Curate of Curiosities

The first time I played this game, I thought it was missing a few things.

One, as I already stated in my final words on this game, was a proper ending tracker. The closest thing it had to one on launch was those text files that pop up after each ending.

The other was an unlockable true ending.

On October 2022, the game received an update that, sure enough, added both of the things I was asking for.

Not only that, but this episode finally reveals the purpose of the text files accompanying the endings: they're supposed to be text messages. While the sender's identity isn't explicitly revealed in these messages, it's very obvious that Jeffrey's the only person who could resonably hold enough of a grudge against Nicole to send them.

Get all fifteen endings, and, instead of a text message, a video message appears in the main menu. Clicking on it gives you the game's true ending.

Compared to the rest of the game, the presentation in this ending is rather understated; it consists of a single scene, taking place after the main cast has graduated. I can reasonably see this as taking place after Kylar's route, given his absence.

This ending, like the one where Nicole offs herself, encapsulates most of the game's themes, and far more concisely at that. While she has mentioned them in the aforementioned ending, this is, from what I can tell, the only time she discusses them with another character, namely Jeffrey.

Since all of the text messages were written by him, it only makes sense that he play a major role in this ending. Here, he blames Nicole for apparently ruining the graduation ceremony, then calls her out for her attitude towards those who try to be nice to her.

Then Nicole just disgorges the game's message in Jeffrey's face. Whatever problems he suffers from are nothing compared to middle-aged men wanting to rape you. The message falls on deaf ears, though, as Jeffrey states that he would much rather be harassed than lonely. Since the creator is obviously biased against anime nerds, Nicole immediately assumes that he's going to try to murder her (which, to be fair, he does in his ending). The scene ends with her taunting Jeffrey on how he's going to have to shoot up every college in the country if he wants to get to her.

That's our Nicole, a cold-hearted sociopath through and through. While some people might take offence to the fact that Jeffrey is barely given a chance to get a word in edgewise, it's perfectly in character for this game; do you really expect that these two girls will suddenly start considering what some weeb has to say about his problems? (Or, come to think of it, anyone who tries to convince them that being uncaring and manipulative isn't the best way to go through life?)

With that, it looks like I'm truly done with this game. One last thing, though: the game is going to receive an updated version later in 2023. Never mind the fact that the game has been out for less than two years.

ADDENDUM 8/7/2023: So, Class of '09: The Re-Up has been out for a while. Turns out it's not an updated version at all. It looks like it can best be called a standalone expansion. Here's the intro:

Given that it came out only two years after the original game, I wasn't sure what to expect going in, Despite only having 7 endings in comparison to the original's 15, the routes are more fleshed out here, so both games end up having roughly the same amount of content. Here are just some of the things you can do in this game:

• Trigger your classmate's eating disorder,
• Snort your mother's heart medication, causing her to have a heart attack and die,
• Get shot for attempting to shoplift,
• Deal crack in the hood under the guise of required community service,
• Get sent another dick pic,
• Plagiarize Mein Kampf for an English assignment

Clearly, SBN3 is far from losing his touch with this game.