Last Day of June: An Emotive, Storytelling Tale about a Widow Trying to Reverse Time

Last Day of June is the second game to come from Murasaki Baby creators, Ovosonico. It’s an adventure title which revolves around the concept of love and loss, mostly that of the main character Carl, who attempts to alter time as to reunite him with his recently lost love June.

We recently had the opportunity to speak with director Massimo Guarini—best known for his work at Ubisoft Montreal as well as his role in directing Suda51’s Shadows of the Damned— as well as see a large section of the upcoming puzzle title, Last Day of June, which was being showcased at an event in London.

The game sees players controlling various residents of the village where Carl and June have made their home. Each villager has their own loss to deal with, with that loss guiding their goal while you control them. An example of this was a young boy who had -like the other villagers- been involved with one of a domino effect of events which had resulted in June’s death. The boy has lost his friend, with them presumably moved or taken away. As the boy you start your journey from your treehouse, heading out to find somebody, or something, to play with as to feel better – the character’s default end state is playing with somebodies dog, however other solutions include rescuing and repairing your kite as to play with another villager.

Outside of Carl, there are four villagers you can control; a kindly old man, a gun-toting hunter, a meek teacher, and the previously mentioned young boy. The game is ever so slightly reminiscent of PS2 launch title Shadows of Memories, especially in that—as one might hope in a game—it’s never as simple as one quick fix; getting the boy away from the road may lead to the dog causing the accident, getting the hunter to stay inside with his dog may lead to the old man crossing the same road to chase the Teacher.

While there was no talk of a specific number of combinations of end states for the villagers, the demo did give a slight clue in the fact that there are 20 optional memories—each triggered by moving the right character to the right location at the right time— to collect if players are willing.

The real pull of the game is in it’s art and music, which certainly makes sense as Ovosonico’s mission is to create accessible experiences which will make gaming more accessible to the public and also more acceptable to them. Massimo asked the audience a the event, “Why is it acceptable to say ‘I hate video games’,” quickly juxtaposing that “you wouldn’t say it about music or film!”

Indeed, it was a combination of music and film—a music trailer, specifically ‘Drive On’ by Steven Wilson— which inspired the game. The game’s creative lead explained how sometimes when we hear music or see film we are shaken and touched, and that as he watched the trailer he imagined a way to bring that into a bigger, interactive experience.

The game’s character art, championed by Jess Cope (Frankenweenie) who had contributed to the previously mentioned music video, takes on a strange—slightly disturbing— form in the doll-like, eyeless characters. However, despite the styling of the faces seeming so minimalist, the characters manage to convey a lot of emotion through their actions and animations, of which the game is heaving. Every item use I saw during the demonstration triggered a short sequence in which the characters moved in either extremes—half delicate sweeping movements or others as over-emphasised jolts, like when you’re applying extra force to something and then slip. It gave an illusion of puppets, but maybe the better example is the stop-motion that Cope is best known for.

All of the game’s visuals are treated with something Massimo referred to as the ‘Marmalade Shader’ which gave all of the game’s visuals a slightly painting-esque style, which when combined with the games vivid, contrasting colours, made for almost hypnotic viewing.

After the end of the presentation, which wrapped up with the initial cause of the crash being altered, but yet Carl still awakening with June absent, I got the chance to ask the creator a few questions about the game.

The first question pertained to the game’s linearity, I asked whether some of the villagers end-states could be returned to. He confirmed that players would need to return to previously played states and revert certain states in order to change the resolution of their tinkering – for instance, possibly needing to change the boy’s state of ‘Played with Kite’ back to a previous situation as and when required.

An example of this might tie to the fact that the boy’s starting path had been to play with the hunter’s dog which had resulted in the boy running into the road. With the hunter as a character who  you can control this would infer that there is a way wherein you can prevent his callous hunt through the village, thus leading to the dog never leaving its home and never presenting itself as an option for the boy to play with. Will this in turn leave the boy not running into the road? Maybe, but it doesn’t solve the issues of the boy’s loss.

When quizzed on The Last Day of June’s vivid colours, Massimo confirmed that the rich, alien purples and mauves of the game’s opening sequences were meant to symbolise the calming state of the world prior to the events that trigger Carl’s quest—with deep-blues and bright colours employed to offer up feelings of loneliness and safety respectively. This is most obvious with the starting sequence of the title, as Carl walks through the shivering long grass which fills the space between the pier and the couple’s car – the car, despite its bright, full-beam lights glaring over the field unnecessarily (as while the sun is setting as the game starts, it most definitely wasn’t as they left) is completely shrouded in darkness – with the interior so dark that it’s hard to see anything within. Contrast that to the orange-red grass, the lapping blue waves, and the glow of the setting sun which always seems to beam out from June.

Last Day of June, regardless of what it will be known as when it releases, will definitely always be remembered as a game which wears its emotive intent on its sleeves.

Last Day of June launches on the 31st of August for PC & PS4.