The Goodbye Volcano High controversy, explained

gamepur.com:

Goodbye Volcano High is a gorgeous 2D narrative adventure in which players take on the role of a young dinosaur who has just learned that the world is about to come to an end. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the pro LGBTQIA+ messages in the game, it’s been the subject of a fair bit of controversy. This article explains what happened with that controversy and why.

Related: When is the release date for Goodbye Volcano High?

Goodbye Volcano High was initially revealed during a 2020 Sony digital showcase. The game’s characters and setting helped it gain attention, but it was the attraction of playing a non-binary character that made it stand out. These aspects, combined with the incredible music players were active participants, made it look like the ultimate end of the world summer road trip story that everyone feels the need to go on at the end of high school.

The development team at KO-OP quickly gained new fans and interacted with them as a community, building something special around their game. However, as the game gained more positive attention, it gained just as much negative attention over on 4Chan’s video game forum. The users there ridiculed the game regularly, and some people even went as far as making quite disturbing comments about it.

This all came to a head in June 2021 when 4Chan users under the developer name Cavemanon released Snoot Game. It’s a parodic visual novel that reuses assets from Goodbye Volcano High KO-OP had publicly shared. It was pitched as a fan game but the contents showed it was more of an anti-Goodbye Volcano High game with messaging that’s polar opposite to that seen in Goodbye Volcano High. A statement from Cavemanon made it sound like