Yahoo News Goodbye Volcano High review: Is Sabrina star's game worth playing?
The world is ending in Goodbye Volcano High. But this isn't like a typical blockbuster Marvel movie, where the superpowered lead character saves the day.
The events of the visual novel play out in a much more low-key manner. In a world where all of the characters are anthropomorphic dinosaurs, the story centres on pterodactyl student Fang, voiced by Chilling Adventures of Sabrina's Lachlan Watson, who starts their final year of school too distracted to care about their teacher's advice on careers and preparing for life after graduation.
Fang instead can't stop thinking about their band Worm Drama, desperate to play at the upcoming Battle of the Bands with ambitions for the group to go touring afterwards.
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Despite graduation looming, Fang is left bemused that their bandmates don't seem to share the same commitment and drive. But everyone is thrown a life-changing curveball when they learn that an asteroid is headed for earth.
What works about Goodbye Volcano High is how it tells a heartfelt story that encourages you to make the most out of life, while portraying school drama in a pleasantly restrained manner. The cast of characters, including Fang's school friends, and the game's focus on queer friendships and relationships are central to making the emotional beats land, particularly near the end.
In addition, the way the story integrates the band's music into the gameplay experience through rhythm-game segments, bringing to life Worm Drama's aspirations, is smart (though not without its issues). That Worm Drama's indie pop music is rather good is a bonus.
But throughout, there are aspects that hold back the overall experience and that impede the enjoyment of the narrative in frustrating ways.
Take the rhythm-game segments, for example. While the idea behind it is great, it's prevented from hitting its full potential in part due to a lack of option to calibrate the visuals and audio, leading to – with our PC setup, at least – button presses that did not feel like they were synced with the music or that registered as misses.
Even more glaring for us is the lack of subtitles during the songs, which seems like an unusual oversight considering the inclusive nature of the game.
For those who rely on subtitles (like this writer), not being able to take in the lyrics and content of the song leads to moments where it feels like you're missing out on relevant context in Fang's story.
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Also odd is, when faced with choosing dialogue responses during conversations, the game's decision not to keep displayed the most recent line of dialogue, which is usually a basic and obvious quality-of-life feature to include.
The other significant issue is the pacing of the narrative. Though this is a slice-of-life game that portrays some of the more mundane parts of school life, there are slower-paced scenes and sequences that feel like they drag without adding much of value.
These flaws do get in the way of the storytelling and what the developer has set out to achieve, but KO_OP's game has a lot of heart with some interesting ideas, which makes pushing past the frustrations a worthwhile endeavour.
At its best, Fang and their friends' journey is affecting and thought-provoking, and while their time threatens to be cruelly cut short, the time we spent at Volcano High was mostly well-spent.
Platform reviewed on: PC
Goodbye Volcano High is out now on PC, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.
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