Sayonara Wild Hearts

Sayonara Wild Hearts is more than a game for me. It's a catharsis vessel. It's a story of self-love. It's a reminder that some things break but that doesn't make us broken. It was once a dream and now forever a memory. It's transcendent and undying, but, of course, it is. Wild Hearts Never Die.

Ultimately Sayonara Wild Hearts will be a permanent fixture on my Switch console (as well as my iPhone, as this title is one of the launch titles for Apple’s Apple Arcade service). While the Fool’s journey is a relatively short one, it will be extremely revisitable as one can strive to get the gold rank scores as well as collect all the diamonds strewn across the levels. Why wouldn’t you, with an excellent soundtrack and superb visual design, I couldn’t find a better way to pass the time.

Sayonara Wild Hearts is the kind of game which opens my eyes to new possibilities that games can provide, and I’m desperately awaiting this style of design to properly take off.

Sayonara Wild Hearts is an utterly gorgeous experience, and it looks, plays, and sounds fantastic on the Switch. A game on the surface and a pop album at its core, in what is perhaps the most effective and interesting blend of entertainment mediums I've ever seen. With stylish visuals, an incredible soundtrack, and simple yet inventive game mechanics, Sayonara Wild Hearts is simply a must-have.

Truly incredible, Sayonara Wild Hearts is a pop-culture gem that celebrates music and games in a passionately individual way. There has never been anything else quite like it, and if you have even a passing interest in gaming’s inherent value you need to play it. And then play it again.

Short, sweet, and simple, Sayonara Wild Hearts is a package of positivity, with music and visuals that will sure to win anyone over.

This colorful escape couldn't have come at a better time. [Issue #43 – November/December 2019, p. 23SW]

In a catalogue festooned with gems, this wild heart glitters brightest of all. [Issue#338, p.96]

With a world of neon-clad cyberpunk aesthetics, fast-paced action and an enthralling soundtrack, Sayonara Wild Hearts delivers a riveting experience that will make the player want so much more, as the game's only frustration derives from the short length of each level. Sayonara Wild Hearts demonstrates how a remarkable game does not need to borrow from the AAA formula of colossal worlds and hundred-hour gameplay experiences when something so bright and enveloping is enough.

Visually marvelous and musically infectious, Sayonara Wild Hearts is a unique experience unlike almost anything else out there. It may not be for everyone, but for a certain audience, it's going to be dynamite.

Let it be known that one needs to really play Sayonora Wild Hearts in order to truly experience it. Everything here describing the game honestly can’t do it justice. The graphics are a pure blast of neon joy and the soundtrack is absolutely stellar, but when combined with simple yet addictive gameplay that takes so many wonderful twists and turns, it creates this sort of trippy experience that you only see once in a blue moon. This is easily some of Simogo’s best work and should not be missed out on. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to play this album over and over again just for the tunes alone. “Wild hearts never die, wild hearts never die…”

Sayonara Wild Hearts can compete with stars such as Robyn, Carly Rae Jepsen and Tove Lo. That may sound strange, but as an interactive pop album there's no bigger compliment.

Everything works in concert in Sayonara Wild Hearts. It’s sublime.

Sayonara Wild Hearts is the video game equivalent of Prince: it’s extremely short and its journey maybe ends a little sooner than you’d hoped, but it packs so many varied and beautiful ideas into its brief life and masters so many different styles that even though there’s a real disappointment it’s over so quickly, what it did give you will remain with you for an extremely long time. A true creative masterpiece.

Sayonara Wild Hearts is like Pop Rocks: The Game. It’s a delicious and surprising visual and audio journey that constantly changes rhythms and mechanics before disappearing rather quickly in a glamorous, flavor-filled explosion.

While you can easily compare Sayonara Wild Hearts to other stylish rhythm games - Rhythm Heaven, Thumper, and Rez came to my mind while playing - the precise spectacle makes it stand out from similar works. This is a full-length interactive music video that exudes joy. It’s the absurdity and wonder of some Eurovision performances made playable. Like a good record from a band I like, I’ll spin this game often. That makes the secrets beneath the surface more appealing as Sayonara Wild Hearts might be one of my favorite music albums of the year in addition to being a killer video game experience.

Sayonara Wild Hearts is a remarkable arcade action and adventure game in which we will enjoy an excellent artistic and graphic section with its wonderful levels. Undoubtedly, one of the best indie games of 2019.

Sayonara Wild Hearts is a pop-culture allegory where its creators aimed to tell you a story where every level was thought to evoke a different emotion. Its brilliant soundtrack and the visual style make this game extremely unique and appealing. Rhythm and precision as a rule, but it’s much more than that: it’s a playable music album.

Sayonara Wild Hearts is the equivalent of a good concept album. A short and explosive trip, hypnotic and mesmerizing in its pop and ever-changing gameplay.

Sayonara Wild Hearts is short, but also unique and intense. It’s something special aimed at people who want an experience they can’t find something else. And it’s also deeper than you might thing.

The flip side of being accessible is that some people will complain that the game is too easy. It only has 23 levels, and so you’ll get through your first run in just a few hours. I understand it was made with a small indie team, but I would have been happy with 50 levels, with harder difficulties.

Sayonara Wild Hearts is much more than the rhythm game it looks like: it is a whrilwind of visuals and sounds, where electro-pop music depicts a wild chase, sets in a neon-looking city. As short as it is intense, this experience is like no other, and find its inspiration in many genres. Like a good LP, it will plays over and over, until you know it by heart.

Sayonara Wild Hearts is a quick but intense ride through a landscape that's been made dangerous and jagged by broken hearts and pop music. Its unusual style makes the road hard to see from time to time, but people who love Simogo's games will love riding with The Fool.

Sayonara Wild Hearts isn't particularly long, but the catchy pop score and variety of levels give you a decent challenge.

Sayonara Wild Hearts plays more like an extended interactive music video than it does a traditional video game, but it’s still a wonderful time. It offers little in terms of challenge (if you aren’t hunting high scores) or substantial player input, but the stirring soundtrack and impressive art and animation all lead to a moving experience that culminates in a joyful finale.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not difficult. If you fail a few times in a row, it even asks if you’d like to skip that section. But it rarely feels like you’re properly in control. I can’t help but think that rhythm game mechanics would have worked better – particularly considering the musical essence of the game.

Acceptable and indeed praiseworthy in concept and realization, but maybe less easy to digest at literally twenty cents a minute.

I quite enjoyed looking at Sayonara Wild Hearts, even though interacting with it left me cold. In fact, I probably would have liked it just as much if it were just a short film. As it stands, it’s an impressively stylish title with a disappointing amount of substance.

On repeat playthroughs, I found myself getting more and more used to Sayonara Wild Hearts' quirks and better appreciating each level as I gained the muscle memory for them. Only a few hit me like Dead of Night did, and those levels are stellar. But the rest are either forgettable or somehow discordant, whether because of movement issues or strange timing. I wanted to get lost in the daydream it presented, but I kept getting ripped back to reality, just a bit more melancholic than when I started.