Title: Last Day of June
Genre: Adventure, Indie
Developer: Ovosonico
Publisher: 505 Games
Release Date: March 16, 2018 [Nintendo Switch]
Platform(s): PS4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch [reviewed]
The Last Day of June is an adventure game from the team over at Ovosonico that tells a deep story about love, loss, and sacrifice that goes beyond time and space. It’s a beautiful story that is sure to pull at your heartstrings on more than one occasion. While it’s an adventure game, it is first and foremost an art project, and one that asks the player how far they would go in an attempt to save the one person you love.
I need to start by saying that video games are not art, but that art can come in the form of a video game. I know this sounds weird, but we need to understand that video games were created to be simple forms of disposable entertainment. The Last Day of June is a piece of art, one with various awards to it’s name, but it’s far more than the traditional art game where the player has very minimal control. It’s a game that is beginning to blur the lines between art and games.
The Last Day of June is an emotional journey and one that took me longer than expected to finish because I had to step away from my Nintendo Switch to process what I was experiencing. The story tells the tale of two lovers, Carl and June, as they spend a day venturing to their favorite and most cherished spot. During the day events unfold that leads to a tragic accident and the death of June.
As Carl, you are left wheelchair bound, stuck in a cycle of reliving the day through the portraits of the townspeople that June left behind in her studio. You can enter these portraits and take control of the various townsfolk in an attempt to change the outcome of the day. On the surface it’s pretty normal adventure game fare, but the Last Day of June really changes things up with how each play out.
Each portrait is interconnected with each other, so what you do in one will affect the other. You jump into these portraits in an attempt to change the events of the day that lead to the tragic loss of the love of you life. What really sticks with you is the seemingly futile ways your actions impact her death. You may change the initial outcome in one portrait, but fate simply changes events in some other fashion. Because of this you will constantly have to relive the events of days end, with each hitting hard each time.
But as you continue to progress you begin to see patterns emerge and show that your actions are leading you closer to an end where you won’t lose June. You really get sucked into the world and want to badly change the outcome of events. The game dangles just enough hope that you’ll continue to relive Carl’s pain trying to make things right.
Gameplay wise the Last Day of June isn’t very deep. It’s more focused on telling a story, but it isn’t without a fair bit of interaction. Each portrait focuses on a single person in town that is connected to June’s death in some way shape or form. You explore the small town reliving their events and making choices to alter events by doing things differently. Each character can interact with the world in unique ways.
Each character can change the world which then forces you to go back to a previous portrait and try to live their day in a different way. The game ends up with the player living each life in a way that slowly works to prevent the death of June. It’s not very deep from a gameplay perspective, but the story is strong enough that you’ll want to figure out the perfect day so everyone hopefully comes home.
Graphically the game uses unique art style that gives everything a clay look and feel. It works nice with the game, outside the scary lack of eyes on characters, but on the Nintendo Switch everything looks a little washed out, specially when playing in docked mode. The game also seems to stutter a fair bit that does diminish the overall quality of the experience. The game still works, but I’d suggest that you stick to another version if you have the option.
The Last Day of June overall is a fantastic experience, but it’s not without some issues outside of the stuttering in the graphics department. Biggest offender are the cut-scenes that you can’t skip. This wouldn’t be a big deal, but the game is all about replaying events so you are going to spend a lot of time simpling waiting. And while the cut-scenes are great, the tenth time seeing one will kill the weight of it.
At the end of the day the Last Day of June is the sort of game that you only play once, like many art games, but one with a story that will linger with you for quite some time. It’s an emotionally charged game that I can whole-heartedly recommend, but maybe on a platform other than the Nintendo Switch.
Final Score:
3/5
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