Goodbye Volcano High Reviews
Team KO_OP has crafted an award-winning adventure combining musical and rhythm game elements with a narrative rich in choices and consequences. With 6-7 hours of engaging gameplay, multiple playthroughs unlock all trophies. Tested on PS5, utilizing DualSense's haptic feedback, it's also available on PS4. Highly recommended for an unforgettable story.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Goodbye Volcano High is ambitious enough to want to cover many genres, but not so ambitious as to do it well. As a result, we have a simple story, but without depth, which is only saved by its beautiful artwork and wonderful soundtrack.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
In conclusion, I'm impressed by what KO_OP has delivered as a first experience. I'm a big fan of narrative games, and this one is among the very good ones. I would have liked more, because you get through the 8 chapters in about 5 to 6 hours, and I got really attached to the characters. It's always possible to go back to make other choices or to find the flashbacks and memories hidden in the story, but I felt I'd completed my experience. All in all, if you're a fan of Life is Strange or Telltale Games, Goodbye Volcano High is a strong recommendation.
Review in French | Read full review
Goodbye Volcano High is a playable Young Adult novel with dinosaurs at the end of the world.
Review in German | Read full review
Goodbye Volcano High is humorous, sad, poignant, personal, charming. In short: the full fire side of emotions. The developer studio KO_OP achieves this with a wonderfully written story, which becomes incredibly close thanks to great voice actors, a coherent art style and multi-layered themes. Goodbye Volcano High is not "just" another coming-of-age story, but also a wonderful link to pop culture and the question of "being". Not dryly, though, but in a totally sympathetic way. A truly recommendable indie gem that should please fans of visual novels very much. Accordingly, you shouldn't expect too much gameplay. The passages that it does have, however, know how to inspire me and might have even deserved a bit more space.
Review in German | Read full review
Goodbye Volcano High is an emotionally charged story tragically hindered by technical issues and pacing problems.
Goodbye Volcano High just feels like a very tryhard Life Is Strange with furries and full of hodge-podge maudlin writing. I'm very sure this game will satiate its niche audience, but I can't say this is going to change anybody else's mind about visual novels made by Western developers.
Goodbye Volcano High is a worthy addition to the visual narrative genre. The whole team at KO_OP have clearly put their hearts into this game over several years and it shows. The writing is emotional and relatable, I especially loved how quickly the news of impending doom turned into memes and jokes all over the internet; very realistic. The artwork is vibrant, colourful and detailed, brought together brilliantly with the animation. Over in the music department, the soundtrack is solid and suits the game perfectly.
Despite all the slating going on in this review, Goodbye Volcano High is likely to appeal to those who want an uncomplicated and down-to-earth narrative experience. There are glimpses of goodness within Goodbye Volcano High’s grounds, but the bland writing, cliched characters and needlessly protracted scenes don’t do it any favours. The rhythm action sections are swell additions that break up the long-winded cutscenes, but they too are overstuffed with timed button press prompts, as they end up feeling too hectic for their own good. Goodbye Volcano High overstays its welcome in spite of its 5-hour length, lumbering along without any significant drama until the climax approaches, so it’s questionable whether you’d stay the course or find something more dramatic to satiate your appetite for good videogame yarns. If this is indeed goodbye to Volcano High, then its demise will shed only a shrug of disappointment.
The cast of characters here is super-likable and is the most I've enjoyed a High School cast in a video game since Life is Strange: Beyond the Storm. KO_OP may have taken a long time to get Goodbye Volcano High out the door, but it's been more than worth the wait for this final product, which is one of my favourite games of the year.
Goodbye Volcano High is an emotional and profound game that explores the themes of growing up, acceptance and living in difficult social conditions. Despite the lack of interactive world exploration, the game offers a highly engaging storyline in which the decisions you make affect your bonds with the characters and unlock additional scenes.
Review in Polish | Read full review
'Goodbye Volcano High' features a great narrative, fun mini-games, and relatable characters, making it one of the top games this year for its genre.
Goodbye Volcano High is a fantastic narrative that provides themes and stories that are relatable to players of all ages and experiences. The team at KO_OP balances the wonderful teenage angst with meaningful storytelling, fantastic music, and animation that few can match. Goodbye Volcano High forced me to look within and see how I approached scenarios as a know-it-all 18 year old versus how I would respond some 10+ years later. This six hour adventure is required playing for those that appreciate a powerful coming of age story that is presented in a new and unique way.