Fair warning before you jump in and decide you want to buy this game, it's gonna tug at your heart strings. That's the point though, as Ovosonico and 505 Games touts their game Last Day Of June as a story driven emotional adventure, but what does that mean exactly? We got our hands on a copy and dove in to find out:
Story
In Last Day Of June, you play Carl. Carl is paraplegic after a car accident took away the use of his legs, as well as his wife June. Sad and haunted by the memories of that fateful day, Carl begins to rework the events of that day through his wife's old paintings in an attempt to change what happened that day.
What's interesting is that the entire story is all told through body language. None of the characters speak a coherent language, so you'll find yourself connecting a lot of dots in this game. There were a few things that confused me early on (mainly regarding the boy's relationship to Carl), but by the end of the game, I had it all figured out where everyone stood.
Gameplay
As mentioned, Last Day Of June is a story driven emotional adventure, so you're not going to spend any time slashing down enemies or platforming around. Instead, you'll take on the roles of various characters in Carl's small community and, through puzzle solving, try to prevent Carl and June's car accident.
This starts off as rather simple, but as more characters get introduced into the story, it becomes a game of working things out to ensure no one is responsible for causing the car accident. This means a character you've found a solution to often will have to be reworked to accommodate another character's goals. It's tough to explain without getting into some of the stories more spoilery parts, but suffice to say, it's more difficult than one would think.
Ultimately, it made the puzzle solving experience more rewarding for me, and with each character having the ability to do things that others cannot, going back and forth between characters to complete tasks never feels boring or unrewarding. This is thanks in no small part to collectible mini-memories each character can obtain throughout the adventure, which tell a little bit more of each character's story.
Graphics
Last Day Of June is absolutely gorgeous. The team has created a world that looks as though an impressionist painting has come to life. Colors blend and swirl together in the distance in a satisfying way, and there's never a point where you don't want to screenshot what you're seeing in front of you just to share it with someone else.
When you're a game that relies a lot on cinematics and story-telling, you gotta have good art, and the style of Last Day Of June is spectacular.
Sound
You also have to have great sound, and Steven Wilson really delivered here with an awesome soundtrack. What was lost in the lack of words throughout the story always came through in the music that was playing during pivotal scenes. The sad moments felt sad, and the happy moments (while there aren't many) were present in the music.
Replayability
It took me 4 hours to make my way through the game, and once I saw the ending I can't really say I wanted to jump back in. That might be because the experience is still very fresh and without multiple endings, I wouldn't have much incentive to rush through just to watch it all again. That said this is definitely a game to have around in case a friend of family member wants to play it and get some feels going in the heart department.
Final Verdict
Last Day Of June is an emotional tale that reminds us of the impact every single one of us has in the world, and possibly a lesson in the finality of the events of this world. The ending is fantastic, and if there were more incentive or endings for me to jump into, I certainly would, but I'm fine for now. I definitely recommend playing it, but for $17.99 be sure to recognize this is a short and low action adventure so your expectations are measured.
