Last Day of June follows a tale of a young couple who had a tragic event befall them. Developer Ovosonico clearly wanted players to focus on the story and only utilizes simple puzzles and themes in its adventure gameplay. Last Day of June isn’t an overly long game and most players will find they can finish it in 3-4 hours. However, that makes Last Day of June more akin to a lengthy movie then just a normal adventure title.

In Last Day of June, you will explore a rich world where you must try to alter a tragedy that befalls Carl and June. Enter the memories of several neighbors who directly affect the event that befalls your love and alter their events leading to that moment. Last Day of June fuses a narrative story with an adventure game so players can expect to solve puzzles and explore various areas. Each choice has a consequence and will lead to different paths as you play. With a beautiful watercolor art style and unique character/world designs, Last Day of June is a truly beautiful experience.

Carl and June have decided to go on a date to a spot they love very much. While they are enjoying their date, a rain storm hits causing the two to run for shelter and unfortunately, cut their date short. On the way home, Carl and June have a terrible accident leaving Carl wheelchair bound and his love June deceased. While inside June’s art studio, Carl gains a strange power that allows him to change events leading up to the accident. Can Carl save his love June and keep their future happy? Find out in the Last Day of June.

There’s always a heated discussion topic in the world of video games. That argument is what is more important in a game, the story or the gameplay? That same dilemma appears in the Last Day of June but thanks to some rather interesting gameplay mechanics, art and storytelling, maybe the Last Day of June is worth your hard-earned cash. Sit down and let us discuss all that we can about the Last Day of June and by the end see if we can convince you if it’s a worthwhile game to play or something you should pass on.

First let’s talk about the gameplay of Last Day of June. Being a third person adventure game, players should already have an idea of what to expect. Usually in Last Day of June you’re moving about a medium sized map—the area you’re in rarely changes much—solving puzzles and interacting with other characters. While this idea already sounds like an overused gameplay format—which a lot of adventure games can be—Last Day of June has a rather interesting gameplay caveat that makes this puzzle game different than others like it.

Players assume the role of Carl who has lost his love June and the use of his lower half after a terrible car accident. Quickly, you gain the ability to go back in time and control one of several characters and manipulate their actions which in turn change the course of fate for Carl and June. How to accomplish this is simple enough; solve puzzles that make the can accident change how it happens. Though this is where Last Days of June hits a minor roadblock.

Each character you control—outside of Carl—must be manipulated as we mentioned into doing different actions to try and avoid the car crash, which the game considers as memories. For example, a young boy ends up in the street because he plays with a soccer ball during the storm and it causes Carl to lose control of his vehicle. Your job is to change that memory by making the child do something else but in return, this causes another event to transpire and alter the car crash. This means you’ll have to constantly re visit different characters memories, change the event before that one and thus altering another character to then inevitably change fate for that person once again. It sounds confusing but it really just becomes tedious and repetitive to have to re-watch cutscenes and know what the outcome will be.

Thankfully there is a silver lining to be found with this repetitious gameplay, Last Day of June’s story. While yes, going into memories can become annoying, the story of the Last Day of June makes the puzzle solving and adventure aspects worth it. You’re going to want to desperately solve these puzzles to somehow help Carl into saving June from her deathly fate. Equally, because the Last Day of June is a short experience—roughly 3-4 depending on your affinity with sometimes odd but simple puzzles that require a bit of thought—it won’t feel like you’re doing the same thing for way too long. Last Day of June doesn’t overstay its welcome and you’re going to be grateful for that.

Lastly, let us discuss the other thing we absolutely admire about Last Day of June, the beautiful art. One glance at the art of the Last Day of June and you’re going to be smitten just like we were here at Honey’s Anime. The character models are cute—even though they lack eyes and mouths—and the noises they make remind us of some of the earlier cartoon movies we’ve seen where there isn’t any real dialogue. What helps the story even further than just the art is the impressive musical score which really sets a nice ambiance for each scene. We won’t lie, sometimes we have to wonder if the Last Day of June would have been better told as a movie then an adventure game.

The Last Day of June is a beautiful adventure game with impressive art and a strong narrative/story. Using bare minimal gameplay mechanics is at times the weakest and strongest concept of Last Day of June. Having to redo scenes to find the correct path and re watching some scenes—namely the death one—can get old rather fast. Though because the Last Day of June isn’t a tough game to play and usually just takes a bit of thought to figure out what is impeding your way, you can enjoy the story easier and not get trapped for hours figuring out a puzzle. Your enjoyment of the Last Day of June will be based on if you prefer style and story over gameplay. Though with the price of admission being equal to a movie ticket and bag of popcorn—in this case $19.99—it doesn’t seem like a hard call to recommend Last Day of June if you want an emotionally moving tale of love, loss and sacrifice.

The Last Day of June is one of those play it once and probably never touch it again type of adventure games. Though one playthrough is enough to see it all in Last Day of June and to give you a truly lasting emotional hit right into your heart, we won’t spoil the ending of Last Day of June, but we were almost brought to tears and thus why it’s a game we want everyone who loves drama filled romance stories to play. With that being said, folks, we have reached the end of our review for the Last Day of June though we would love to continue discussing it in the comments below. Have you played the Last Day of June and what are your thoughts or have we convinced you to pick it up now? Let us know and be sure to keep flying back to our amazing hive here at Honey’s Anime for all your gaming related articles!