you can really judge a persons personality based on their rating of this game. like i can't believe there are so many people that lynch this game? i mean yes, visual novels are a genre of video games too. i'm tired of hearing "it's not even a game" please get over it already.
okay i'm calm now, let's get into the actual game review! i loved the art, it felt like i was watching a cute emotional cartoon, and the soundtrack was the best part of it all. i also loved scrolling on twitter, it was done sooo well. i loved the characters. ofc there were shallow bits, character writing isn't perfect, plot is far from perfect, but who goes into this type of game expecting it to make full sense? it's a game about teenagers. for me, it's all about the feels, and this game gave me all the feels<3

There used to be a total of 3 games that made me cry, make that 4.

Goodbye Volcano High, ignoring it's technical flaws and moments of pandering, is amazing. I want to be clear, my opinion on this game comes from a non-binary writer who struggled a lot with the same issues shown in this game so I might be a little biased. However, to me, this game perfectly encapsulated the weird phase of high school to an absolute perfect pitch from my experience, from the cringey-ness (and yes we were all like that) to the little moments. Everything from the highs, the lows, the drama, the significance felt in high school's finality, it all works perfectly in this game.

While I may have issues with a decent portion of the technical side of the game, the story and characters here are no less than amazing. The story is relatable to a LGBTQAI+ positive youth group (like generation Z and Alpha), but also has a mastery of character dialogue that, while sometimes delivered oddly, works to make every character feel real and significant. I mean, when the biggest crime a game has by the end is "being to short", you've got something special on your hands. Of course a game like this will only work for certain people both in terms of genre and story, but I think for those people, like myself and many I know, this is a masterclass. A majority of the technical issues are those that hardly effect gameplay, whether that's some visual novel staples missing (like a skip button or backtrack button) or some shoddily-made rhythm sections that do not sync up well with devices with any sort of ms (had to switch to a steam deck to actually land some of the notes). These technical flaws though are a footnote in the overall experience to me at least, as soon as you learn to ignore them, you can really enjoy the experience.

While only being ranked a 4 for, primarily, technical reasons, this is a game I did not expect I would give nearly as much praise as I do, easily one of the best games I've played this year, hands down.

I'm shattered. No game has made me sob this hard. I often say "I'm crying" when I watch, read, or play something sad, but that's mostly exaggeration. I just tear up and very rarely actually cry, but no, I straight up loud sobbed after finishing this. I broke down. My face contorted and couldn't hold back a stream of tears for half an hour straight. My lips were quivering and I was groaning and I could barely breathe; I almost never respond this intensely to things.

Stories about apocalypses normally benefit from their own silliness. These narratives never feel real; they're either too fun, dramatic, or action-packed to have substantial weight. But Goodbye Volcano High is exceptionally hard to swallow.

These feel like actual teenagers. They have real interests, their diverse identities are relatable, their dialogue sounds genuine, they mess around naturally, their tabletop sessions have all these little details and comments that make them feel like the ones I've had, they have awfully relatable casual conversations, and their issues are grounded. For a game about dinosaur people, I always felt like these kids were human.

When you take some of the most real feeling characters I've met in any game and have them face the existentialism that arises from fears of an apocalypse, I was constantly on edge. This is a story where its characters have to grapple with the inevitability of their deaths, and at no point was I not deep in thought regarding their fate. Their happiness, each tuft of fun, and all of its love and positivity is carried by the gargantuan burden of questioning what will happen when that asteroid hits.

When characters make comments about "asteroid facts," describing things like "if you hit solid rock hard enough, it can liquify," it's some of the most disturbing shit I've seen in a game. It may seem tame in a vacuum, but when your world and characters are this convincing, the concept of a realistically approached end of the world is terrifying.

It's especially upsetting in the beginning, when everyone treats the asteroid as a joke, with folks making memes and using it as a crutch for humor. People claiming they wish the asteroid would just hit to get them out of certain situations is so painfully real. It's a behavior that actual people would showcase, and little moments like that make me think about our own existence and how little time we have.

Its narrative is tied to our most future-conscious period—senior year of high school, where we are expected to make definitive decisions on what we do for the rest of our lives—and those futures being shattered by an unavoidable natural disaster is heartbreaking. To see these kids lose their ambitions and dreams, and there is nothing they can do but accept their fates… it's far too fucking heavy for anyone at that age to have to go through. Just thinking about it nearly brings me to tears.

And I cannot put into words how much I relate to the protagonist. Fang failing to find acceptance from their parents, difficulties with their gender identity, conflicts and conversations with their brother, being pegged as the spoiled, selfish brat, and even something as simple as being Arabic... all of it feels so scarily relatable to my personal experience. Many people won't quite get that from it, and it is probably a huge contributor towards why Goodbye Volcano High felt so real for me, but I see myself in Fang more than I ever have in any fictional character.

Today, I'm flying across the Atlantic ocean to see my girlfriend for the first time. I can say a lot about Goodbye Volcano High, but the only thing that matters is that after finishing it, I want nothing more than to hug her as hard as possible. To value the people in my life and the short time we have. The few moments of happiness we can spare in something so ephemeral.

Goodbye Volcano High shattered me, but rather than it having a debilitating effect, I want to do better at cherishing the people I love.