Norn9: Var Commons Review

Storyline:
You initially start out as Sorata, a 12-year-old boy on a field trip when he suddenly hears a voice singing. Suddenly everything goes black, and he wakes up in the middle of the street in an odd place. After asking countless people, he runs into a girl who could not remember her own name, it turns out he traveled back in time to the year 1919. Having nowhere else to turn, she offered him to travel with her. Honestly, at this point, I was convinced that I was playing a boy's visual novel- but it's not, I promise! 

They end up going onto a giant space looking thingy called The World (keep in mind this is the year 1919). When you board, you meet 11 others who all have some sort of secret superpowers. At one point, you have to choose which of the three girl characters you will accompany- this is essentially your character selection screen. Take note that each girl has three love interests that you can pursue, so pick the girl based on which guy you want. While you are accompanying the girl, the ship gets attacked by people with futuristic technology.

'The World' Ship

While investigating an explosion, they realize that the explosion occurred from within The Wolrd. Not only this, but there are 9 rooms and 11 people with 'powers' onboard, so someone must be an intruder. However, due to a prior agreement that no one has to tell their background or their power to anyone, they split off into teams to keep an eye on everyone- this is your route selection point. In every storyline, you learn a bit of the truth of the function of 'The World' and why the characters have powers. There is more to this world's time functionality than what meets the eye.

Review:
Initially, the unique function that this game had left me in a bit of confusion of whether I really bought an Otome or not. However, in the end, this ended up being one of my most favorite things about this game- you not only have three different characters but three options of personalities and backstories. This consists of the generic innocent-cheerful type (Koharu), the tsundere type (Mikoto), and the emotionless-seeming type (Nanami). Having the ability to switch between the three characters allowed the game not to feel redundant- especially when bindging the game.

I really loved learning the truth behind 'The World' and realizing why time seemed strange. Honestly, it left me speechless. This made Sorata a really cool addition to the game that I came to appreciate later on. So at the end on the route, not only do I feel satisfied with the romance, but also feel the excitement to learn what is really happening behind-the-scenes~ I give it five stars out of five stars on story-line originality. Not only this, but this an obvious highly funded otome with an amazing art style and music track as well. It is also a relatively long game too, which can be an upside or downside depending on what type of person you are. Overall, I'd recommend it. As of right now, this game is only available on the PlayStation Vita, but if you own one- place this game on your 'to play' list!