a 3rd-century theologian who attempted to reconcile Christian and Platonic philosophies.[3] However, any significance of why his surname is Klim is unknown. It may be a cat reference since "klim" reversed is "milk" and cats are stereotypically depicted drinking milk, despite that they should not. When Sigma cuts his hand, he also comments it's spilled milk.
- As noted in his childhood, Sigma met magical black and white cats. This may be a reference to the magical cats Luna and Artemis from Sailor Moon, as Zero Escape has pop culture references to many things including anime. Coincidentally, the Sailor Moon series has Luna and Artemis have a cat named Diana. "Luna" and "Diana" are the names of important characters in the Zero Escape series.
- Sigma in the anime, and ? in the game (who would have the exact same voice as Sigma or Kyle at age 22) is played by Troy Baker. However, in Zero Time Dilemma, Sigma is played by Matthew Mercer. (This trait of changing from being voiced by Baker to Mercer is a trait also shared with Kanji Tatsumi from the Persona 4 sub-series, and Valvatorez from the Disgaea series). Sigma is one of two characters who changes actors, the other being Akane Kurashiki.
- In Zero Time Dilemma, Sigma says he "doesn't believe in God", implying he's an atheist or agnostic.
- In Virtue's Last Reward, he says "There is no god..." after K rides in the Rec Room.
- However, also in Virtue's Last Reward, Sigma mentions "I certainly haven't been chosen by God to fulfill some great purpose on His Earth. Well... at least if I was, I didn't know it yet." although it's possible he's being sarcastic.
- In Manufacturing, when discussing with Diana and Phi what might happen if they set a bomb timer, he says, "Only God knows..." He also says, "Thank God" when he learns Phi is okay in the incinerator at the start of the escape from the Trash Disposal Room. This seems to contradict his assertion that he doesn't believe in God, although he could have been speaking idiomatically.
- This is in contrast to Akane, who is implied to be theist.
- Sigma knows a little bit about Japanese culture, such as Setsubun, since one of his friends at school is a Japanese exchange student.
- In the 3DS escape rooms of Virtue's Last Reward, the bottom screen could represent what Sigma is seeing through his bionic eye, or perhaps the "underlying mechanics" which allow him to see.
- It may also be Delta or ? (or both if Delta = ?) watching his father's actions. When Zero is revealed in Zero Time Dilemma in Q-END:2, there is a noticeable green tint. It is possible Sigma's eye is connected to Delta's sunglasses.
- It implied that the "Memo" feature of the game represents Sigma's brain, which would explain why Sigma has stellar memory.
- When asked how Sigma doesn't feel his robotic eye, Ben Bateman (localizer) hypothesized that his mechanical arms were programmed to not feel the response of the fake eye, so he feels a real eye. Uchikoshi agreed to this.[4]
- Sigma (excluding Zero Sr.) is the only character in Virtue's Last Reward who does not have a voice actor. He is only voiced in the non-canon anime by Troy Baker. However, Troy Baker's voice is used when ? is in Kyle's body during the Another Time end, implying Sigma might sound similar to Troy Baker. This is true, since Matthew Mercer voices Sigma in Zero Time Dilemma and is considered Troy Baker's voice double.
- When Sigma is a pair in the Nonary Game, he is almost always paired with a female character. The only exception is Phi END, where he is paired with Dio. He also almost always goes through a Chromatic Door with a female, except for in Tenmyouji END, when he goes through the White Door with Tenmyouji and Quark.
- His name, Sigma, is the 18th letter in the Greek alphabet. This could be a reference to his status as the second protagonist of a series revolving around the number 9 (9x2=18).
- In 999, Junpei sees himself on a mirror right at the start. One of the last things Sigma does in the game is looking at his reflection, which is sort of a throwback to the previous game, but as an antithesis.
- In the Crew Quarters, Sigma has to obtain a sheet of aluminum foil, and observes that it is really reflective. Because of this, it is extremely strange that he didn't notice his reflection on the foil. The same concept applies in the B. Garden, where he somehow managed not to see his reflection in the river during the entirety of his visit.
- Unlike 999, where there are several scenes where Junpei's face is seen, Sigma's face is never seen except for in the flashback of his abduction. This is to keep the truth about Sigma's age in VLR a secret. However, Sigma's hair can be seen in the security image in which K drags him and Phi into the white door during Luna END. It is easier to see in higher resolution versions of the game, as opposed to the 3DS version.
- Sigma's Greek letter is used to denote Metallic ratios in Mathematics. The first and most known ratio is the golden ratio, can also denoted as σ1. But it is usually denoted as Phi's Greek letter Φ. This relation in mathematics may be a hint to Sigma and Phi's relationship.
- In the Pod Room, there is a family portrait. It is possible the man in the portrait is supposed to be Sigma. However, there is a possibility it is Delta's adoptive father.
- In the Locker Room, Sigma claims he works with a screwdriver often. This, combined with his outfit in Virtue's Last Reward, implies that he may be a part time mechanic along with being a college student. However, one must also consider that this is a comment from Sigma's older consciousness, and it could be a reference to him working with all the machinery on the AB Project.
- Sigma foreshadows he's Phi's father twice by saying "we have a lost child here" and "your parents must've been real characters" to Phi during Outbreak (2). Furthermore, when he says that latter, the camera focuses on him and Diana, side by side.[5]
- In the Trash Disposal Room, Sigma implies that he's familiar with Diana's measurements when he asks Diana to take off her clothes to refute Phi's assertion that her breasts are large.
- Sigma was intended to be the sole protagonist of Zero Time Dilemma, but that was changed early in the game's development. Uchikoshi felt that giving the players control of someone who knows everything from the previous game would be undesirable for new players, hence why all three protagonists are nescient to the events of previous games.
- Sigma has a foot fetish and particularly likes the thumb of the foot.[6]
- Sigma's status screen doll is a nutcracker. They are popular during Christmas, a potential reference to how Sigma's life was changed dramatically when it all began when he was kidnapped on Christmas.
- Sigma's X-Passes are Arm, Old, Milk, Fate and Dad.
- Arm - Sigma's arms are replaced.
- Old - Sigma has the personality and memories of an old man in his youthful body.
- Milk - "Milk" is his surname, "Klim", backwards, and a possible reference to the MILKEVOLI password in VLR.
- Fate - Sigma will have a destiny to obey in order to save the world in the pathway leading to VLR.
- Dad - Sigma is the father of Delta, Phi, and is also in essence the father of Kyle Klim.
- Sigma and Akane never do any escape rooms together despite being players in both Virtue's Last Reward and Zero Time Dilemma. In the former, Sigma never accompanies K through any escape rooms while Akane is inhabiting his armor, and in the latter, Sigma and Akane are put into two different teams by Zero II.