Thank you Aksys Games for sending us a review code!

Norn9: Var Commons was originally released in 2015 for the PlayStation Vita. Eight years later, it was launched on the Nintendo Switch. While I haven’t played it on the Vita, I’m thankful this game has been released on a newer platform.

Norn9: Var Commons has multiple protagonists, but you originally start playing as a child prodigy named Sorota. While he’s on a school field trip he finds himself in a different time period and his only hope of returning home is to join a bunch on teenagers on a flying spaceship.

Many of the teenagers on the ship dubbed Norn9 have special abilities and are called espers. Some of the espers openly use their powers, but many of them keep their abilities secret. Their abilities range from seeing the future/past, calling down water/flames, purging memories, sprouting plant life, telepathy, or controlling people’s dreams.

The ship’s crew is being guided by an entity called “The World” whose mission is world peace. The group of teenagers are prepared to use their powers to fight wars and consider the possibility of being on opposing sides with some of their friends in the near future. If that isn’t enough stress, the Norn9 is being attacked from the inside which means that there is at least one traitor onboard. As you play through the nine different routes, you’ll get to see multiple perspectives and learn about the tragic backstories of some of the characters.

Depending on the choices made by Sorota, the rest of the game is played as one of three female characters who in turn get to select who they will be paired up with to figure out the traitor’s identity. In true otome (reverse harem) fashion, the pairing turns romantic if you make the right dialogue choices. You’ll topically know right away if your response raises their affection towards you and you can check their affection level using the system menu at any time. There are helpful internet guides available, but some of the choices are timed so you’ll have to think fast. I do like how you can skip previously read text and move to the next dialogue choice to save time.

You can earn points by watching silly TV shows produced by talking chicks on the Norn9 or by playing mini-games. Points can be spent on unlocking short stories for each of the eligible bachelors. While I enjoyed most routes, a couple of the bachelors were complete duds in my opinion.

Some of the routes end with kissing, but a few of them go much further with implied sexual encounters. In some cases, you’ll see a still image with a guy on top of or beside the female protagonist. Nudity is not shown, but some of the guys are shown in bathing suits and one of them refuses to use shirt buttons. Blood is shown and there are some violent scenarios described. Language is used heavily throughout the game and pretty much all of the words with exception of the F-bomb are used. The Lord’s name is dropped casually as well with a lower case g.

Aside from the moral issues, I enjoyed learning about the characters on the Norn9 destined to save humanity from annihilating itself. A prequel, Norn9: Last Era has since been released and I’ll have to keep an eye out for a sale for that game.