Class of '09 (franchise)

Lore & Background

The visual novels follow high school students Nicole (voiced by Elsie Lovelock) and Jecka (voiced by Kayli Mills), who quickly become friends, collaborating on various unethical schemes or attempts to bully, manipulate, and undermine their peers. Both characters live in a fictionalized version of Springfield, Virginia and regularly travel to the surrounding Washington metropolitan area. The first three installments in the series are set between the fall of 2007 and the Summer of 2009.

Reader's Guide

The visual novels consist primarily of voiced dialogue interspersed with narrative choices, which the player selects through pop-up text messages on an on-screen mobile phone: a T-Mobile Sidekick in the first two games and a Motorola Razr in the third. Every line of dialogue in the trilogy is voice-acted. The degree of interactivity varies across the series: the first game has 15 endings, the second has seven, and the third has five, with longer non-interactive sequences between decisions. Unlocking an ending adds a new message to the phone on the title screen.

Did You Know?

• The first game, Class of '09, was released as freeware on itch.io on October 8, 2020, followed by a commercial release for Linux, macOS, and Windows on June 10, 2021.
• Class of '09: The Re-Up was released on June 1, 2023, and Class of '09: The Flip Side on September 23, 2024.
• A fourth game, Class of '09: Puzzle Showdown, was announced on June 12, 2026, with a release date of July 17, 2026; it departs from the visual novel format in favor of story-based puzzle gameplay.
• The series has also produced several animated shorts.

Creative Vision & Solo Authorship

Max "SBN3" Field is the singular creative engine behind the entire Class of '09 franchise, handling the writing, game development, and voice performance for several of the male characters. Published under the Wrath Club banner for personal computers, the series carries the unmistakable stamp of one person's comedic sensibility and narrative instincts. Field has deliberately positioned the first game against the visual novel genre, branding it an "anti-visual novel," a "rejection sim," and an "interactive sitcom"—labels that signal a desire to subvert player expectations rather than reward them. The stories are set in a fictionalized Springfield, Virginia, with the characters regularly venturing into the broader Washington metropolitan area. The temporal scope of the first three installments spans from the fall of 2007 through the summer of 2009, anchoring the narratives in a specific, finite stretch of high school life. Field's hands-on involvement across writing, design, and performance gives the series a singular authorial voice that distinguishes it from more committee-driven visual novel productions.

Gameplay Mechanics & Structural Design

The trilogy delivers its interactivity through a distinctive mechanic: narrative choices appear as pop-up text messages on an in-game mobile phone, a T-Mobile Sidekick in the first two entries and a Motorola Razr in the third. Every single line of dialogue across all three visual novels is fully voice-acted, a production choice reviewers have flagged as rare among English-language visual novels. The degree of player agency shifts noticeably between installments. The first game offers fifteen distinct endings punctuated by frequent decision points, while the second narrows to seven endings with longer stretches of non-interactive narrative, and the third reduces further to five endings with even more extended sequences between choices. The Re-Up introduces thirteen different opening scenarios, all centered on Nicole skipping class, which eventually converge at a shared branching point. Unlocking any ending deposits a new message onto the title-screen phone, typically describing what happens next in that particular timeline. The game itself is personified, described as being as florid as its characters.

Dark Subject Matter & Character Complexity

Beneath the comedic framing, the series tackles genuinely heavy material. In the first game, Nicole openly identifies as a sociopath in her opening monologue, and her backstory includes a father who died by suicide, with his note reading only "I blame Nicole." The school environment is populated by deeply flawed adults: a photography teacher recruiting students into white-nationalist extremism, a gym coach and a guidance counselor both engaging in sexual misconduct toward female students. Nicole's recurring alcohol and drug abuse threads through the narrative. The Re-Up escalates further, with routes involving Nicole manufacturing and selling crack cocaine or performing sex work, and exposing teachers' secrets including drug addiction and use of online prostitution services. The Flip Side shifts perspective to Jecka, whose storylines include an abusive father, a coercive sexual relationship with her history teacher Mr. Katz, and involvement in foot-fetish sex work to cover household bills. In one route, Jecka and Kelly uncover a shopping mall operating as a front for distributing child sexual abuse material. The series pairs its comedic tone with unflinching depictions of harm.

Release History & Critical Response

The franchise's release path reflects an indie development trajectory. The first game launched as freeware on itch.io in October 2020 before receiving a commercial release across Linux, macOS, and Windows in June 2021. The Re-Up followed in June 2023, and The Flip Side arrived in September 2024. A fourth entry, Class of '09: Puzzle Showdown, was announced in June 2026 with a July 2026 release date, marking a departure from the visual novel format toward story-based puzzle gameplay. Critically, the first two installments earned generally positive reviews from independent outlets, with particular praise for the voice acting and comedic writing. The Flip Side, however, drew a more negative critical response, a shift that may reflect the more constrained narrative structure and darker thematic focus. The series has also extended beyond the games themselves, producing several animated shorts that expand the world and characters. The steady cadence of releases suggests a sustainable creative pipeline for Field and the Wrath Club team.