Though it is no game of the year contender (despite three years of high expectations for the game), Goodbye Volcano High achieves with only minor technical hiccups a comforting school/band drama amidst an apocalyptic backdrop whose queer characters are rendered with sympathetic aplomb. The fragmented storylines are inert when they shouldn't for much of the six hours needed to conclude the game, but the stronger emphasis on the characters as people leaves the experience pleasurable more often than not as its narrative falters. Faux D&D sequences and, of course, the musical sequences alter the otherwise dialogue-drive nature of this animated visual novel into a moving work whose messaging on near universal themes of growing up, falling out with friends, and adapting to new possibilities of who someone is and can be rarely misses a beat. KO_OP have crafted a great game (alongside the musical talents of Dabu and Brigitte Naggar) that sits well with other narrative works like Night in the Woods, We Are OFK, and Life is Strange, to mention some of the most comparable, which will attract some and, unfortunately, detract many others.