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'Goodbye Volcano High' - a visual novel that behaves like a slice-of-life high school anime, with dinosaurs

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Goodbye Volcano High is a visual novel game developed by KO_OP. You play a high school senior, Fang, as they [nonbinary] use their last moments working with schoolmates to bring their band, Worm Drama, to success. Fang is a pterodactyl whose school exists in a place called Pangea.
Goodbye Volcano High
The universe and Fang’s friends may have other plans to cause a hiccup in the dream they wish to fulfil. I’d call this a spoiler, but the advertising and title make it clear that this is a prequel to Dino Run. I mean, the logo has a meteor and its characters are dinosaurs. That can’t end well.

This is a very interesting premise, and makes for a good background to make this high school drama stand out from its contemporaries. However, the narrative comes out a bit flatter than expected, focusing more on the day-to-day issues of Fang than the cataclysm to come. In turn, there’s passion in the music, artistic design, and characters that many furries will find interest in. Let’s go through some of these to see if it’s the right game for you.

Corgis To The Rescue!

At the L.A. Times Festival of Books we learned about Mythwalker at their big, impressive booth. Maybe it was the smiling corgi in armor that attracted our attention… Mythwalker is a geolocation fantasy RPG created by Nant Games for your cell phone. In it you can play one of three species: Human, Annu (a bird-like humanoid species), and Wulven (a canine species — from which the aforementioned corgi hails). Here is the lore: “Mytherra is a fantastical, parallel planet to Earth ─ a world where throughout history its people and mystical creatures have infiltrated the dreams of humans. Over time, these visions have formed the basis of Earth’s many myths and legends. After a prolonged period of peace, Mytherra is now under attack, which poses a direct threat to Earth as well. A powerful being, known only as The Child, has reached out through the Veil into our world seeking help. She recruits you – the Mythwalker – to uncover the truth about the attackers, explore the connection between the two worlds, and lead Mytherra’s heroes in the defense of their home.” And here is the idea: “MythWalker is a geolocation fantasy RPG adventure mobile game that brings The Child and Mytherra to life through an overworld traversal system, using real locations to tell the stories of Earth’s myths and legends.

Review: 'LAPIN'

Your rating: None Average: 2 (3 votes)

The rabbits of <i />LAPIN.LAPIN (available on Steam) is a 2D precision platformer from South Korean Studio Doodal released in the second half of 2023. In it, you play as the abandoned pet rabbit Liebe who, accompanied by four rabbits who took her in, must go on a journey to find a new home.

Plot

The basic plot: forced to leave your home in the local park due to construction work, you must journey to find a new home, following a legendary rabbit explorer's map. This immediately echoes those childhood staples The Animals of Farthing Wood (reviewed here) and Watership Down; both have bands of animals – also rabbits in the latter case – forced to leave their home and journey to find a new one. Given that the rabbits are constantly searching for "Paradise", there may also be some influence from Wolf's Rain.

'Small Saga' - a simple RPG with a grand story

Your rating: None Average: 2.7 (3 votes)

Small Saga I remember when I first saw the animation of a rat vagabond flipping out the blade of a Swiss army knife, standing before a large orange cat on a kitchen floor. And ever since that day, I looked forward to playing this game. Of course, this came out in a time when ideas and funding campaigns were plenty, and many ideas never made it past that point. So let’s just say, I lacked faith that I’d ever see more than the wonderfully stylized and animated videos.

I’ve never been more happy to be wrong. The team behind this game persevered and gave me a pleasant surprise when the game was finally announced to be released in late 2023. But now that it is out, was the game worth all the hype?

In short, if you like your RPGs with challenging combat, then you may find this one too easy. However, if you play these games for the story, characters, setting, and intrigue, then this one is one that any furry would be loath to miss. In fact, if you’re a regular to this site you probably played it already.

New Adventures in Redwall

Thanks to Animation Magazine we learned about some new games coming to Steam, based on Brian Jacques’ world-famous Redwall series of anthropomorphic fantasy books. “The Scout Anthology, available now for PC, PS5 and X|S on Steam, is a narrative puzzle-driven action-adventure in three acts following young mouse recruits in Mossflower on a mission to save their home from pirates. For the cute and cozy casual gaming crowd, Feasts & Friends (for the PC, coming soon) savors the peaceful town of Lilygrove as players forage for ingredients, craft recipes, and meet charming characters.” Both of them were created by Forthright Entertainment and Soma Games.


image c. 2024 Forthright Entertainment

We Did It Before…

Well here’s a team we’ve heard about previously. Sean Patrick O’Reilly is head of Arcana Studios, and David Alvarez is a popular comic artist. Their new creation is called Kotto Kotorra. The description is pretty darn simple: “The book follows Kotto, an average Puerto Rican who runs an empanadilla food truck. His daily life is always an adventure, thanks to his boisterous friends.” That hardly scratches the surface of this old-school “funny animal cartoon” comic. What’s more, it’s not just a graphic novel, but a game app as well!


image c. 2024 Arcana Studios

Lookouts - Furry Western where Romeo and Juliet gets a hint of Brokeback Mountain

Your rating: None Average: 4.2 (5 votes)

Lookouts.jpgLookouts is a visual novel Western adventure where you play as a one armed wolf scout for a notorious gang. The 2022 Ursa Major nominated game is available to play in browser, or pay what you want to download at itch.io. It features art by Coldoggo, music by Jamie, and ParanoidHark composing the story and programming.

The art seems to take inspiration from Northwest Indigenous styling to form simple and effective character silhouettes for use in the story. The form not only lends itself well to the Western format, it makes the artstyle instantly recognizable and stand out from its other visual novel peers.

Gaming Furever relaunches

Your rating: None Average: 3.7 (6 votes)

Gaming Furever

Some of you may remember GamingFurever.com! We first launched in 2011 as a place where furries and anthro video game enthusiasts could come together to discuss current happenings, get the latest gaming news for games featuring furries of all sorts, and to host a database of every type of game featuring animal anthros, or games where you play as an animal.

We grew over the next ten years to host an incredibly talented group of volunteer staff and writers who streamed a bevy of games, published quality editorials and reviews only found on GF, and facilitated many new friendships for visitors to the site and community.

In the late 2010s, life for me, as the head of the site, was in flux and busier than ever. It became hard to put as much of a focus on GF as it truly deserved, and maintaining the website in a secure manner became too much of a responsibility to keep it going. To top it off, 2020 was what it was for everyone, and it felt like a good time to go on a bit of a hiatus. Important word: hiatus!

Hurray!

The takeover of Planet Earth by one little Australian blue heeler dog continues unabated. We just got this announcement: “The first ever Bluey video game is releasing on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC on November 17. Outright Games, in partnership with BBC Studios, is opening up the world of the beloved animated preschool series and inviting you to join Bluey and her buddies in an all-new interactive sandbox adventure, aptly titled Bluey: The Videogame, that will give players free rein to explore Bluey’s house and several other iconic locations.” Based on the celebrated and Ursa Major Award-winning TV series, of course. Coming this fall!


image c. 2023 Outright Games

Digging up Positivity - May 2023

Your rating: None Average: 3.7 (3 votes)

This week[sic] in Digging Up Positivty:

  • Pawperty Damage came out on the 24th and we are having an interview with the critter behind it all: Marig. And that is not all! We will be giving away one key of this smashing game so you can stomp around as well. Stay with us till the end for more info!
  • Two huge Australian icons working together in a most adorable dance off!
  • The Good Furry Award winners are announced
  • And of course we are starting this episode of Digging Up Positivity with various charities all over the world

Dinos in Love (and Music)

Recently we learned more about Goodbye Volcano High, a new 2D animated anthro-dinosaur game created by Ko Op studios (Winding Worlds). It goes like this: “Goodbye Volcano High is a story about love, friendship, personal growth, acceptance, and the power of community in the face of disaster. (And dinosaurs!) Fang has just figured out what they want to do with their life, and now they’ve got to find out how to deal with the end of the world, be there for their loved ones, and follow through on their musical dreams before it’s too late.” Cartoon Brew has more information and a link to the new game trailer. Goodbye Volcano High is scheduled for release this June.


image c. 2023 Ko Op

Digging Up Positivity February 2023

Your rating: None Average: 3.8 (5 votes)

In this episode of Digging Up Positivity we cover several big and small furry events with charities attached to them. Eurofurence finally has a new location, the return of a very sly fox and that bunny, and an awesome new upcoming game starring a gator, and an interview with one of the driving forces behind the furry events in and around Ohio, USA. And stay till the end if you want to win a lovely t-shirt from me from my ArtworkTee store!

But first things first, lets hop into the charities.

Sonic Frontiers - Of open worlds and confining cyberspaces

Your rating: None Average: 2.5 (4 votes)

Sonic Frontiers.jpg

It had been a long time since I last streamed a Sonic game. Sonic Forces was almost a one-off stream. It took only four to five hours to finish the game and also its Shadow add-on. Story beats were all a blur. The mechanic that was the staple was creating your own original character (do not steal), but as mentioned there wasn’t much for them to do. And who can ever forget the poor characterization and writing? True dat.

Since 2017, Sonic Team has certainly been taking their time with this next 3D entry. However, while I was an avid Sonic fan in my youth I kind of grew up and didn’t care so much about keeping up with the day to day on the stories and franchise as much as I used to. The last time I wrote a Sonic review for this site, it was for the movie. And that’s crossaffliction’s territory, that he would reestablish in the second release of the franchise.

I didn’t even review Sonic Forces. I had thoughts, but for whatever reason didn’t feel inspired enough to get them down on paper. Probably ended up in null space somewhere.

But enough about the background of Sonic, was their new Frontier worth the wait?

'Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series' - A newcomer's view of a pair of classics remastered

Your rating: None Average: 3.5 (2 votes)

Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series Klonoa was a bit after my time. While anthro platformers were a big household staple in the earlier years of my childhood, by the time I was entering my teenage my family trended toward more first-person shooter titles. We didn’t get an original PlayStation, and went for an N64 instead. That being said, last year’s remaster was a great opportunity to play a classic anthro platformer that I never got a chance to. Was it as good as the niche audience for this strange cabbit-like character laid it out to be?

The remaster comes with two games, and I have played through both. In short, the first game came as a bit of a surprise to me and had gameplay and story elements that challenged me as a player.

In terms of gameplay, both games have similar mechanics and feel like a mixture of early Kirby three dimension titles mixed with Mario 2 (US) combat where you pick up enemies to throw them at enemies and objects instead of sucking them in.

Playing the second game so quickly after the first caused a bit of a disappointment as it didn’t do things that the first hadn’t already done better. I enjoyed Phantomile more than I did Lunatea’s Veil. If there was a graphical difference in the titles in their original release, this remaster eliminates it and both look good.

I will go into more detail as to why after the header, as it will go into a bit more of the game’s content with some spoilers.

Persona and sim dates get a furry makeover

Your rating: None Average: 2.8 (8 votes)

Tropical Hearts is a game made by Kokolori Studios. This lovely visual novel RPG is a passion project with tons of heart and effort put into each scene. Full of nods to 90s nostalgia and beautiful art, the game keeps the player involved in the story of these vibrant characters.

Tropical Hearts
Having found their tropical vacation interrupted by mysterious forces, these friends are tasked with exploring the beautiful resort for information as to the cause of the local phenomena. Join them as the main character and discover more about these vibrant personalities.