| Goodbye Volcano High | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | KO_OP |
| Publisher(s) | KO_OP |
| Director(s) |
|
| Designer(s) |
|
| Programmer(s) |
|
| Artist(s) |
|
| Writer(s) |
|
| Composer(s) | Omar Dabbous |
| Engine | Unity [1] |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release | August 29, 2023 |
| Genre(s) | Narrative adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Goodbye Volcano High is a narrative adventure game by KO_OP. It was announced on June 11, 2020, and was released on August 29, 2023 for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Windows.
The player selects dialogue choices, and controls rhythm minigames during performances by band Worm Drama. [2]
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), [3] guitarist Trish the triceratops (Ozioma Akagha) [4] and drummer Reed the velociraptor (Mark Whitten), [4] alongside the school's student council president Naomi the parasaurolophus (Allegra Clark) [4] and Fang's brother Naser (Abe Bueno-Jallad), [4] - 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.
The game was initially announced during PlayStation's "Future of Gaming" online presentation on 11 June 2020, with a release window of 2021. [5] [6] [7] 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. [8] [9] [10] The new narrative direction was largely inspired by the experiences of high school seniors graduating during the pandemic. [11] In November 2022, the game was delayed to 2023. [12] A new gameplay trailer premiered during a PlayStation "State of Play" presentation on 23 February 2023, announcing a release date of 15 June [13] but was delayed to 29 August. [14] Prior to release, demos of the game were showcased at the 2023 Game Developers Conference as part of the "Day of the Devs" selection, [15] PAX East 2023, and at the 2023 Tribeca Festival as part of the "Games & Immersive Experience" selection. [16]
| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| Metacritic | (PC) 82/100 [17] (PS5) 81/100 [18] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Eurogamer |  [19] |
| GamesRadar+ |  [20] |
| Hardcore Gamer | 4/5 [21] |
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". [11] 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 . [22]
In June 2021, 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". [23]
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Tribeca Festival | Tribeca Games Award | Won | [24] |
| IndieCade | Grand Jury Award | Won | [25] | |
| Performance Spotlight Award | Won | |||
| Narrative Spotlight Award | Nominated | |||
| The Game Awards 2023 | Games for Impact | Nominated | [26] | |
| 2024 | GLAAD Media Awards | Outstanding Video Game | Nominated | [27] |
| Independent Games Festival | Seumas McNally Grand Prize | Honorable mention | [28] | |
| Excellence in Narrative | Honorable mention | |||
| Excellence in Visual Arts | Honorable mention | |||
| British Academy Games Awards | Game Beyond Entertainment | Nominated | [29] | |
| World Soundtrack Awards | Game Music Award | Pending | [30] |
Numerous video games were released in 2016. New hardware came out as well, albeit largely refreshed and updated versions of consoles in the PlayStation 4 Pro, PlayStation 4 Slim, and Xbox One S. Commercially available virtual reality headsets were released in much greater numbers and at much lower price points than the enthusiast-only virtual reality headsets of earlier generations. Augmented reality also became mainstream with Pokémon Go. Top-rated games originally released in 2016 included Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, Inside, Overwatch, Forza Horizon 3, Madden NFL 17, WWE 2K17, NBA 2K17, Dark Souls III, and Battlefield 1 and Doom 2016. The top five highest-grossing video games of 2016 were League of Legends, Honor of Kings/Arena of Valor, Monster Strike, Clash of Clans, and Dungeon Fighter Online.
Nacon is a French video game company based in Lesquin. It designs and distributes gaming accessories, and publishes and distributes video games for various platforms. In 2020, Bigben Group was consolidated to form Nacon.
Deliver Us the Moon is an adventure-puzzle video game developed by Dutch game development studio KeokeN Interactive. It was first self-published as Deliver Us the Moon: Fortuna for Windows on September 28, 2018. The game later saw an expanded release on October 10, 2019, with Wired Productions serving as the publisher for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions on April 24, 2020. The game was released for Google Stadia on June 1, 2022, for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on June 23, 2022 and for Nintendo Switch on July 16, 2024.
Lachlan Watson is an American actor, best known for playing trans boy Theo Putnam in the Netflix original series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and genderfluid twin children of Chucky, Glen and Glenda in the second season of the Syfy/USA Network original series Chucky.
In the video game industry, 2021 saw the release of many new titles. The numerous delays in software and hardware releases due to the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic heavily impacted development schedules, leading to several games being delayed into 2022 or even postponed indefinitely. Additionally, computer and console hardware were impacted by the combined effects of a semiconductor shortage and a rising growth of bitcoin mining that strained the supply of critical components.
Project CARS was a sim racing video game series developed by Slightly Mad Studios and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The franchise was introduced in 2015 and received a sequel in 2017, followed by Project CARS 3 in 2020. Following the acquisition of Codemasters by Electronic Arts, development on the Project CARS series ended in November 2022.
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is a first-person action video game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, developed and published by Fatshark. It is a spiritual successor to the Warhammer: Vermintide series. It was released for Microsoft Windows on 30 November 2022. It also was released for Xbox Series X/S on 4 October 2023.
Sable is an open world exploration video game developed by Shedworks and published by Raw Fury. It was released on 23 September 2021, for Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, and released on PlayStation 5 on 29 November 2022.
In the video game industry, 2023 saw significant changes within larger publishers and developers. Microsoft, after having satisfied worldwide regulatory bodies, completed its US$69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, making them the third largest game publisher in the world. Embracer Group, which had been in an acquisition spree over the previous few years, had an estimated $2 billion deal fall through, causing many of the studios under Embracer to either lay off staff or close entirely. Similar layoffs were seen at Unity, Amazon, ByteDance, Epic Games, Bungie, and Ubisoft, leading to over 9,000 jobs lost in the industry in 2023 and part of a larger trend of layoffs at technology companies in 2023.
Serenity Forge LLC is an American video game developer and publisher based in Boulder, Colorado. The studio was founded in 2014 by Zhenghua "Z" Yang.
Ozioma Akagha is an American actress. She voices Alyx Vance in the video game Half-Life: Alyx (2020) and Julianna in the video game Deathloop (2021). She also plays the role of Harper Omereoha in the television show Delilah.
Kunai is an action-platform video game developed by TurtleBlaze and published by The Arcade Crew. The game was released on February 6, 2020 for Windows and Nintendo Switch. In the game, the player controls Tabby, a robot tasked with defeating Lemonkus, an AI that nearly causes the extinction of humanity. In July 2020, The Arcade Crew partnered with Limited Run Games to release physical copies of the Nintendo Switch version. The physical copies were released in October 2020. The PC version received generally favorable reviews, while the Nintendo Switch version received mixed reviews.
The Big Con is an adventure game developed by Mighty Yell and published by Skybound Games. It was released for Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on August 31, 2021. A Nintendo Switch version was released on June 1, 2022. Versions for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 were released on August 31, 2023. Set in the 1990s, the game follows Ali, a teenager who works at a video rental store owned by Linda, her mother. After learning that her mother owes $97,342.18 to loan sharks, she meets Ted, a con artist. They travel across the United States, earning money to save Linda's store. The Windows version of The Big Con received favorable reviews, while the Xbox Series X/S version received mixed reviews.
Thirsty Suitors is an adventure video game developed by Outerloop Games and published by Annapurna Interactive. The game is about a young woman, Jala, who returns to her hometown for her sister's wedding and must navigate her relationships with her family and former paramours. The game was released on November 2, 2023, for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. Ports to Android and iOS published by Netflix is in development.
KeyWe is a 2021 puzzle-platform video game developed by Stonewheat & Sons and published by Sold Out. The game was released for Windows and Nintendo Switch on August 31, later releasing on September 28 for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S ports were released on December 16. KeyWe follows Jeff and Debra, two kiwis working at the Bungalow Basin Telepost Office. KeyWe was prototyped during the 2018 Global Game Jam. Grant Gessel, the technical artist, took inspiration from Going Postal, a story by Terry Pratchett. Rare games such as Banjo-Kazooie and Conker's Bad Fur Day inspired KeyWe's art style. KeyWe received mixed reviews from critics.
The Case of the Golden Idol is a 2022 adventure and puzzle video game developed by Color Gray Games and published by Playstack for macOS and Windows. The game depicts a narrative spanning 40 years in the 18th century, in which players collect clues to piece together concepts, characters, and evidence to provide context to the story.
El Paso, Elsewhere is a 2023 third-person shooter game developed and published by Strange Scaffold. Players control a vampire hunter who tries to stop his ex-girlfriend, a vampire, from destroying the world. It is inspired by Max Payne and has retro 2000s-era graphics.
Sweet Baby Inc. is a Canadian narrative development and consultation studio based in Montreal. Founded by former Ubisoft developers, including scriptwriter Kim Belair and product manager David Bédard, the company consults on video game narratives during development to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion within game narratives and studios. Sweet Baby has consulted with several developers and games, including Sable, God of War Ragnarök, and Alan Wake 2. In 2023, the studio became the target of online users who claimed it promoted a "woke agenda".