I was initially hesitant to try this game after hearing about the discourse surrounding it, but even after playing the other titles that this game is compared to, I'm extremely glad that I gave it a try.

If you're looking for the same level of humor and intensity as the other titles being talked about, this definitely won't have the same impact; but, I found that while GVH has a very different focus and atmosphere going on around it, this story still has a great amount of moments that range from adorable to heart wrenching. That said, I did feel that some of the relationships developed in this story didn't have enough time to be fully fleshed out. Overall, I found the story was perfectly fine for what it is, it just depends on the kind of story you want and how "raw" you're expecting the emotions to really get.

I will also say that the soundtrack is AMAZING. I don't tend to listen to this genre of music too much, but I've found myself listening to every song on repeat. Dabu did a fantastic job and it's hard to believe their only other works on Spotify are Dwarf Fortress and Winding Worlds. Brigette Naggar was also fantastic!

I know this review sounds like I'm just glazing the devs, but I feel that overall I'd probably give Goodbye Volcano High a 7.5/10. It's not perfect and I think the weakest aspect of this story is the dialogue and how the cast delivers a lot of her lines. I'm no expert on VA recording, but I think the pacing and emotion could use a lot of work in terms of how the characters act around each other, it just seemed very stiff, which is surprising considering they have some good cast members in this project such as Rengoku from Demon Slayer. I really wouldn't have known he was in this if I hadn't looked it up, he just sounds that different here.

To just end on the part that people can't help but to focus on... Yes, there's a lot of LGBTQ+ representation in this game. However, I pretty much never felt like it was just being thrust into my face and when moments DID pop up, I appreciated how the story handled it. A lot of it is more about the characters in this story just happening to be who they are. Hell, it's not even clear for a lot of characters if they even have ANY romantic feelings, let alone for any specific gender/people. It's just a part of who they are, which I think is a good way of normalizing such things.

I was initially hesitant to try this game after hearing about the discourse surrounding it, but even after playing the other titles that this game is compared to, I'm extremely glad that I gave it a try. If you're looking for the same level of humor and intensity as the other titles being talked about, this definitely won't have the same impact; but, I found that while GVH has a very different focus and atmosphere going on around it, this story still has a great amount of moments that range from adorable to heart wrenching. That said, I did feel that some of the relationships developed in this story didn't have enough time to be fully fleshed out. Overall, I found the story was perfectly fine for what it is, it just depends on the kind of story you want and how "raw" you're expecting the emotions to really get. I will also say that the soundtrack is AMAZING. I don't tend to listen to this genre of music too much, but I've found myself listening to every song on repeat. Dabu did a fantastic job and it's hard to believe their only other works on Spotify are Dwarf Fortress and Winding Worlds. Brigette Naggar was also fantastic! I know this review sounds like I'm just glazing the devs, but I feel that overall I'd probably give Goodbye Volcano High a 7.5/10. It's not perfect and I think the weakest aspect of this story is the dialogue and how the cast delivers a lot of her lines. I'm no expert on VA recording, but I think the pacing and emotion could use a lot of work in terms of how the characters act around each other, it just seemed very stiff, which is surprising considering they have some good cast members in this project such as Rengoku from Demon Slayer. I really wouldn't have known he was in this if I hadn't looked it up, he just sounds that different here. To just end on the part that people can't help but to focus on... Yes, there's a lot of LGBTQ+ representation in this game. However, I pretty much never felt like it was just being thrust into my face and when moments DID pop up, I appreciated how the story handled it. A lot of it is more about the characters in this story just happening to be who they are. Hell, it's not even clear for a lot of characters if they even have ANY romantic feelings, let alone for any specific gender/people. It's just a part of who they are, which I think is a good way of normalizing such things.