| Goodbye Volcano High | |
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| Developer(s) | KO_OP |
| Publisher(s) | KO_OP |
| Director(s) |
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| Designer(s) |
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| Programmer(s) |
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| Artist(s) |
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| Writer(s) |
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| 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 | 5/5 [19] |
| GamesRadar+ | 4/5 [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, anonymous 4chan users under the name Cavemanon released Snoot Game, a "fangame" intended as a rival version of the game.
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Tribeca Festival | Tribeca Games Award | Won | [23] |
| IndieCade | Grand Jury Award | Won | [24] | |
| Performance Spotlight Award | Won | |||
| Narrative Spotlight Award | Nominated | |||
| The Game Awards 2023 | Games for Impact | Nominated | [25] | |
| 2024 | GLAAD Media Awards | Outstanding Video Game | Nominated | [26] |
| Independent Games Festival | Seumas McNally Grand Prize | Honorable mention | [27] | |
| Excellence in Narrative | Honorable mention | |||
| Excellence in Visual Arts | Honorable mention | |||
| British Academy Games Awards | Game Beyond Entertainment | Nominated | [28] | |
| World Soundtrack Awards | Game Music Award | Pending | [29] |
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.
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