Goodbye Volcano High

### Languages

Audio: EnglishSubtitles: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish (Spain), Japanese, Russian

### Rating

T

***Goodbye Volcano High*** is a cinematic interactive narrative game developed by Canadian indie studio KO\_OP. It was released on August 29, 2023 for the PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and on Windows PC via Steam.

Set in the world of anthropomorphic dinosaurs on a continent called Pangea, the story revolves around a pterodactyl in their late teens known as Fang. However, news breaks out that an asteroid has been detected on its way to strike Earth. At the high school, Volcano High, located in the town of Caldera Bay, Fang struggles with their dreams of pursuing a career as a musician, as well as keeping their friend group together.

The story is also set in the 2021-2022 school year. However, this should not be confused for being the CE era due to Pangea being a continent, implying the story is still set millions of years in the past, and that the calendar system the dinosaurs use has become obsolete with all evidence of their civilization (excluding their bones) being lost.

## Characters

### Main characters (Dinogang)

* **Fang** (voice: Lachlan Watson, and Brigitte Naggar in songs) - Fang is an eighteen-year-old senior student at Volcano High. A pterodactyl with feathered wings and grey skin, Fang is an aspiring musician who plays guitar and sings for the band Worm Drama.
* **Reed** (voice: Mark Whitten) - The drummer of Worm Drama, Reed is a pink-skinned velociraptor.
* **Trish** (voice: Ozioma Akagha) - A second guitarist for Worm Drama, Trish is a purple-skinned triceratops who is Fang's closest friend and loves studying insects. She has a pet worm called Mango.
* **Naser** (voice: Abe Bueno-Jallad) - Fang's younger brother involved with many school extracurricular. Fang occasionally clashes with Naser in arguments sometimes, but the siblings look out for each other.
* **Naomi** (voice: Allegra Clark) - The student council president. Because Naomi and Naser are close friends, Fang is used to seeing Naomi around but tries to avoid her.
* **Sage** (voice: Jensen Trani) - A friend of the main trio and is upbeat and enjoys baking.
* **Stella** (voice: Sarah Elmaleh) - A friend of the main trio who sometimes engages in card reading sessions with Fang.
* **Rosa** (voice: Dee Revilla) - A friend who Trish gained over the summer, as they both share in interest in entomology. She works at a cafe known as Lava Java.

### Other notable characters

* **Misty Roberts** (voice: Dahlia Salem) - Ms. Roberts is Fang's homeroom teacher who sometimes appears during discussions of her the future of her students.
* **LJ** (voice: Sarah Elmaleh) - LJ is the manager of Lava Java, Rosa's boss, and the talent scout for the Battle of the Bands.
* **Sabah** (voice: Dahlia Salem) - Sabah is Fang's mother who is absent during a stay in Isla Nublar.
* **Saeed** (voice: Abe Bueno-Jallad) - Saeed is Fang's father who is absent during a stay in Isla Nublar.
* **Keph** - One of the main antagonists of *L&L*, he is working to summon Braxus to destroy the world.
* **Braxus** - One of the main antagonists of *L&L*, Braxus is a powerful deity.

## Gameplay

*Goodbye Volcano High* is around 5 and a half to 6 hours long on average, and is divided into 8 episodes. The game does not have a world map or let the player walk around; instead it is similar to watching an anime or cartoon. The story can be considered close to the "slice of life" genre; players should not expect intense action scenes. Instead, players will watch teenage dinosaurs chat in school about topics like music and family life. It is not meant to be a dating simulator either, and male players were also kept in mind as a demographic when the game was being developed, similar to *Life Is Strange 2*. A lot of men also worked on developing the story and game, such as Kyle McKernan.

The game will frequently allow the player to choose what Fang says in conversations. This will affect an affinity system with characters, and becoming stronger to characters will unlock photos and sometimes new scenes. While *Goodbye Volcano High* tells a mainly linear story and has one ending, there is still content that can only be seen on repeat playthroughs.

The dialogue system is rather unique in that it keeps in mind the player's own actions; when hovering over a choice, the text will change to show Fang's inner feelings. If a player hovers over a choice and does not commit to it, the system may not allow the player to select it again in order to convey Fang's indecisiveness (this is sometimes confused for the dialogue system being glitchy). Some choices also require the player to select them immediately or else Fang will reject it.

Another aspect are "Resistant Choices" where Fang hesitates to commit to a choice; on a PlayStation 5, the DualSense controller triggers will become harder to press, conveying Fang's emotional difficulty to say it out loud. On non-DualSense controllers, players instead need to wait a few seconds. Resistant Choices can be disabled in the options so they are easier to select.

The game has about half-an-hour of music rhythm segments called performances where the player must press button prompts at the correct timing. Failing these segments does not affect the story in major ways (there is speculation that it is a lost opportunity for affinity and photos, however). Not doing well during these rhythm segments will make the player lose out on trophies/achievements.

An hour of the game is also compromised of a fictional visual novel game called *Legends & Lore*. These three segments are around 20 minutes and are spread throughout the story.

There is a main menu where the player can check their affinity, view flashbacks, read social media posts for some humor which updates throughout the story, and check their obtained photos in an album.

## Music

Main article: Goodbye Volcano High/Soundtrack
The **Goodbye Volcano High Soundtrack** was composed by KO\_OP’s in-house composer, Dabu, who had also composed for Winding Worlds and Dwarf Fortress. Fang’s singing voice was performed both by their voice talent Lachlan Watson and musician Brigitte Naggar (also known by her stage name Common Holly). Several songs were released prior to the game's release coinciding with new game trailers, and the complete soundtrack was released on August 29, 2023, along with the game.

## Development History

Main article: Goodbye Volcano High/Development history

*Goodbye Volcano High* was first conceived as a lighthearted dating sim called *Jurassic High* during a brainstorming session in 2018, imagined as teenage dinosaurs trying to find love before the end of the world occurs. The game gradually developed into a more serious cinematic visual novel, and the game was first revealed on June 11, 2020 at Sony's "Future of Gaming" online event for the PlayStation 5 with a release window of 2021.

Following several major development setbacks (including a rewrite of the story with a new writing team, remote working due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and dealing with frequent anti-LGBT harassment), the game was gradually delayed until setting on a final release date of August 29, 2023. Additionally, KO\_OP does not crunch their developers, a common practice in the gaming industry.

## Reception

Despite the online mockery and harassment towards the developers before the game was released, *Goodbye Volcano High* received mainly positive reviews from both critics and players alike. Many players enjoyed the emotional story and its themes about life, death and relationships, as well as its music and humor. It received an 81 on Metacritic, and only about 1 in every 9 players gave it a negative review on Steam. The game was nominated for "Games for Impact" for The Gaming Awards due to the relevant themes of its story to daily life.

When criticism was made, it was mainly due to the game's short length compared to its price point of about 30 dollars. Some players did not like the *L&L* segments as much as others, and wish there was a less linear story. Another issue was some players experienced bugs such as visual issues (the majority have been fixed with patches), and photos not counting towards one of the achievements. The game also lacks some common features such as chapter select, save slots (the game simply has an auto-save feature), and an auto fast-forward for repeat playthroughs (players must constantly click).

### Themes and ending reception (spoilers)

The ending of *Goodbye Volcano High* has been criticized and somewhat controversial by some players due to some reasons, and apparent misunderstandings of the story and themes of the game:

*"It is unrealistic that a huge group of people would show up to a random dinosaur's concert."*
CalderaFest is said repeatedly throughout the game to be a huge music concert where tons of people attend, and the dinosaurs are shown to be in a state of doom and gloom, with many wishing for something cheerful. The entire town did not attend the concert, only enough people to fill up a school roof. It is possible Swamp Babies would have played after because they are seen in the audience. LJ also attends, who promotes concerts, and Sage and Stella are seen distributing posters for the concert. This outlook also disregards the fact that Worm Drama is a rising band from Volcano High who won the Battle of the Bands (with Fang doing a commended solo in the dark). Much of the crowd are students of Volcano High and know popular students such as Naomi and Naser who would also be at the event.

*"Fang made the concert about themself and is selfish."*

At the bonfire scene, Fang said it would be a neat idea to make their own version of CalderaFest, but said only if the rest of the group wanted to, which they agreed to. This is re-affirmed at the concert when Fang wonders if they made the concert about themself, to which Rosa said, "Our show." Additionally, Fang knows about the power of music and how it can make people feel positive emotions, which was one of their intents: to bring happiness of people on their likely final day; this is said by Sabah who says they are doing a wonderful thing. Those who appeared at the concert consented and, statistically due to Earth being mostly compromised of ocean instead of land (as mentioned by Trish), the asteroid could have created a tsunami in coastal towns such as Caldera Bay. Thus, being in a high place such as a roof could be seen as being better survival than in an underground shelter or basement which could become flooded.

*"The ending makes the entire game pointless because everyone dies."*
One of the major themes of the story is about living in the present, and how unhealthy it is to worry about the future. The game also makes it somewhat ambiguous if there are any survivors, since no one is explicitly seen being killed. There are also plenty of media and video games where main characters die, such as some of the *Final Fantasy* games which served as inspiration for *Goodbye Volcano High*. Finally, the game warns players what is to be expected of the ending with taglines such as "The end of an era" and common knowledge that the dinosaurs went extinct.

## Patches

There have been a few patches for the game fixing visual issues and bugs. There was also a visual bug during music performances which would zoom the camera too much. This was due to Non-English versions of Windows not understanding the purpose of a decimal point in the game's code. The developer who fixed it joked he lost a chunk of his life trying to isolate and find the reason for the issue.

Patches are not confirmed to be cancelled, as in December 2023, one member of KO\_OP said there was another patch planned. The reason for a lack of patches in October and November is because the team wanted a vacation after fixing the major issues first.

One member of the development team said he would like to implement a system where the player could repeat performances.

## Trivia

* One of the major reasons for the story rewrite was the reaction to the COVID pandemic and wanting similar reactions in the game as to how the characters may react to a disaster. This is why the asteroid has a meme page in the game and why characters sometimes joke and poke fun at everyone's impending doom as a coping mechanism.
* There are some fan sequels to the game in production, and more about their progress will be disclosed in time. It is important to note these are unofficial projects unaffiliated with KO\_OP.

## Gallery

### Key Art

2020 reveal key artDitto, with Fang's snout updated2022 key artReed, Trish and Fang2023 key artDitto, with Tribeca Festival award
### June 2020 screenshots

Volcano HighVolcano HighA classroomTrishFang contemplates burning the yearbookThe group at a bonfireWorm Drama (Fang, Reed, Trish) playingA bus stopGarageTrish and Rosa
### November 2022 screenshots

Volcano HighFang in a text conversationA dialogue choiceFang, Reed and Trish on the school roofA group selfie