Goodbye Volcano High Review: Dino-Mite

High school is a mixed bag of emotions. The excitement of what lies ahead paired with the social anxiety of drama can elicit some horrible flashbacks for many of us. Even with that, the positive memories also emerge - nights and events you think of fondly, that through hindsight, were cornerstones to the person you’ve become (and continue to evolve into). However, what if you were dealing with all the upheavals of high school life, family frustrations, and social balancing…all with a giant meteor hurtling towards Earth. That is Goodbye Volcano High.

Raptor Around The Campfire

In Goodbye Volcano High you play as Fang, an anthropomorphic dinosaur who is a senior in high school. Fang is also the lead singer to an up-and-coming band with their friends trying to make it big on the scene. Throughout the game, you’re introduced to various other teenagers and people within Fang’s sphere of influence. Like in any high school, drama will ensue, tensions will emerge, and learning to deal with other people and emotions will be a challenge not only for Fang, but for the relationships that they create throughout the game. 

I was very much impressed by the authenticity of the conversations and scenarios that Fang was placed in. Though Fang is an anthropomorphic dinosaur in a distant past, but also has modern technology (just go with it), I resonated with much of what they were struggling with, while also trying to learn how to foster various multitudes of relationships. Even with the end of the world as a backdrop to propel conversations of fearing the future and deciding what paths to choose into adulthood, the grounded discussions can serve as parallels to anyone playing the game and what they’ve experienced through growing up. Parental tensions, friendships changing into unknown territories, and foggy futures can be easily translated into own own experiences and relatable to some level for everyone.

Social media and alternate forms of communication are also presented in a much more realistic integration within Goodbye Volcano High as compared to many other games within the past few years. A mostly optional Twitter-esque feed is always updating with peer’s thoughts on current scenarios, Top Ten lists, and even an occasional conspiracy theory or two. This, paired with Fang’s quieter moments through texts, continued to push more realistic interactions that players would be familiar with.

Create-Osaurus Gameplay

Goodbye Volcano High is aimed as a cinematic choice-based interactive novel, but does more than simply present dialogue options. To further engage players into the psyche of Fang, KO_OP layered the decisions even further. For many of the more impactful options, the game presents some options with a sharp shine to them to symbolize a sharp aggressive response; other times a bubbly looking option symbolizes a truly wholesome answer towards the character you’re speaking to. In addition to the individualized comments, the game also jumbles up or changes the options in a fuzzy-staticy way, which could symbolize teenagers struggling to not only decide on their response, but to fully wrap their heads into what’s happening. There were even moments when the decisions actively fought against what I wanted to choose - the PlayStation 5 controller’s haptic feedback made the hard decisions literally more difficult than ever. 

Since Fang is the lead singer of their band “Worm Drama”, it was a natural decision to have various rhythm-based sections of the game. What I enjoyed even further was that there were numerous opportunities for me as the player to choose what lyrics from a preset list I could utilize. This allowed me to create my own interpretations of songs and how I felt (either as myself or how I wanted Fang to interpret the scenarios). Ultimately, these lyrical choices did not drastically alter the story, but rather shaded Fang into the character I wanted them to personify. In terms of the rhythm-based sections, they ultimately did not pose any sort of challenge, but instead were a fun bop to enjoy the stellar set pieces that the game wanted to focus their attention on. However, I did encounter a few moments where the accuracy of the button inputs were put into question. But, despite those occasional inaccuracies, the flow of the gameplay and songs weren’t hindered too much.

Less exciting than the stellar though were the micro games sprinkled throughout the game. Pushing clothes away to find a specific item or clicking on random high school students to see their social feeds, didn’t enhance the game at all and felt more like an “obligatory push” to give the illusion of more gameplay despite any big stakes in them. There’s also optional Memories that you can unlock based on decisions made throughout the playthrough. Though these Memories offer some backstory, they’re a bit of a mixed bag. They’re presented more as a comic-style overlapping grids with absolutely no sound nor voiced dialogue - it was almost like an active choice to keep these mute, but made it more of an awkward reading session.

Evolved Presentation

With all this, I was also thoroughly impressed by the sheer level of beauty of the 2D animations of the characters within Goodbye Volcano High. The expressions, animations, and voicework were all a top-notch effort from the team. I kept forgetting that this was a game and not an animated show due to the level of quality presented throughout. There were a few moments in the beginning few scenes where the voices didn’t match the mouths, but it seemed to have quickly resolved and did not hinder the overall experience.

Breakdown

Game: Goodbye Volcano High

Developer: KO_OP

Availability: PC, PlayStation 4/5

Reviewed on PlayStation 5

Pros:

+ Incredible score and song tracks

+ Relatable social struggles and scenarios

+ Fantastic voice cast

Cons:

- Unnecessary minigames

Final Thoughts

Goodbye Volcano High is a fantastic narrative that provides themes and stories that are relatable to players of all ages and experiences. The team at KO_OP balances the wonderful teenage angst with meaningful storytelling, fantastic music, and animation that few can match. Goodbye Volcano High forced me to look within and see how I approached scenarios as a know-it-all 18 year old versus how I would respond some 10+ years later. This six hour adventure is required playing for those that appreciate a powerful coming of age story that is presented in a new and unique way.

Reviewed by Harry Loizides