To be young in the 21st century is to be bombarded with relentless news of war, climate change and pandemics, to be overstimulated with the constant doomscroll feed of everyone everywhere (all at once), and to be then barraged with the question: what do you want to do with your life?

Goodbye Volcano High’s characters may be dinosaurs - and we all know what happened to them - but they’re going through the same end of the world we are. In this game, we ‘play’ as Fang, a non-binary highschooler and leader of promising indie band, Worm Drama, whose everyday balance of friendship and personal music aspirations is put to the test with the impending doom of an asteroid headed for global destruction. Fang’s friends, including Trish the bug fanatic and L&L (like D&D) games-master Reed, all have hobbies and goals which help distract them from a very uncertain future.

The team at KO_OP do a great job writing these kids with vivid traits, flaws and struggles of their own, making each of them compelling, if not fairly likeable. In general, the characters and world itself have that sugary sweetness you’d find in a TV show like Sex Education: Volcano High has no bullies, the 2D world presents itself as ‘pure vibes.’ The lack of harshness would be a big criticism if it didn’t punctuate that one looming detail - it may all come to an end either way.

The atmosphere - the pastel colours, leisurely pacing and irresistible sadcore indie music - certainly has appeal. I did sometimes find the art-style of the characters a little distracting - some really beautiful moments of drama can be undercut by the large dino-faces which don’t quite express as much emotion as you’d want them to. The visual novel format is not usually my cup of tea, so the rhythm-play music sections were the gameplay highlights for me - it makes sense that they’re the best bits, for both us and Fang - but they left me wanting more ‘gameplay’ elements than a lot of the dialogue-choice stuff. I do feel like the drama/conflict could’ve gone a lot further, but I respect the choice of keeping everything more slight in favour of a more realistic and universal experience.

It may not be groundbreaking - I’m sure there are purer ‘visual novels’ that offer similar stories with higher risk - but what it offers is a pleasant and uncynical coming of age routine. The dino gang always seem at the verge of parting ways for different walks of life, but the message of Goodbye Volcano High remains clear: do what you love, and surround yourself with the people that support you in doing so - that is, before it’s all gone.