Sapphic Sonic the Hedgehog with rhythm game elements that also features motorcycles, anime battles between women that use both martial arts AND sword-fighting, AND it has robots AND lasers AND skeletons; as a one-and-done aesthetic experience Sayonara Wild Hearts is pretty fucking awesome. It's got cute themes going on too, but it is pretty lucky it's such a short game cuz otherwise it'd be kinda frustrating that it takes so long to get to its specific thesis. And I'll be honest here: I don't think the gameplay is very good, as an action game nor as a rhythm game. The controls and camera were especially aggravating during certain sequences; it's really only saved by the game's rather generous checkpointing system. I don't know if it was just the Switch version or what, but the controls would also just hang up a lot for me causing a lot of unavoidable deaths, mostly happening when the player character model gets caught up against a wall/boundary.

That said, I do love how confident it is in its storytelling and diversity of gameplay stylings, and the best chunk of the game was probably towards the middle where the game mixed up the gameplay almost on a level-by-level basis (and also where I think the best song in the game happens). Relying on the player to form their own interpretations of the events unfolding was smart and I think pretty effective, but sometimes the visual homogeneity/repetition feels like it's potentially undermining the distinct narratives they're portraying, alongside muddying the visual clarity in a game that's already extremely difficult to parse in the moment-to-moment.

But I suppose a lot of that just doesn't really matter in the end though, huh? It's definitely been designed to be an aesthetic experience first, a narrative experience second, and a gameplay experience third (emphasized in how the game really doesn't want you to die and how performing perfectly seems overall deemphasized as there's only three possible achievable ranks on top of there being seemingly no possible fail-state). I dunno if I'll ever revisit this one, but I'm glad I finally picked it up on a whim. Also Queen Latifah sounds like she's having a lot of fun yelling the title of the game, and that kinda rules lol

Fun and largely intuitive gameplay, and it can get pretty challenging (but if one fails a segment of a track a few times, the game will let one skip past that segment). This game sure has (super queer) vibes! It's extremely flashy, though. It was kinda hard for me to look at, and my partner couldn't tolerate looking at it for more than a couple of minutes. Sound sensitive and photosensitive players are likely to have a bad time here.
I would like to learn other players' interpretations of Little Death... I didn't really know what to make of that part.

I’ve already gone and beaten this game another couple of times since the original review I posted for this, and it still hasn’t left my mind for a few different reasons. Thankfully even after playing through again knowing exactly what’s coming up every step of the way, the impact this has to me remains intact, if not even intensified, with even more adoration towards the way Sayonara Wild Hearts so effortlessly morphs between styles and ideas to the point where there are enough of them for a game 3 times its size all while maintaining such a cohesive and evocative aesthetic. These types of short, heavily stylised experiences that also make heavy use of visual symbolism to convey a sense of narrative with some deeper themes are interesting to look into in general as well for how certain decisions can very easily influence one’s perception of something going from “this is a profound, beautiful experience” to “this is a vapid waste of time”.

In the case of SWH I think that the reason it works so well is that while for the most part the game keeps things looking very clean and presentable, initially seeming like transforming struggles with human connection into screensaver material, the way the game largely aims to focus on the positives upon escaping from a bad situation and being able to continue on with that ultimately is enough to make the sense of beauty throughout feel core to the messages it pushes forth. This is further reinforced by the soundtrack itself, with the synthwave and a few other styles of pop music all being written in such a way to use its moments of more brooding intensity as a way to build up to the euphoric highs that make for the main draw and appeal of the game. It’s optimistic and a bit saccharine for sure, but there’s never any moments where it feels at all naive or cloying, everything feeling entirely earnest in how it’s presented.

The whole concept of a “pop album video game” in itself is an element I woefully didn’t really bring up originally despite it stylistically being one of my favourite aspects of this, structuring each level in a cinematic way that make them feel closer to playable music videos than a traditional stage, and yeah, I’ve seen someone saying that if you took away the visual and auditory flair from this then it’d be a standard autorunner, so I guess it’s a good thing that those elements do indeed exist! This approach to making the game more akin to a playable concept album also shines through with how the narrative is more or less entirely contained within the lyrics of songs and the atmosphere of the music, making it feel as if the gameplay takes a backseat to the soundtrack in a lot of places, or at the very least they play far more in tandem with one another than even a lot of rhythm games, and I love it with how unique it ends up being despite the seemingly simple exterior. I still think that the achievements are stupid to get especially with how so many of them just feel along the lines of “play the game but in a less fun way” and think that a couple of sections should have been a bit more lenient to stop them from distracting the player with minor adjustments they need to make, but yeah, just as good a third time it turns out :)

The visuals are absolutely stunning. You don't see a game with such a striking, visual style that is so well put together every day.
The dream-pop soundtrack is pretty decent. Most of the time it sounds like a version of grimes that is way less uncomfortable to listen to.

The game has a very short runtime and can get somewhat repetitive at some points.
Most of the time the controls are janky and therefore don't justify the sometimes awkwardly placed obstacles.
The game does not do a very good job at matching the quick time events with the music.
The story of the game made little to no sense to me, but I reckon that this is not the main part of the game.

But my biggest complaint about Wild Hearts is the fact that after each level, you get sent back to the level selection. It would have been a much better idea to just let the levels run through, especially because of its core concept of the pop album that accompanies the game, which is constantly interrupted this way...

I wouldn't recommend buying this game. Instead, watch a playthrough to experience the music as well as the visuals. The gameplay is not that important.

🎮 Platform: Windows PC
⌚ Time to finish - 2h (with some trophy hunting)
🏆Trophy completion - 50% - Some of the trophies are very easy and some are really F** hard. I did the easy ones. Its the kind of game that requires repeated plays to memorize the patterns and hone in your muscle memory. Due to the speed at which things move, its going to require lots of practice. Guitar Hero style. If you love this game and love honing in muscle memory, then I am sure you can achieve it. But its not easy 100%.

📚 Full Review:
This game reminded me a lot of Journey but set at a much much faster pace with a lot more visuals.

I really enjoyed this game. Do yourself a favor and buy it on something where you can play it on your gigantic TV. I made the mistake of buying it on my pc because it was cheaper. This game NEEDS to be run on your full TV/audio setup!

Its a visual and audio feast and probably one of the best in this genre. If you love this interactive music video genre you owe yourself to play this. There is enough variety here, but I do wish that there was more. Ultimately majority of the levels seem to have you riding/skateboarding down a street and collecting hearts. Some levels were varied up from this, I wish they had more of it. My fav was the level where track and obstacles switch every major beat. Similar to some super mario levels set to a beat. There is also tons of replayability here, if you just need a visual experience or want to hone in your skills.

Play this game in the best audio video experience you can!

Pros:
A visual and auditory feast
Lots of replay value and can be easily addictive. Short game however.
A unique experience I see myself showing others
the easy trophies were fun to do and gave me a reason to revisit the levels outside of just trying to beat my score.
generally an easy game, with a simple control set, so ANYONE can play this.

Cons:
The camera moves ALOT and very fast, so its very easy to miss hearts if you are going for any achievements. If you are just enjoying it won't make a diff.
Because the camera moves a lot and the tracks twist, sometimes you get confused and bump into things you thought you were going to clear. Its fine, since there has to be some challenge here. :) I assume if you have experience with these sorts of games (i don't) you wont have as much issue.

Sayonara: Wild Hearts is a musical action game by Simogo that puts the player in control of a woman with a broken heart as she explores the surreal world inside her mind. It's also the source of the prettiest migraine I have ever had.

Speaking purely in terms of presentation, Sayonara is an achievement on its own. Using the familiar motifs of tarot arcanas, the game establishes its protagonist and the antagonists in gorgeously animated 3D scenes that seamlessly merge into the gameplay. Tension builds up and releases along with the beats, which in themselves are a treat for the synthwave enjoyers out there. There are also some fantastic ideas that mesh concepts related to sound and music to the level design in unexpected and mindblowing ways, the Stereo Lovers stage being my uncontested favorite.

But there is such a thing as too much color, too much flashing and too much motion. Having finished the game in a single sitting just over an hour long, I walked away with a headache so bad, the mere thought of playing the game again to attempt high scores or solve the riddles felt terrifying. I shiver to think of someone with actual epilepsy trying this game out, as even for me, as beautiful as the motorcycle ride through the Heartbreak Subspace was, it's hard to tell if it was worth it in the end.

Plus, as wondrous as the sights are, the gameplay lacks the mechanical precision that one would expect from a game tagged as rhythm. Controls feel floaty and the intense use of perspective and unusual framing leads to lots of avoidable mistakes when dodging or swaying. Plus, the intended movement rarely matches the beat, which means this is less of a musical game and more a game with music playing along the action. These are all intentional design decisions, mind you, and they work very well for what the game is trying to achieve, but it bears saying that this won't scratch the rhythm game itch nor does it have that extensive, satisfying replayability those games tend to have.

All in all, Sayonara: Wild Hearts merits a recommendation, but a very cautious one. You have to know what you’re getting into, and you should have some aspirin nearby just in case.

Did that thing that I do where I boot up a game I love to capture footage for something else I'm working on and then I end up just playing the entire game again.

This is a game about how difficult breakups are. The experience of loving someone so so so much that you completely lose sight of yourself in it until things don't work out and you have no clue what to do with yourself.

It's a gay musical journey about learning to love yourself again and learning to put yourself first in your own life.

It's perfectly done! The music absolutely fucks, the art direction is beautiful, the gameplay is absolutely addicting and encourages you to replay and gold levels which is fairly challenging and suuuuper addicting. The Zodiac Riddles also give a nice incentive for replay value. This is one of my favorite games for these reasons and a whoooole shitload more. Absolutely love it.

Fun fact this is actually like my 20th playthrough lol.

I played this game because a new podcast I watched on Friday is doing it for their second episode. You can find the channel here.

I don’t know when this game showed up in my wishlist or why it even did. It must have been popular at some point but I was curious about it when I looked at screenshots after that first podcast episode and realized it was $7 and thought it wouldn’t hurt to try it. Man I’m glad I gave this game a try because omg it’s so awesome!

This game is a visual trip, the screenshots may have given me confidence I’d like it, playing it in action is even better. The game’s visual style is really nice and I especially love the color choice used for the environments. Almost all of the environment is a visual treat to look at and the music and setpieces compliment it very well too. I especially love how much this game uses the camera for so many different shots giving the levels many different ways to stand out. Again none of it is jarring or bad and it’s impressive how much the game aces at it.

The gameplay is also just amazing as well, trying to get a high score on each stage is addicting as you try to ace these stages. The progression through them flows so well and the music compliments it all perfectly and while IDK if the music is as good listening to it on its own compared to playing, it’s addicting to hear and I can’t get enough of it. I’m not even sure if I have any issues with the gameplay outside of maybe a nitpick or two.

If I had to address any personal issues I had, the one that comes to mind immediately was the visuals for the beginning of I think it was Forest Ghost, it kind of hurts my eyes especially on replays for gold rank. It’s why I said almost all of the environment is great. I also didn’t like when the game puts one of those diamond items on a split path where you do those hard turns because I didn’t notice anything that made it obvious to go that way but maybe I’m blind. Still it says a lot about how good this game is that these are my only issues.

The ranks are really fun to achieve gold for if you’re good enough. I don’t know if people find this game hard or not. Just getting through is pretty easy and the game even lets you skip sections if you die too much and thank you devs for putting an option to just have it never show up again. I really like giving options to like 3 different types of people. I think I had about 5 gold ranks when I beat the game. As of writing right now, I have 15 gold ranks and 8 silver ranks. I might update that before Friday but idk yet. Still being able to get all of the points and bonuses just to get that gold rank is so satisfying and strives me to perfect all of these. Getting risky for bonus points, timing button presses, getting all of the items all while enjoying the music with no stopping is a huge win in itself. Beating the level is one thing but gold ranking is another level of excitement for me.

There is another unlockable for getting all gold and I may try to get it along with the extra you unlock that lets you do every level in a row. There’s just so much of this game that has me excited and I wanna scream in excitement, it makes me wanna show people how engaging it is! Though I’m sure that isn’t necessary haha. Even the story that’s there is pretty nice. If you haven’t played this game yet, go do it sometime soon then because this is one of the best games I’ve played this year. I’m really happy I got to try it and find a game that I found so appealing and addicting. Maybe sometime I’ll get all the golds, I think I could do it!

I think this game didn't get the attention it deserved because it released on the same day as Untitled Goose Game, and the whole internet went wild for that game. This is a pop album as a video game, and has a really cool double narrative that is at one time about defeating evil arcana to restore balance to the world, and at another about learning to love yourself. This is the most pure joy I've felt playing a video game in a long time, I was mouth open in awe and grinning with joy throughout the entirety of its 1 1/2 hour long playtime, which like any album you love, you'll want to play over and over. The mechanics of the game start with you just moving around collecting hearts to the music, and then the game adds new twists to the gameplay with every level, while keeping everything so intuitive that you feel like you're playing something new but you're never lost as to what you're supposed to do. The game is just bursting with color and creativity, and I'm going to stop writing about it now so that I can go play it again!

Absolutely beautiful.

Back to back bangers creating a cohesive aesthetic to chomp down on every minute, with heartpounding tracks to navigate ingame as well as listen to. It's a pleasant joyride that I enjoyed for the entire hour and a half-ish it lasted.

I'm going to be the jerk here and list a couple gripes, like how disorienting a couple of the tracks around The Hermit were and some things that just didn't seem reactable at first and required replays to get higher ranks on.

But overall, I think if you were interested in the trailer at all, if that music or the art spoke to you in any way you absolutely should give Sayonara Wild Hearts a try, so you as well can find some harmony of your own. (8/10)