Ludography
61/100
Players7 ratings
90/100
Critics1 review
More scores
Metacritic13 critic reviews
82/100
Metacritic usersuser score
53/100
GameFAQsSimple
3.67/5
Player reviews
89% positive1,679 reviews
Steam Deck
Verified
Runs on
Windows
Price
US$29.99

Where to get it

Goodbye Volcano High cover

2023 · Sweet Baby Inc. · Adventure · Indie

Goodbye Volcano High

PlayStation console exclusive

Fang is a typical 18-year-old dinosaur: they’re more concerned about their band going viral than they are about what happens after graduation. But they’re about to have much bigger problems. Will they find time to figure themselves out? Can they balance a potential apocalypse and a budding romance?

Released
29 August 2023
Platforms
PlayStation 4PlayStation 5Windows
Genres
AdventureIndieRhythmVisual novel
Developers
Sweet Baby Inc.
Publishers
—
Modes
Single-player
Themes
DramaRomance
Country
Canada
Age ratings
ESRB T
Languages
English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Spanish (Spain)
Time to beat
6.5hmain story7hcompletionist

About

Goodbye Volcano High is a narrative adventure game by KO_OP. It was announced on 11 June 2020, and was released on 29 August 2023 for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Windows.

Players say

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The player selects dialogue choices and controls rhythm minigames during performances by the band Worm Drama.

Story

Set in a world of anthropomorphic dinosaurs, the game centers on the members of the band Worm Drama; the non-binary lead vocalist Fang the pterodactyl (Lachlan Watson), guitarist Trish the triceratops (Ozioma Akagha) and drummer Reed the velociraptor (Mark Whitten), alongside the school's student council president Naomi the parasaurolophus (Allegra Clark) and Fang's brother Naser (Abe Bueno-Jallad), - as they venture through the highs and lows of their final year as Volcano High seniors with graduation looming over the horizon while coming to terms with their own impending extinction from an asteroid.

Development

The game was initially announced during PlayStation's "Future of Gaming" online presentation on 11 June 2020, with a release window of 2021. In August 2021, KO_OP announced a delay of Goodbye Volcano High's release until sometime in 2022. The developers wanted to avoid crunch related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and had already brought in a new writing team from Sweet Baby Inc. in June 2020 to reboot the game's entire narrative direction.

The new narrative direction was largely inspired by the experiences of high school seniors graduating during the pandemic. In November 2022, the game was delayed to 2023. A new gameplay trailer premiered during a PlayStation "State of Play" presentation on 23 February 2023, announcing a release date of 15 June but was delayed to 29 August. Prior to release, demos of the game were showcased at the 2023 Game Developers Conference as part of the "Day of the Devs" selection, PAX East 2023, and at the 2023 Tribeca Festival as part of the "Games & Immersive Experience" selection.

Reception

Following the revamped game's showing at PAX East 2023, it was positively received by critics. Kyle LeClair of Hardcore Gamer praised the game, saying its rhythm game elements had the "perfect level of challenge", and that its music was "ear-pleasing". He called the character designs "striking", praising Fang as a "terrific and likeable protagonist" with "great voice acting", and predicting it would be a "deep and unique tale". Rachel Watts of Rock Paper Shotgun wrote that she "had a great time with the demo", comparing it to the adventure game Life Is Strange.

In June 2021, anonymous 4chan users under the name Cavemanon created Snoot Game, an "anti-fangame" intended as a rival version of the game, which was described by a KO_OP developer as "not made in good faith" due to Snoot Game's anti-queer messaging.

Awards

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
PlayStation 529 August 2023Worldwide
Windows29 August 2023Worldwide
PlayStation 429 August 2023Worldwide

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Years

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.