i'm not a person that'll instinctually rip on something like this because of the concept alone (i love narrative-focused games and i'm a biiiig sucker for the overly sentimental), and i was actually kind of excited to be a contrarian about this one, in order to become more annoying to friends and loved ones. that being said, i think there's some overwhelming tonal and structural issues here that make the overall experience one that i wouldn't recommend.
the characters, relationships, and dialogue are mostly fine, they stay well out of cringe territory for most of the game. but the stakes of the plot are a little mismatched to the character drama. the main thread of the whole game is the impending breakup of the main character's band as the other members grow up and move on to their adult life, but that's a really difficult thing to reconcile with impending unavoidable death for all the characters involved, and the game doesn't really try to cross or balance the two.
the game had a well documented narrative reboot right at the start of the pandemic, with an entirely new writing team brought in. interviews related to this talk about how the pandemic itself had a big influence on the new direction they took, but nothing about the final story here feels like it's echoing that emotionally. my theory is that it's actually the opposite, that a lot of the most grim elements were severely toned down or cut to avoid appearing insensitive given the doom and gloom climate of the early lockdowns, which leaves it feeling a bit disjointed now.
beyond that, the game is very linear with no real impact from the player's choices or actions. that's probably the cost of doing business with fully voiced dialogue and animated cutscenes for almost everything (except for the D&D sequences, which are suspiciously missing almost the entire voice cast despite nearly every character being present) but you feel it for sure, despite the game constantly giving you an interface icon implying that your choices do matter.
i wouldn't call it bad by any means, but i think it misses the mark on the emotional stakes and feels a little lost by the ending.
in conclusion: i don't know why the school is called volcano high, because the big disaster is an asteroid and volcanos are never mentioned in the game.
the characters, relationships, and dialogue are mostly fine, they stay well out of cringe territory for most of the game. but the stakes of the plot are a little mismatched to the character drama. the main thread of the whole game is the impending breakup of the main character's band as the other members grow up and move on to their adult life, but that's a really difficult thing to reconcile with impending unavoidable death for all the characters involved, and the game doesn't really try to cross or balance the two.
the game had a well documented narrative reboot right at the start of the pandemic, with an entirely new writing team brought in. interviews related to this talk about how the pandemic itself had a big influence on the new direction they took, but nothing about the final story here feels like it's echoing that emotionally. my theory is that it's actually the opposite, that a lot of the most grim elements were severely toned down or cut to avoid appearing insensitive given the doom and gloom climate of the early lockdowns, which leaves it feeling a bit disjointed now.
beyond that, the game is very linear with no real impact from the player's choices or actions. that's probably the cost of doing business with fully voiced dialogue and animated cutscenes for almost everything (except for the D&D sequences, which are suspiciously missing almost the entire voice cast despite nearly every character being present) but you feel it for sure, despite the game constantly giving you an interface icon implying that your choices do matter.
i wouldn't call it bad by any means, but i think it misses the mark on the emotional stakes and feels a little lost by the ending.
in conclusion: i don't know why the school is called volcano high, because the big disaster is an asteroid and volcanos are never mentioned in the game.