Video Game / Goodbye Volcano High

Love like the world is ending.^note From Left to right: Naomi, Naser, Reed, Rosa, Trish, and Fang. Not pictured: Sage and Stella.

You ever feel like you're waiting for a sign? To do that thing you were always meant to do?

Goodbye Volcano High is an adventure game created by KO_OP It was originally set to be released sometime in 2021, but a narrative reboot and the struggle of working during a pandemic led to multiple delays. It released on August 29, 2023 digitally for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam.

Set in a modern world of anthropomorphic dinosaurs, the game's story follows Fang, a nonbinary pterosaur and aspiring musician. For Fang, seeing how their bandmates' interests and friends have changed since the summer, senior year at Volcano High feels like the world they knew is coming to an end. Except it really is. When an asteroid is discovered heading towards Earth that will wipe out almost all life, Fang is forced to live boldly and make hard choices with the short time they have left. Goodbye Volcano High is a cinematic narrative game about personal growth, acceptance, love, community, and the end of an era.

The game plays as an Adventure Game; the player makes choices throughout the story that impact Fang's relationships with their friends and family, which can unlock new content based on decisions. There are also Rhythm Game segments of Fang's music performances, designing the band's logo and promotional posters, composing music, and a Game Within a Game, "Legends & Lore".

The game stars Lachlan Watson as Fang, Ozioma Akagha as Trish, Mark Whitten as Reed, Abe Bueno-Jallad as Naser, and Allegra Clark as Naomi.

Official Trailers: Reveal Trailer, Teaser Trailer, Story Trailer, Launch Trailer.

Not to be confused with the South Korean film and manhwa Volcano High School.

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Goodbye Volcano High contains examples of:

Tropes A - M

• After the End: Discussed. One Feather user starts wondering what's going to come after the dinosaurs are wiped out, while another mocks the idea of mammals surviving and inheriting the Earth.
• Against the Grain: While the entire rest of the cast are trying to decide which college and major they want to attend, Fang is the odd one out. They have no interest at all in college, instead choosing to follow their dream of a career in music.
• Alliteration & Adventurers: Legends and Lore, the group's preferred tabletop role-playing game.
• All Love Is Unrequited: Both Stella and Rosa have a crush on Naser, but he doesn't reciprocate their feelings. Trish and Rosa are implied to have feelings for each other, but whether or not they're dating is left ambiguous. And the player can enforce this trope by choosing for Fang to be just friends with Naomi.
• Amazing Technicolor Population: The colors of the dinosaurs vary wildly, from the natural to the exotic, including green, red, yellow, purple, blue, pink, and/or white.
• Anachronistic Animal:
  • There's multiple uses of the ":3" emoji in-universe. The most obvious one is Claire's social media avatar, which is one of the boys from Swamp Babies with cat ears, whiskers, and a ":3" face drawn on. Problem is: cats don't exist yet. In fact, mammals in general are just beginning to evolve, let alone felines.
  • Trish mentions that her L&L character uses a bat. She quickly clarifies that she means a "baseball bat" and not the animal "bat", which is rather unnecessary considering bats (the animal) won't possibly exist for millions of years.
• Animesque: The game's background art has strong anime influence, and in some scenes, Trish has a more anime-like face when excited.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: Naser to Fang. In one of the flashbacks, we see Naser torturing Fang with puns constantly, and in chapter 7, he begins to tease Fang about their romantic relationship with Naomi.
• Anti-Frustration Features: For players who struggle with rhythm games, the performance segments in the game are not required to be played perfectly in order to progress the story; the only thing the player will miss out on are some achievements and photos. There is also a "generous timing" option to give the player more time to hit the rhythm inputs.
• Apathetic Citizens: When news of the possible asteroid first breaks, lots of people are dismissive and joke about it, as seen on Fang's social media timelines. Once the asteroid gets close enough for its electromagnetic field to cause a permanent aurora in the sky, the apathy gives way to panic.
• Apocalypse Anarchy: A slow-burn example. After news of the asteroid comes out, for a while, the panic is mostly relegated to social media. As it seems like it's getting closer, it starts affecting the mental health of the students. After the asteroid's electromagnetism causes the permanent aurora borealis in the sky at the end of episode 5, the panic sets in for real. Classes are suspended indefinitely at Volcano High and the school is immediately vandalized, many shops in town shut down, and Caldera Bay becomes a ghost town.
• The Apocalypse Brings Out the Best in People: The looming threat of the asteroid pushes Fang to be open-minded to their friends and help them find happiness and closure before the final days. Ultimately, Fang and their friends do this for the entire city by throwing together a concert for the final day to ensure nobody dies alone.
• Apocalypse How: Just like in real life, the dinosaurs are facing an asteroid that will wipe out all advanced life on Earth.
• Apocalypse Wow: The aurora that covers the sky as the asteroid draws closer is both beautiful and terrifying; Fang even admits to enjoying looking at it, despite knowing it's wrong. The aurora's colors intensify and fluctuate on the final day during the concert, making it look like a light show.
• Art Shift:
  • In Fang's imagination sequences, the art style shifts to a grayscale illustrated style with static images and white backgrounds.
  • When playing the "Legends & Lore" sessions, the style shifts to a typical Visual Novel layout (large text box in the center, with character sprites appearing behind it when speaking, and no voice acting, save for Reed's narration). The characters have a more illustrated look with less details, and the backgrounds have a painting-like look to them.
• Artistic License:
  • Artistic License – Chemistry: Averted, though it is a common misconception that many players fall for. Oil and gasoline are seen to be used in-universe, and a character asks what they will use "once all the dead plant juice is used up". Most people think this is a joke referencing that the dinosaurs turned into modern day oil, but this isn't true — crude oil is primarily made of zooplankton and algae, despite the name "fossil fuel".
  • Artistic License – Geography: The continent that the game takes place on is referred to as Pangea. In real life, this was spelled differently (Pangaea) and also had broken up tens of millions of years before the asteroid hit. Of course, this may hint that this isn't the same Earth as we know it.
  • Artistic License – Paleontology: Apart from the modern, anthropomorphic reimagining of the dinosaurs, the game depicts several species of dinosaurs that were already extinct well before the asteroid hit.
• As You Know: In episode 1, Fang begins explaining the benefits of winning Battle of the Bands to their friends, before Trish interrupts and finished their sentence, suggesting Fang has done this routine before.
• Author Avatar: The developers have stated on Discord that they all have at least one appearance of their own "dinosonas" in the background of the game somewhere. Some have revealed theirs on social media, but others have chosen to keep them private and simply blend in with the background characters.
• Auto-Save: The game automatically saves between story beats, and cannot be saved manually at all.
• Battle of the Bands: An annual one is held at Lava Java, with the winner getting to perform at the big CalderaFest music festival. Fang had always dreamed of performing and winning the Battle, and the game's first five episodes deal with Worm Drama's path to achieving that goal.
• Behind the Black: In episode 7, Fang doesn't realize Naser is sitting next to Naomi at the bonfire until the camera pans over to reveal him.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Bugs are much larger in this game than they are in the present day. Mango, Trish's pet velvet worm, is the size of a cat, and a massive beetle flies into Fang's window in episode 2. Trish's dialog in episode 1 implies they used to be bigger but have been getting smaller in recent years.
• Big First Choice: Played with and subverted. The first choice the player is given is whether or not to burn the yearbook. From the player's perspective, it's the first choice they get to make, but in the story, it's framed Fang's final choice before the asteroid hits. Come episode 7, the player is finally given the scene's context and the yearbook is burnt regardless of the player's choice; the only difference is if the player chose "Hold on", Fang will hesitate and need encouragement to follow through.
• Bittersweet Ending: Fang achieves their dream and manages to pull off an amazing concert, Worm Drama becomes the biggest band in town, they mend all their relationships, and they can potentially start a romance with Naomi... but none of it changes that the asteroid is still going to hit. Ultimately, Fang helps bring comfort and closure to everyone around them, and whether the world ends or not, they won't be facing whatever comes next alone.
• Black Comedy Burst: Jokes about the upcoming apocalypse slowly become more commonplace as the story goes on, especially on Fang's social media feed. Reed even mistakes one of Naser's comments in chapter 4 as one. The jokes peter out once the aurora happens.
• Bland-Name Product:
  • The In-Universe version of Twitter is "Feather".
  • Similarly, YouTube is "YooToob".
  • One game segment involves a Dungeons & Dragons-like tabletop game called "Legends & Lore", portrayed to the player in a Visual Novel style.
  • Fang wears an oversized "Looped Tour" shirt while in bed in multiple scenes, which is a reference to the now-defunct "Vans Warped Tour", right down to even using the same logo.
• Both Sides Have a Point: In Naser and Fang's argument in episode 3, Naser points out that Fang has no backup plan for a career if their musician dream falls through, and they need to take their future more seriously. Fang in turn points out that Naser doesn't have any career goals at all, and he's doing what his parents expect of him instead of choosing what he wants to be. Naser realizes they're right, and the two come to an understanding, ending the argument.
• Brutal Honesty: Fang can do this based on some player choices in episode 2:
  • After the school assembly, if the player chose not to sit with Trish and Rosa, Naomi will come up to Fang and ask them how she did with her announcements. Fang has the option of telling her outright that she did a poor job.
  • After the Battle of the Band audition, Trish mentions she bailed a few times and wonders if LJ noticed. Fang has the option of giving a harsh, critical response, souring Trish's mood.
• BSoD Song: "Going Away", which Fang performs solo (with the midi controller substituting Reed's drumming) in the beginning half of episode 6 while they come to terms with the story's Darkest Hour.
• Burn Baby Burn:
  • Before any concert, Fang and Trish have a ritual where they burn a piece of written literature — business cards, books, papers, etc. — as a sacrifice to ensure their band has a successful show.
  • The Volcano High yearbook, which was shown in the game's reveal trailer being dropped into a bonfire by Fang. The book was made by Naomi and offered as sacrifice for the Worm Drama ritual before the group plans their final concert.
• But Thou Must!: Because the game is being told from Fang's perspective, choices are based on their current emotional state, meaning in some emotionally tense scenes, no "good" options are available. This is most noticeable in episode 3's scene of Fang and Naser arguing, and in episode 5's scene of Fang and Trish arguing over Trish quitting the band.
• Can't Believe I Said That: In chapter 7, after Fang tells Naomi to "fuck off". One of the optional scenes is to talk with Naser, where he will admonish them for saying it. Fang will admit they "can't believe I said that", to which he replies "neither can I".
• Cast Full of Gay: Basically the entire main cast is some flavor of LGBT. Fang is an AFAB non-binary that can enter a relationship with Naomi, a cis woman. Trish, a cis woman, and Rosa, a trans woman, are heavily implied to be in a relationship. Finally, there's Sage, a trans man, and Stella, a cis woman, who are also somewhat implied to be a couple. Reed, a cis male, is shown to be flirting with a boy in text messages in a flashback, and we later see them together at prom. The only character suspected of being cis and straight is Naser, who early in the game is thought to be romancing Naomi, but ultimately is only good friends with her and remains single by the end of the game.
• Cell Phones Are Useless: Subverted. Even when there's only hours before the asteroid hits, power, cell phones, internet, and social media are all working perfectly fine. Odd, considering power and cell service having problems due to the electromagnetism of the meteor was a plot point for the first five episodes.
• Central Theme: Community. There's no way of knowing how much time you have left in this world, and every moment with the people in your life is precious. Make the most of your time with them while you still can. Summed up by LJ in episode 6:
  LJ: "Nothing's worth doing til the end of all things if you don't have people to share it with."
• Chekhov's Skill: Naomi tries to recruit some of the gang into her engineering club, where they plan to dissect robot frogs. Sure enough, someone who can repair electronics becomes necessary when Fang ruins their midi controller and needs it fixed.
• Choice-and-Consequence System: The choices the player makes (actions, dialog, and more) impact Fang's relationships with the other characters, which can unlock additional scenes with those characters.
• Climate Change Allegory: The asteroid is used as this, in the sense that it gives the students a feeling like they're working hard at school for nothing and will leave school to enter a doomed world.
• Comet of Doom: The asteroid, designated CO-113 by the scientists, kicks off the plot when it's discovered to be heading towards the planet.
• Coming of Age Story: Essentially every character's arc is this. As high school seniors, they are facing the need to truly figure out what they want to do in life, while also wrestling with the idea of whether or not the world is going to end before they can achieve those goals.
• Company Cameo: KO_OP's mascot, Ini, can be seen as the icon of some Feather users, both in the episode 2 doomscrolling segment and when browsing Feather throughout the game.
• Cosmetic Award: The photos, which are unlocked both by making key choices during the story and by having high affinity with certain characters. Aside from giving the player a cool graphic to look at, they don't change the gameplay.
• Cosmic Horror Story:
  • With the threat of the unstoppable asteroid gradually approaching their planet, Fang and every other protagonist begins dreading and questioning whether or not anything and everything they've done ever mattered. Reed even once ruminates over the random chain of events that would create and send an asteroid hurtling straight across the universe towards them. Eventually, they find solace and meaning in what they've done with their lives and the connections they've made with one another. But while they do overcome their despair, they are still doomed to die. At least they'll perish giving said asteroid the metaphorical finger.
• Covered in Gunge: Mango has a nasty habit of spewing slime everywhere, including the backdrop of Trish's yearbook photo (much to Naomi's horror). Fang may also suffer this fate, once they find Mango after the worm goes missing.
• Creator Cameo: Several background dinosaurs seen throughout the game are based on members of the game's development team.
• Cut-and-Paste Note: The posters Sage and Stella make to promote the final Worm Drama concert resemble this.
• Dance of Romance: The photo unlocked after Fang and Naomi's date in episode 8 shows the two dancing together at night on the beach.
• Dance Party Ending: The final scene of the game is a massive concert in which the entire cast, including every background character, shows up to party at.
• Darkest Hour: In episode 6, Apocalypse Anarchy has fully settled in, Volcano High and Lava Java have both been shut down, Fang's friendship with Trish is damaged and their potential relationship with Naomi is in jeopardy. Reed's comments when he meets up with Fang suggest the rest of the friend group is fractured as well.
• The Day the Dinosaurs Died: The game takes place in an anthropomorphic dinosaur society during the last few months before the asteroid hits, with the characters gradually coming to terms with their imminent extinction. It ends with them putting on a rock concert as the asteroid arrives.
• Despair Event Horizon: Almost all of the main cast crosses this midway through episode 7, after Naomi lashes out at the bonfire.
• Do Not Go Gentle: The final episode of the game consists of Fang and their friends deciding to put on their own music festival and invite the entire city a day before the asteroid hits. Sure, the asteroid will kill them all, but Fang achieves their dream of putting on a killer musical performance in front of a crowd of fans. Reed refers to it as "Rage Against the Asteroid". The achievement for completing this performance with 90% score or better is even named "Out with a Bang".
• Double-Meaning Title: "Goodbye Volcano High" represents the characters having to grow up and say goodbye to a period of their youth, but also references the yearbook made by Naomi, which is the final record of their lives, and is destroyed before the end of the game.
• Downer Beginning: Episode 1 of the game reveals the asteroid is coming. The entire rest of the game is spent knowing that, possibly, the world is ending in eight months.
• Dramatic Irony:
  • Episode 1 is full of this. The first day of senior year (before the asteroid is discovered) has the dinosaurs talking about their future ambitions after graduation, something the player knows they'll never get to experience. Fang also invites Naomi to see Worm Drama perform, telling her "we're about to blow up".
  • In episode 2, if Fang hangs back in the auditorium scene, they complain that Trish and Rosa didn't save a seat for them, and show envy over their growing friendship. But choosing to sit with them reveals that Rosa did save a seat for Fang, right next to Trish.
• Dying Alone: Heavily subverted. The entire second half of the game is about specifically avoiding this. Fang does anything they can to mend relationships before the world ends, so they have awesome people to spend the last moments with.
• Effortless Achievement: "Singer Songwriter", the very first achievement in the game, is completed within a few minutes of beginning the first chapter by doing the unavoidable rhythm game segment, regardless of how well the player performs.
• The End of the World as We Know It: The game's plot kicks in when it's discovered the world is about to end, and Fang has to decide what they'll do with the time they have left.
• Everybody Cries: During the final concert, nearly everyone in the audience, including Fang's friends, are crying. And in the game's final shot of Fang, Trish and Reed performing together, all three have tears in their eyes.
• Fade to White: In the very final scene of the game, the camera pans up from Worm Drama's performance to the glowing aurora in the sky, before cutting to black for the credit roll.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Anime exists in Pangea, implying a dinosaur equivalent of Japan culture does as well. Likewise, Rosa's outfit, including her L&L costumes, evoke Latin American cultures.
• Fictional Disability: Naser's atrophied left wing means he can't fly like Fang can.
• Flashback: Functioning as a game mechanic, flashbacks to previous moments in a character's life can be seen once their affinity is high enough.
• Foregone Conclusion: They are dinosaurs and an asteroid is coming to hit Earth. The conclusion is obvious to anyone who knows even the very basics of dinosaur history. The official website's FAQ even openly states the meteor isn't a metaphor and is meant to mirror the mass extinction event the real world dinosaurs faced.
• Foregone Victory: The player cannot lose the music performance segments; even if they perform poorly, the story's outcome is the same, although some dialog may change.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Early in episode 2, when Fang and Reed are alone on the roof, Reed says the roof would be a great spot to be when the asteroid hits. In the final episode, the school roof is used as the venue for the final Worm Drama concert on the day the asteroid is meant to hit.
  • Late in episode 2, it's shown that Fang and Trish have a ritual they perform before any band performance where they burn written material, such as business cards, as a sacrifice. This ends up being why the yearbook is burnt in episode 7, as a means of inducting the new incarnation of Worm Drama.
  • Stella's Tarot card readings foreshadow various events that will happen in the story regardless of what card is pulled. It's especially evident in Episode 5, where each card Fang can pull at Battle of the Bands serves as Five-Second Foreshadowing: The Fool (Fang's impulsive solo performance), Death (Fang and Trish's fallout breaking up Worm Drama), and The Star (Fang meeting their secret admirer after the band breakup).
• Forgotten First Meeting: A random student bumps into Fang in episode 2's auditorium scene. Later, when looking for Reed on senior picture day, Fang encounters the same student outside the school, but Fang doesn't recall meeting them before.
• Friendly Rivalry: Worm Drama vs Swamp Babies. Trish and Reed both openly dislike Swamp Babies, but Fang never shows them any hostility and admits they are good on a technical level. Swamp Babies at one point tries to recruit Fang into their band, as well, showing they respect Worm Drama musically on some level too. In the final scene, they are shown to be there at Worm Drama's last show, too, crying.
• Friendship Moment: Based on the player's choices, they can unlock private moments between Fang and the other characters, highlighting the qualities they see in each other that make them good friends.
• Fully-Dressed Cartoon Animal: All the anthropomorphic dinosaurs are fully clothed in conventional human clothing.
• Funny Background Event: In episode 8, as Fang tries to decide what outfit they will wear, one of the shirts laying on their bed is a reference to the "bogos binted?" meme.
• Garage Band: Fang and their band, Worm Drama, practice their music in Reed's brother's garage.
• Generation Xerox: Fang and Naser look like gender-inverted versions of their parents; Fang has their father's light gray body and feathered wings, while Naser has his mother's dark grey and orange body and featherless wings.
• Genre Mashup: The game is a cinematic narrative coming-of-age romantic choose-your-own-adventure rhythm game with anthropomorphic dinosaur characters that takes place in the end of the Cretaceous period.
• Get Out!: Fang to Naser in chapter 7.

Fang: "Oh... my god. She told you."

Naser: "Sooo... what's the plan? You gonnaaaaa... kiss Naomi?"

Fang: "Out. OUT!"

• Gory Discretion Shot: In episode 1, Mango shows Fang a video of Mango's "slime attack". The video isn't seen, but we do see Fang's grossed-out face and hear a disgusting sound effect. Trish plays it a second time for good measure.
• Guide Dang It!: The game tells the player that some choices will affect Fang's relationships with other characters, and it shows an "affinity" chart showing how close each character is with them. What's not told is that there's an eighth measurement that tracks Fang's self-worth (an "affinity" value for themself) that can also be raised by the player's choices and can unlock certain scenes.
• High School: The main setting of the game is Volcano High, a high school in Caldera Bay.
• Holding Hands:
  • In episode 5, before driving to the Battle of the Bands, Fang, Trish and Reed hold hands together.
  • In episode 8, Fang holds Naomi's hand during their date.
• Hope Spot: In a radio broadcast, scientists announce their predictions that the asteroid will make a close pass but miss the planet by a margin of 20-30%, ignoring an independent astronomer claiming otherwise. The end of episode 5 makes it clear the asteroid is going to hit.
• How We Got Here: The game's opening scene is at the campfire near the end of the game's story, when Fang has to decide whether or not to burn the yearbook. After the player makes a choice, it then flashes back to eight months ago on the first day of senior year, and the game begins proper. The context of the scene finally comes into play at the end of episode 7.
• Imagine Spot: Fang has two early in the game, one when talking about the band's direction to Ms. Roberts, and one while after Naomi fixes the midi controller.
• Immediate Sequel: Episode 2 picks up immediately from where episode 1 concludes.
• Indecipherable Lyrics: "Swamp Babies", "Between Us", "Waiting", and "Fang_wip" all have gibberish vocals, and have no lyrics written in the soundtrack.
• Insistent Terminology: It's an asteroid, not a meteor. Naomi in particular is very annoyed by this.
• Interface Screw: The game portrays Fang's intrusive thoughts as this. These are shown as choices that sound out of Fang's character, and if you try to target them, the option will shimmer and turn gray, explaining why Fang wouldn't say or do that.
• Interface Spoiler: The achievement for seeing all the extra content featuring Naomi is called "Pretty Heroes." In episode 3, Fang and their secret admirer briefly reminisce about a show from their childhoods called "Pretty Heroes". Guess who the secret admirer is.
• Just Before the End: The game takes place eight months before an asteroid wipes out the dinosaurs.
• Killed Offscreen: Implied to be literally everyone.
• Lampshaded Double Entendre: In episode 4, when texting their secret admirer and asked what they're up to, Fang (trying to describe how it feels trying to pick a college) says "torturing myself". The admirer asks if Fang is "into that", leaving Fang flustered before they both laugh it off.
• Let's Just Be Friends: In episode 7, Fang has the option of gently turning down Naomi's romantic feelings and insisting on being friends instead, as Fang needs Naomi's support to keep going in the last days.
• Limited Wardrobe: With the exceptions of Fang and Naomi, the rest of the major characters wear the same outfits all throughout the story, and are only seen wearing different clothes during Fang's visions while playing the final performance.
• Logging onto the Fourth Wall: Several.
  • Reed links to "memearchive.biz" in episode 1, joking about how there's already a meme page about the asteroid within hours of it being identified. Seems to have been nabbed by a fan and now hosts, as expected, a meme about the asteroid that was featured in the game.
  • In the same chapter, Reed also links to "scientificdaily.pga" as the first confirmation of the incoming asteroid. ".pga" likely being a reference to regional Top Level Domains; in this case, Pangea, the supercontinent the story takes place on.
  • "yootoob.com" is linked several times as a stand-in for YouTube.
• Love Hurts: Naomi had been in love with Fang for a long time, but Fang was too focused on their music aspirations to notice, and Fang has a bad habit of being avoidant around Naomi, especially in the early episodes. Fang becomes infatuated with their secret admirer, but looks unnerved upon finding out their true identity. Finally, the bonfire argument ends with Fang telling Naomi to "fuck off", sending her running off in tears. The player can further invoke this trope by choosing to be cold and distant towards Naomi throughout the game, stand her up after Battle of the Bands, and finally choose to just friends with her instead of dating her.
• Love Letter: Fang gets one in the form of an anonymous text message at the end of episode 1.
• Lying to Protect Your Feelings: Fang has the option of doing this at the end of episode 2, when Trish asks if LJ noticed the mistakes she made.
• Meaningful Echo: After Fang gets the news that LJ is cancelling CalderaFest, they come to peace with it quickly, telling their friends "Who needs a future when all my friends are in the present, right?" After Naomi finally comes to peace with their impending doom, she says the same line after Fang accepts her apology for lashing out.
• Mood Whiplash: Midway through episode 5. Worm Drama wins Battle of the Bands, and it's a triumphant moment where Fang's dreams are finally coming true and their future in a successful music career seems basically guaranteed... only for Fang to sign the CalderaFest paperwork without talking to Trish, and the mood immediately sours.
• Must Not Die a Virgin: Several Feather users complain about this possibly happening to them.

Tropes N - Z

• Never Got to Say Goodbye: As the asteroid nears, Fang and Naser's parents are unable to return home after all flights are grounded. They fear they'll never see or hear from them ever again. This is later and beautifully subverted when their parents manage one last video call before the end.
• No Antagonist: There aren't any antagonistic characters in the game, only the looming threat of the asteroid and interpersonal conflicts.
• Nonconformist Dyed Hair: Fang's natural hair color is red, and they dye it silver for senior year. With their new outfit, it gives them a punk rebel look. Player choices can lead to a light purple, as well.
• Non-Heteronormative Society: Suberted. At first, the game's LGBT characters don't seem to have any social problems at all, and Fang faces no issues having their name and pronouns recognized by their friends, brother, and even authority figures like Ms. Roberts and LJ. However, it's later shown that Fangs's parents still deadname and misgender them, and Rosa and Sage, both of whom are transgender, are having struggles of their own.
• Non-Mammalian Hair: Just about all the characters, despite being dinosaurs, are shown having full heads of hair, in addition to feathers.
  • Fang and their family invert this, with pterosaurs (which were not dinosaurs) believed to have possessed furry bodies; ironically, Fang is also depicted with feathers, a quality very few pterosaurs possessed.
• Noodle Incident:
  • Rosa's papier-mâché volcano incident in second grade, which (according to Trish) caused the teacher to quit.
  • Trish had an incident involving worms and one of Fang's mom's dresses, something Fang notes that their mom still isn't over.
• Old Shame: Fang has some of this regarding Worm Drama's past. It's implied the band's music used to be much more crude, with their more popular songs being titled Puke Factory, Gym Teacher Sex Dream, and Get Bent Jimmy Two-Face, along a mention they are banned from performing at a local retirement home because of it. While we never hear these songs, the names alone are very different from anything we hear Worm Drama play, and Fang openly tells the group they need to go a different direction if they want to win the Battle of the Bands.
• Only One Name: With the exception of Ms. Roberts, every character is addressed solely by first name.
• Only One Save File: There can only be one saved game at a time, and starting a new game will clear out the previous save. While it's possible to get around this on the Steam version^*By disabling save game cloud syncing, the player can copy the saved game out of the game's directory and replace it with another, there's no such luck for the PlayStation 4 and 5 versions.
• Open-Minded Parent: According to Rosa, her parents came around to her transition and have since been great, despite the rest of her family disagreeing.
• Opposites Attract: The meek, conformist bookworm Naomi is in love with the outspoken, punk-rock rebel Fang. And, based on the player's choices, this attraction can be mutual.
• Painting the Medium:
  • Character names above their dialogue are dictated by how Fang knows them. Family, teachers, and close friends will have their names written normally, but random students may have fuzzier ones like 'Theatre girl' or 'I really need to learn this guy's name'.
  • Dialogue options Fang is nervous or unsure about may turn to static when hovered over, and be replaced with one of their intrusive thoughts. If the sentence is hard to say for them, it may require multiple clicks before they finally spit it out.
  • Dialogue options with intense emotion behind them like steely bluntness, anger, or excitement may have special effects on their boxes.
• Permanently Missable Content: Each of the main cast has at least one cutscene with Fang that can be missed if the player chooses the wrong dialogue or doesn't have high enough affinity with the character.
• Picture Day: A segment in episode 2 involves Fang getting their picture taken for this, then roping Reed in to get his picture taken as a favor to Naomi in exchange for her fixing Fang's midi controller.
• Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: In episode 5, just as Trish is trying to explain to Fang that she needs a break from the band, Fang signs Worm Drama up for CalderaFest without hearing her out. This sets Trish off, who wanted more time with other friends and activities instead of being shoehorned into Fang's musician dream. After an intense argument, Trish abandons Fang, and the two don't fully resolve their issues until episode 7.
• Point of No Return: A rare narrative game example. Episode 6 is the final part in which the player can earn affinity points with the other characters. Once the episode is finished, the rest of the game plays out based on the current affinity levels, which determine who Fang can talk to at the bonfire (episode 7), if the player sees the secret scene of Fang and Trish reconciling (episode 8), and what photos are unlocked in the game's final moments.
• Pop-Up Texting: A significant portion of the dialogue in the game takes place in text messages using this style.
• Power Outage Plot: The asteroid's electromagnetic field triggers rolling blackouts on the planet, which intensify as it gets closer over the months. In episode 5, one happens just as Worm Drama is about to perform for Battle of the Bands, and on an impulse, Fang performs a solo performance with an acoustic guitar before power is restored.
• Precision F-Strike:
  • In episode 4, Fang and Sage talk about their shared struggle with having their transitions taken seriously. Fang talks about how their parents seem to be waiting for Fang to settle on being "normal", to which Fang concludes: "Dude, fuck that. We don't owe them 'normal'."
  • In episode 5, during the Battle of the Bands, Fang says "Fuck it." as they go on stage to perform solo despite the power outage triggered by the asteroid.
  • In episode 7, said by Fang during the bonfire scene: "Oh, fuck off, Naomi." This is such a precision strike that Fang and Reed both cringe afterwards, joking that it was a "critical hit".
• Predation Is Natural: While not alluded to in the game proper, certain social media posts in-universe make reference to a debate between carnivores and herbivores, largely regarded as just as inconsequential as most internet drama.
  peter: can we PLEASE stop with the carnivore/herbivore discourse? your diet isnt morally correct just because you eat grass
• Pungeon Master: Puns are Naser's go-to form of humor. A flashback shows he badgered Fang with puns nonstop all summer.
  Naser: "You know, if we were twins... we'd be pair-o-dactyls."
• Queer Colors: Fang's bag has a decal which has the non-binary pride colors and the pronouns "they/them" written on it.
• Rearrange the Song: An In-Universe example. "Don't Call" is a heavy rearrangement of one of Worm Drama's old songs, with new hooks, lyrics, and chord progressions.
• Relationship Values: Fang's closeness to the other characters can be seen in the game's "Affinity" menu. The icons of other characters will appear orbiting an icon of Fang, and they may orbit in closer or further away rings depending on the player's choices.
• Rewatch Bonus:
  • Knowing that Fang was oblivious to Naomi's obvious crush on them gives a new context to their interactions throughout the first four episodes: instead of just being a socially awkward nerd who Fang is uncomfortable being around, Naomi is a nervous girl trying to be nice to her crush and getting the cold shoulder.
  • Knowing that both Rosa and Sage are transgender makes the subtext in their shared flashback more obvious.
• Rhythm Game: The game features eight musical sequences in which Fang is performing. These are represented by a rhythm game the player participates in with button presses and other movements to the beat. There are achievements for hitting 90% or higher in each one, one for hitting 90% or more on all performances, and yet another for a 100% perfect performance.
• Rooftop Concert: The final concert arranged by Fang and their friends as a send-off before the end of the world takes place on the Volcano High rooftop.
• Running Gag: Any mention of Worm Drama's old song "Puke Factory" is followed up by Fang cheerfully saying "Everyone loves Puke Factory."
• Saving the World: Averted. Early on there are suggestions of how the asteroid could be stopped, or that it might not hit the planet at all. But as it gradually becomes clear that there's no way of stopping it, the dinosaurs are forced to accept their fate.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Many civilians flee Caldera City after the asteroid's proximity triggering the permanent aurora borealis causes widespread panic. LJ also closes down Lava Java and plans to wait out the disaster in a cabin in the woods, but is convinced by Fang to stay for the Worm Drama concert.
• Senior Year Struggles: Fang begins senior year with the single goal of pursuing music professionally with their band Worm Drama, but chafes against Trish and Reed having other obligations and interests that cut into band practice, putting a strain on their friendships. Then comes the news of the impending asteroid...
• Shout-Out:
  • Two to Jurassic Park:
    • The note from Fang's parents in episode 1 says they're currently at Isla Nublar.
    • After Stella gives Fang the "Wheel" tarot card in episode 8, she says "The world keeps turning and life, uh, finds a way."
  • In the auditorium, two background characters are heavily inspired by Mercedes and Shez from Fire Emblem.
• Show Within a Show: "Pretty Heroes" is an anime that Fang enjoyed as a child, and a segment of it can be seen in episode 8 if the player chooses to be "just friends" with Naomi. There's also a slasher film called "Jurassacre VII" and a documentary called "The Mesozoic Era As We Know It".
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: Before the climactic concert, Naomi makes Fang a dress to wear which wouldn't be out of place in Sailor Moon. If you choose to wear it, they also dye their hair a pastel violet and wear purple contacts.
• Signs of the End Times: The asteroid's electromagnetic field triggers rolling blackouts and interruptions in communications devices. As it gets closer into the solar system over the next few months, the blackouts become more frequent, and a permanent aurora borealis covers the sky.
• Sink or Swim Mentor: LJ is this; even though she's giving Fang and their band a fair chance, she doesn't hesitate to tell them that their music doesn't cut it and that Fang needs to improve if they want to score a Battle of the Bands audition. Trish takes this as LJ being mean and hating their music, and so is critical of Fang's trust in her judgement.
• Social Media Is Bad: The Feather app quickly becomes littered with dinosaurs posting doom and gloom about the end of the world. One scene in episode 2 features Fang doom-scrolling through posts, looking unnerved. One post lampshades this, saying "maybe having constant unfiltered access to the opinions of people we don't know may have been a mistake."
• Stylistic Suck: All the songs have a deliberate slight "unfinished" quality to them; some lack proper beginnings or endings, sometimes the mixing isn't perfect, and some have gibberish filler lyrics. This was done to illustrate how Fang is still a young musician and learning to perfect their craft.
• Sudden Lack of Signal: Early in the game, cell phones start randomly dropping signal in huge batches. It's implied by Naomi it could be due to the electromagnetism from the approaching asteroid. A news broadcast Fang watches later confirms this.
• Take That!:
  • One of the posts on Fang's Feather timeline jokes about somebody buying the platform and running it into the ground. This is a jab at Elon Musk's controversial takeover and rebranding of Twitter / X.
  • In episode 2, after damaging the midi controller, Fang looks up an online video about repairing it, only for the presenter to be obnoxious and unhelpful, mocking the quallity of YouTube tutorial videos.
• There Are No Adults: Pretty close. The only adults seen at Volcano High are the Principal and Ms. Roberts, and the only major recurring adult character is LJ, the owner of Lava Java and oragnizer of Battle of the Bands and CalderaFest. Fang and Naser's parents are only seen through video calls, and the others characters' parents are only mentioned in passing. Even at the concert before the asteroid hits, the only two adults visible in the audience are LJ and Ms. Roberts.
• Tick Tock Tune: While scrolling meme posts about the incoming asteroid, the words on screen begin to blur together and fade into a dim glow, all accompanied by an ominously ticking clock sound effect before Fang gives up and turns it off.
• Time Skip: The first three episodes take place in September, and episode 5 takes place in April. Episode 4 takes place during an unspecified time between 3 and 5.
• Title Drop: The opening of the game depicts Fang holding the group's yearbook with the word "Goodbye" written over the school name "Volcano High".
• Trailers Always Spoil: The launch trailer shows a brief glimpse of Volcano High shut down and vandalized.
• Uncertain Doom: The game ends showing Fang, Trish and Reed performing before the camera pans up towards the aurora-covered sky, leaving it ambiguous if the asteroid hit.
• Variable Mix: Two songs that Fang writes over the course of the game can be customized using sets of lyrics of the player's choosing. The soundtrack versions of each song use the default lyrics.
  • The first song is "Begin Again" and is the song used to demonstrate the game's rhythm elements.
  • The second song is "Pretty Heroes", and its first two verses are written by Fang in episode 3. Two more verses of the song can be changed in episode 8 if Fang and Naomi begin a relationship, and Fang goes on a date with her.
• Video Game Caring Potential: While most choices all point towards the game's predetermined ending, at times, the player can make choices that involve Fang being kind and supportive towards certain people. Often, this leads to additional scenes being unlocked that would not be seen otherwise.
• Video Game Cruelty Punishment: Choosing to be as much of a jerk to Fang's friends, acquaintances, and brother will cause the characters to react accordingly. And much of the game's content is locked behind being nice to everyone, which triggers scenes, flashbacks, and photos, meaning players choosing to be cruel won't experience significant portions of the game's content.
• Wanted a Gender-Conforming Child:
  • Both of Fang's parents are dismissive of their identity, with their mother outright refusing to call them Fang, instead continuing to use their birth name, Fatima. It isn't until the final video call before the last concert that Fang's mother actually refers to them as 'Fang' in a teary goodbye.
  • A miss-able cutscene with Sage also reveals the same: his parents are not happy with him transitioning, and mostly consider it a joke. Making things even worse, after transitioning to male, he then chooses to dress and act feminine, which only earns him more ridicule from family.
• Wham Episode: Episode 5 is this by its end. Worm Drama wins Battle of the Bands, securing their spot at CalderaFest, but the band is split after Trish becomes fed up with Fang shoehorning her into their musician dream without taking into consideration what Trish wanted to do with her last days. Naomi reveals herself to be Fang's secret admirer, but Fang is too shaken up by their fallout with Trish to act on it. Worse, the asteroid's magnetic field causes rolling blackouts and a permanent aurora borealis in the sky, causing a global panic.
• Wham Line:
  • In episode 4, said by Trish just before the L&L session: "I think... I need a break. From the band. The Battle of the Bands is going to be my last show."
  • In episode 7, in LJ's texts Fang: "I'm calling it. CalderaFest can't happen. Not now."
• Wham Shot:
  • At the end of episode 4, Naomi is shown in their room designing clothing with a Worm Drama poster on their wall, revealing them to be Fang's secret admirer.
  • At the end of episode 5, the asteroid causes a city-wide power outage, and a permanent aurora borealis lights up the sky. The episode ends with Fang and Naser staring up at it, eyes wide in horror.
  • Episode 6 opens with an interior shot of Volcano High vandalized and abandoned, and a sheet announcing the suspension of all classes.
  • At the end of episode 7, Naomi mentions that since the whole friend group has now joined Fang's band, they need to do the Worm Drama pre-show ritual. She pulls out the Volcano High yearbook, first seen at the beginning of the game, revealing its significance to the story.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Fang is on the receiving end of this from Naser in episode 7 after cursing out Naomi, Naser's best friend, at the bonfire.
• The Whole World Is Watching: Worm Drama's final concert is streamed, allowing Fang's parents to see them performing one last time.
• Winged Humanoid: Fang and their family are described as Pteranodons, and are depicted with wings, though the wings are shown on their backs rather than as extensions of their arms as was the case with actual Pterosaurs.
• Wintry Auroral Sky: As the asteroid gets closer to Earth, its effects on the Earth's magnetic field intensify, causing an aurora borealis to appear in the sky, day and night. This is what finally causes panic to set in.
• World of Funny Animals: The game consists of a cast of anthropomorphic dinosaurs and a few other extinct creatures with long beaks. A few of them (including Fang) also have wings. Mammals also exist, but are still a primitive species.

Tropes applying to "Legends & Lore"

• Amnesiac Hero: Fey, the dark mage, has lost most of their memories and joins the gang to save the world in hopes that doing so will help recall their past.
• Apocalypse Cult: The Cult of Braxus, also called the Cult of the Final Days, are lead by Keph and trying to bring about the end of the world by summoning Braxus.
• Awful Truth: In the final session, Fey is horrified to learn that they were once a loyal servant towards Braxus, and remembers the day they rebelled and he punished Fey by stealing their memories.
• Bewitched Amphibians: At the end of the library segment's battle with Keph, Fey has the option of transforming him into a frog.
• Big Bad: Braxus, the evil god who's attempting to bring about the apocalypse.
• Bittersweet Ending: The heroes manage to defeat Braxus, saving the world and allowing people to live in peace. But at the end of the fight, they are sucked through Braxus' portal into a black void of darkness and are pulled apart into space dust over millions of years, becoming constellations in the night sky, overlooking the world they saved.
• Books That Bite: Dewey, the flying library book, transforms into this when enraged.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Linnea has a bad habit of this, as Naomi has a hard time staying in character due to her strong technical knowledge of the game. Trish has to remind her to stop metagaming, and this habit comes back to bite Linnea in the second session's Sand Temple route.
• Calling Your Attacks: All of the player characters announce what attacks they're performing as they do it. This is a Justified Trope due to it being the players announcing to Reed what attacks they want their characters to perform.
• Cerebus Syndrome: The first session is a typical, lighthearted adventure, but the second features more dangerous battles and closes with an apocalyptic vision for Fey. The final session involves confronting and defeating the evil god Braxus, only for the whole party to die in the process.
• Cool Airship: The Vagrant, a classic airship whose balloons are covered with a decoration resembling a giant dinosaur skull.
• Cosmic Horror Story: The campaign is steadily influenced by the out-of-universe circumstances into becoming such a tale. Braxus, an eldritch manifestation of the anxiety and dread induced by the asteroid, threatens the game's setting with absolute destruction. Said campaign ends with the heroes defeating Braxus, only to be die shortly afterwards and be forgotten. However, Reed and Fang later come to see the campaign as Lovecraft Lite, since Braxus was slain and life continues, with their heroes reincarnated as stars in the sky.
• Downer Ending: Reed ends the campaign with the party defeating Braxus but dying in the process. Given the characters are all facing the apocalypse and using the game as an escape, this doesn't go over well and upsets most of the cast.
• The Dragon: Keph is this to Braxus. The final session reveals that Fey was once this as well.
• Easter Egg: If the party goes to the library during the first session, a very small select-able spot can be found under one of the broken shelves. Clicking it discovers a blank red book, with the dialogue: "I don't... get it... maybe there's something I myst?" which is no doubt a reference to Myst.
• "Everybody Dies" Ending: The final session ends with the party slaying Braxus and stopping his doomsday plot, but they all die in the process.
• Eyepatch of Power: Fey has one in their powered-up form.
• Eyes Do Not Belong There: Braxus' transformed form has too many eyes; they're on wings that accent his head, down his arms, on his lower wings, and all around a halo he holds on extra arms on his back. On his face, the spots where his eyes should be instead have red scar-like markings.
• Face Death with Dignity: After slaying Braxus, Fey has the option of behaving like this as the party is sucked into the portal.
• Flying Books: Dewey, the flying library book.
• Gone Horribly Wrong: In the library, Jeff attempts to steal a book, but rolls a 1. This causes Dewey to notice him and become enraged, triggering a boss battle.
• Great Big Library of Everything: The library inside the Nautilus is massive and has a countless selection of books.
• Heel–Face Turn: After being resurrected by Braxus, Keph chooses to side with the heroes to stop Braxus for good.
• In and Out of Character: Naomi has a hard time staying in character as Linnea, leading to several Breaking the Fourth Wall moments.
• Knight of Cerebus: Braxus is this; at the end of the second session, he gives Fey a vision of the world being destroyed, setting the darker tone of the final session.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Braxus had removed most, but not all of Fey's memories after they turned on him. He restores their lost memories midway through the final session.
• Light Is Not Good: Braxus has a shining white body, and he's also the Big Bad.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Midway through the final session, it's revealed that Fey and Keph are siblings.
• Multiple-Choice Past: When trying to recall their past, Fey can choose from one of three different options (provided out-of-universe to Fang by Trish, Naomi, and Sage). All three options leave enough blank space so that Reed can work in the later revelation that Fey and Keph are siblings that made a pact with Braxus.
• Omnicidal Maniac: Braxus, who is attempting to bring about the end of the world.
• One-Winged Angel: For the second half of his boss battle, Braxus transforms into his final form: a massive demon with multiple pairs of wings and limbs, and blood-red eyes on various parts of his body, making him resemble an Angelic Abomination.
• Quicksand Sucks: Linnea gets stuck in quicksand in the Sand Temple segment, and Fey and Ollie argue about the best action to rescue her. Fed up, Linnea casts a spell to slow her descent, before the quicksand sucks her and the party into the underground temple.
• The Reveal: The final session reveals that Fey and Keph are siblings, and Fey once served Braxus to bring about the end of days. When they underwent a Heel–Face Turn and rebelled against Braxus, he punished the siblings by wiping their memories and abandoning Fey.
• Rule of Three: Three sessions are played throughout the game.
• Shout-Out: In the library segment, Fey can find books inspired by Berserk and Myst, and Jeff tries to steal "The Necronom-nomicon", a reference to the Evil Dead franchise.
• "Simon Says" Mini-Game: In the Crystal Caves segment, a cave with a locked door will appear. Crystals around the room will light up in a randomized order, and Fey will have to select them in the correct order to open the door.
• Speaking Simlish: All of the characters speak this way with their words subtitled, with the exception of Reed's narration.
• Story Branching: In the first two sessions, Fey can choose one of two different locations to visit, which change how the final fight in the third session plays out. Out-of-universe, the locations Fang chooses to play changes what opportunities they have to bond with their friends.
• Swamps Are Evil: The swamp visited in the second session has mushroom monsters, mud that sucks people in and forces them to have nightmare visions, and violent, sentient trees. The swamp's evil is lifted once Maia frees the Blightbane axe.
• We Can Rule Together: Both Keph (in the Flying Library route) and Braxus offer Fey the chance to join the Cult and serve Braxus. Fey refuses both times, the second being more significant after The Reveal that Fey was once Braxus' most devout followers.

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"Thank you! Our next song... is about going home."

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