Class of ’09
New Games
Class of ’09: A Satire of High School Visual Novels
SBN3 built Class of ’09 as a running argument with the dating-sim genre. You play Nicole, a cynical transfer student who lands in an American high school in the late 2000s with no interest in being liked — and the script rewards exactly that.
Tone and Setting
The era carries the joke rather than decorating it. Sidekick phones, My Chemical Romance on repeat, and flattened 2007 slang give Nicole's nihilism something to bounce off, and every adult in the building is a parody that never gets the last word — the earnest guidance counselor, the coach who peaked in high school, the rivals too committed to their own arcs to notice hers. The dialogue does most of the heavy lifting, and full voice acting keeps every delivery bored and flat even when a scene turns absurd. It walks up to taboo material and keeps going, which is either why the game has the following it does or why you should skip it.
Nicole is the reason it holds together. She manipulates, insults and sabotages her way through ordinary school events, and because she is never framed as being in the wrong, you are left deciding for yourself how bad she actually is. That ambiguity is the joke, and it never gets resolved for you.
How It Plays
Structurally Class of ’09 is a choose-your-own-adventure built for repetition. Branches split early, the script pushes scenes somewhere worse rather than better when you pick the honest option, and several endings sit behind curiosity instead of good behaviour. Nobody hands you a moral. Routes reframe scenes you thought you understood, which is the real reason to replay: take the polite answer on a second run and watch how differently a character reacts to it. A single route runs about as long as a lunch break, and there is a follow-up game here too once you finish — The Flip Side continues the same cast from another angle.
Before Your First Period
- Chase the option that looks like a mistake — the sharpest lines hide behind it.
- Keep the sound on; vocal timing carries half the jokes.
- Do not beeline for one route. Recontextualised scenes are where most of the writing lives.
- Treat it as mature viewing. Bleak, taboo and deliberately offensive material is the point.
Playing Free in Your Browser
The full version of Class of ’09 runs in the frame above with no download and no sign-up. Progress depends on choices rather than reflexes, so it plays fine on a trackpad and suits short sessions. Load it here on Fun Clicker, pick the rudest answer available, and find out how far Nicole can push a school that has it coming.