"Last Day of June" Review

At the time of writing [midnight on the day this review came out], I've just finished playing the subject of this review, Last Day of June. Normally I like to take my time with my reviews, but this game left such an impression on me that I just had to write the whole thing in one sitting. I'll say this now, this game will shake you to your very core. I won't say in what way the game will accomplish this, but know that if you're anything like me, you won't be able to stop thinking about this story for a while after you finish. I had so many possible opening statements that I wanted to use, but I decided not to use any of them. I just don't want to give you any hints as to why Last Day of June impacted me so much. In any case, this will be a fairly short review, because there isn't much to cover in this game. In addition, this review is spoiler-free. I won't be covering events that happen after the first few minutes of the game. So pull up a chair, make some popcorn, and allow me to tell you why I think you should play Last Day of June.

Last Day of June is an indie title developed by Ovosonico on the Unity engine, and can be found on Steam and the Playstation Store (sorry, Xbox fans). It's a love story that follows our protagonist, Carl, and his wife, June. I can say with certainty that they are the single most adorable couple in any game ever. Carl and June live in a small town/hamlet/village/something where the population consists mainly of their friends, an old man, and a little boy. June's hobby is painting, and Carl also tries it in an effort to get a laugh out of June (gaaaah they're so darned cute). On their way home from what I consider to be the most beautiful, pure romantic story sequence in gaming history, tragedy strikes, and our heartbreaking story begins. An unspecified amount of time later, Carl discovers he has the ability to travel back in time and take control of what the other townsfolk were doing on the afternoon of the tragedy. From there, we have the rest of our story and our gameplay model (more on that later). Does it make a lot of sense? No. BUT if you're anything like me, you won't care because you'll be too busy trying to help Carl. Despite the fact that the rest of the game is pretty much the same afternoon relived ad-nauseum, our existing knowledge of the story grows with each repetition. As the game continues, we learn the reason June took up painting, what their life was like at the beginning of their marriage, all sorts of compelling tidbits. This ensures that we still receive a steady, satisfying stream of story despite the fact that the plot technically comes to a halt. In addition, despite taking place mostly in the aftermath of tragedy, the story isn't one-note. For every truly heart-crushing moment where Carl awakens from a dream having forgotten about what happened, there is a moment where we get to see a warm memory from his past. Not only is the story powerful, it's also varied enough that I was able to feel both the sadness and the joy equally. As a discussion of loss and how its effect on memory, it's undeniably human. When we lose someone we love, the intense depression isn't ever-present. There are memories we look back on and laugh about, and though it can sometimes bring the depression back into the fold, it can't be denied that in the midst of the darkness, we're still able to find some brief spots of joy in the good memories that our loved ones leave with us.
To veer off into the more personal realm: I lost the greatest man I'd ever known (my Grandfather) early this year. It shocked me how much the physical manifestation of Carl's grief and his memories matched my own grief. For me, there were memories of Grandfather's last year of life, where his body was weak and his mind was starting to leave him and I wondered how much longer I had with him. There were thoughts of mourning, of how the world had lost an incredible human being. And alongside all of that, there were thoughts of him, cancer-riddled and too frail to do so much as powerwalk, but still resolved to head down a (slippery, steep, jagged) jetty leading out into the ocean in the black of night to determine what kind of fish he'd just seen in an act of sheer unbridled bravery and a spirit of adventure that made him the man I looked up to. In other words, grief isn't just sadness. It's remembering the departed for the person they were: the good, the bad, the warm and happy, and the less than happy, all aspects of that person.
You know that you're writing a review at midnight when you go on a gigantic tangent based on approximately 5% of the game. That 5%, however, was really well done as a way of portraying grief, and it really got me thinking.

By now I've established that the story is powerful and that I felt the stakes, but one other aspect of the story that I loved was its characters. They're brilliantly executed, thanks in no small part to the animation and the voice acting. This is a wordless story, with characters speaking in Sims-esque gibberish, but the personality that the actors are able to get across with tone alone is astounding. That I was able to tell that one character had a crush on Carl without actually hearing her say a word is a testament to the quality of the acting. Besides the acting, the animation plays a major role in character development as well. The best example of this takes place in the events leading up to the previously mentioned "beautiful, pure romantic story sequence". The reason this sequence takes place is because June has a present for Carl. We can see the box it's in (complete with a perfectly symmetrical red bow), but we don't know what's inside it. However, using just a single gesture, June communicates what this present might pertain to. That moment was so beautiful, all because I was allowed to interpret June's gesture without the help of words. Another example would be the aforementioned character with a crush on Carl. Even if her tone of voice didn't speak volumes about her feelings, her body language would more than make up for it. She fidgets with her hair, walks with small steps, the whole nine yards.
Throughout the course of the game, you'll play as each of the other townsfolk, and this ties into my earlier comment about having a constant stream of story. As you experience each character's afternoon, you learn more about them and about their relationship with the town and its people. It really helps to fill in the gaps in the big picture.

The gameplay is a little different for each character, but it always consists of accomplishing an objective in one of a few ways. That may be the vaguest statement I've ever written, but that's what it boils down to. Each character has something that they need to accomplish this afternoon, and there are possibilities X and Y to accomplish it. If they accomplish it by doing X, the events of the afternoon don't change, if they accomplish it with Y, there's a chance nobody gets hurt. It kind of brings to mind an old point-and-click adventure game, in that choosing the correct option consists of executing a series of actions in a not-immediately-apparent order (though the sequence usually does actually make sense). Ultimately it isn't too challenging to figure it out. The game is generous with its hints, but not so generous that you don't have to do a little bit of thinking. Where it starts to get a little hairy is when one character doing the right thing prevents another character from doing the right thing. In situations such as these, you'll have to figure out a way to give both characters the resources they need to complete their tasks in a way that will result in the ideal outcome. I thought that was actually really compelling: making the entire game into a puzzle where the right thing at the wrong time results in the wrong outcome.
That isn't to say that the gameplay is perfect. Earlier I likened Last Day of June to an old school point-and-click adventure game, and unfortunately the game brings with it some of the unnecessary restrictions of that genre. For instance, characters can't reach around a teeny-tiny gatepost to unlock a latch, so it'll take another character opening the latch from the other side in order for the other characters to walk through. Likewise, the little boy can crawl through some tiny holes in fences, but not all of them. It just feels like padding, or a way to artificially rope off some of the collectible "memories" until later in the game.
Unfortunately, that isn't where the negatives stop. As I may have mentioned, this game is essentially one afternoon relived over and over again, so needless to say it can get repetitive. This is especially true if you can't figure out the right sequence of right-wrong-right decisions. It isn't too bad, as once you've completed a character's afternoon once, it skips through a lot of the fat the next time around. However, every time, without fail, you'll have to watch the bell ring at the beginning, the bell ring + rain at the end, then watch the result of the day's events on Carl and June's ride home. You'll end up watching the same scenes over and over again, and you'll find yourself checking your phone many times over the course of this game.

Now, as always, the last thing I like to touch on is the technical side. I never noticed any framerate dips, never had any crashes, never saw any low-res textures, never came across any bugs, really. All in all it's a pretty strong technical package, and that is to say nothing of the art style. Last Day of June sports an almost toy-like art style that is unique and beautiful in its own way. It brings to mind the art style of Tim Burton, but in an endearing and more vibrant way (and without the associated Hot Topic merchandise). Certain scenes are so beautifully rendered that I whispered "wow" to myself. In addition, the sound design is also excellent. The one gun in the game sounds realistic, wind effects sound fantastic, really any sound effect you can think of is well done. All of this is scored with a truly unique and effective soundtrack that uses a combination of strings, occasional vocalization, clean electric guitar, and a music box. Composer (and Prog Rock musician) Steve Wilson creates a truly beautiful score that has an eerily unsettling backdrop to it, almost as if to convey a sense of tranquility in the town without letting the player forget what's on the line. Really, the only technical downside is that the load times are pretty long for how little the game actually has to render. They're not terrible, but they were bad enough to add to the already unfortunate number of times I checked my phone while playing.

In case you haven't figured it out yet, I highly recommend Last Day of June. Its vaguely "Adventure Game" style isn't going to be for everyone, but if you want a touching love story with a rich world and vibrant characters, I'd say it's worth a try. For its asking price of $20, you're getting what is (for better or for worse, depending on who you are) a once in a lifetime experience that'll leave you feeling affected down to your very core.

Let us review:
-Annoyingly restrictive - 0.3
-Repetitive gameplay - 0.6
-Long load times - 0.2





The final score for Last Day of June is...









8.9/10 - Quite Good.
Excellent work, Ovosonico, excellent work.