REVIEW – Ovosonico’s previous game, Murasaki Baby on the PlayStation Vita, was impressive. In my opinion, that game was an obscure, but outstanding indie title. Now, they are back with a puzzle game, published by 505 Games on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, instead of the Sony handheld.

 

The game doesn’t start you off at the beginning of the story, but the middle portion. Carl, who looks like Numbuh One (Nigel) from Kids Next Door, is on the shore with his chosen one called June. The rain starts to fall, and the main item of the game, the surprise box, stays unopened.

Accident

The couple suffers an accident on the way home – June dies, Carl gets paralyzed from the waist down, and his almost claustrophobic house hides a secret. Carl somehow managed to gain the skill to travel through time via the paintings in the house, and his goal is to change the past. With the paintings, you can take control of three (four…) different aspects of the same afternoon. The little boy, the woman who seems to be in love with Carl, and the high brow hunter will be main playable characters. The grandpa takes the seat towards the end of the game.

Initially, the game will have a lot of locked doors from the other end, as well as locked areas, some of which will hide five secrets per character total (maximum is thus twenty), but these are not obligatory to be found, they just provide background story to the characters. Oh yeah, story: the characters don’t speak, and during Carl’s wheelchair events, there are memories showing up around the village, mostly providing the history of Carl and June. Back to the characters, the kid can kick vases to open up tight spots, and others don’t have special skills as such.

Accident II

First, you change the past with the kid. Success! You’re still alone, though: the duo ends up in an accident for a different reason.You take control of the woman, trying to change the day of now two characters. This idea means you have to go back to play as the kid again. Here’s where one of the major flaws of the game steps in: you have to repeat things a few times which will make Last Day of June boring. When you have to combine events with three characters could be annoying to a few players.

Kite, but with a different rope, can’t use the football, can’t leave the dog free, and so on. You can get the hang of it, but the game is still annoying for a few reasons: you cannot skip the cutscenes. You will be forced to see and listen to the accident over and over, which will rapidly lose its meaning altogether. It manages to lose its emotional power in no time.

Accident III

I liked the game’s art style – the characters have no eyes so to speak, and the almost HDR-like colors on the shore go away to be properly colored in areas like the cemetery. Visuals are good. The music by Steven Wilson is outstanding. He has talent, and I have to admit it. The sound effects, on the other hand, are subpar: aside from the characters grumble and moan, you won’t hear much. The repetition is also hindered by excessive loading times, too…

And still, the story is wonderful. The final portion with the grandpa is painfully nice and a masterstroke. (I wouldn’t say what happens after that, though!) These are the reasons why I like Ovosonico‘s work. It grabs you. She died, but in the end, YOU DIE.

For patient players

You can beat this game in 3-4 hours. Aside from collecting the memories, there is no replayability. Still, Last Day of June is an experience that you have to live through once. It’s abstract, not perfect, but still outstanding. The question of life makes you crippled, then dead. The surprise box in my opinion contains the death. (Which makes sense: once or twice, I got stuck with a white screen after looking at the memories in the menu. LOL…)

-V-

---

Publisher: 505 Games

Developer: Ovosonico

Genre: Puzzle

Release date: August 31, 2017