Sayonara Wild Hearts
A wild and stylish ride through neon emotion.
Sayonara Wild Hearts is the experience of heartbreak as a 20-year-old. Everything is bright, loud, coming at you faster than you think you’ll be able to handle. And then suddenly you realise that this can be done, actually. It isn’t too much, it’s exactly as much as you can cope with.
I suppose, more concretely, it’s a rhythm action game that can be played through in less than two hours for the main story. You zoom inexorably forward, dodging, weaving, spinning, taking leaps of faith. The neon colours bring the distinct and arresting environments into sharp relief, giving everything a certain quality - something like a cross between a dream and a rave.
If I had to describe Sayonara Wild Hearts in one word, it would be extremely easy and obvious to say ‘stylish’, because that’s what the game wears on its sleeve. The designers knew exactly what they were trying to achieve with the visuals, and they did it with aplomb. Its every element is coordinated and cohesive. You can feel how stylish this game is in your chest, like a heavy bassline.
It has become a bit of a trend, especially in indie games, to do away with cutscenes and trailers, and create everything within the game engine. It’s an effective way of bringing players into the story – everything is consistent and you aren’t jerked out of the experience by two drastically divergent styles. Simogo has taken this a step further by making Sayonara Wild Hearts feel like a trailer from start to finish.
It’s fast paced, exuberant, colourful. Every moment feels pulse-pounding. An action film shows off its most exciting and impressive stunts in the trailer – any second of Sayonara Wild Hearts, plucked from any point in the game, is exciting.
You might be zipping along a road when it suddenly has delusions of grandeur and does a loop-de-loop. Giant robotic wolves rear up out of the woods, firing missiles at you. Neon geometric tarot cards carry you along an abstract tunnel.
Regardless of how ethereal and singular, the (wild) heart of the rhythm game is its soundtrack, and as well as this game does in other areas, its strongest part is the incredible audio. The story of Sayonara Wild Hearts is one of heartbreak, though deeply open to interpretation. There are no concrete answers, only the intoxicating turmoil created by the combination of the soundtrack, which, while varied, is steeped in emotion down to the last note, and the visuals, which are striking and impactful.
The soundtrack is of the sort that could transcend its origins as a video game soundtrack. It would surely find a following on its own merits amongst the fans of Chvrches, Tegan & Sara, and other synthpop and hyperpop offerings. When I closed the game and opened a new document to begin writing this review, I also opened Spotify and put the soundtrack on immediately. In fact, when it ended and Spotify auto-played something similar, it gave me a Chvrches track.
It also does many other smart and sophisticated things that really elevate the experience to one that I am sure I will revisit time and again. There’s very little punishment for failure; you just instantly respawn at the start of that segment rather than at the beginning of the level. It works extremely well to maintain the breakneck tempo of the game. Returning to the start of the level would be like slamming the brakes on, so the game ensures continued momentum by taking you back just a few seconds. And, if you keep on butchering the same section repeatedly, the game will gently ask if you want to skip this part. Despite getting this option a few times, I persevered through each challenge, so I don’t know how much you skip when choosing this option.
Sayonara Wild Hearts has a lot of ideas, which it is not afraid to try out. However, they never outstay their welcome. Appearing for a level, or perhaps just a section of one, each new challenge, whether it be side-scrolling or parallel dimensions, appears only once. The developers clearly trusted that players would get what they were doing and didn’t feel compelled to overegg the pudding with novelty. There is no aspect of the game that treads on its own toes.
The story told across these propulsive experiences is somewhat metaphorical and could, undoubtedly, be interpreted in multiple ways. For me, it was the story of a girl whose heart is broken and the journey of anger, doubt, confusion, and finally, healing that goes along with that. It is told in a deeply untraditional way that could only be achieved through video games.
Hopefully this has been clear, but I think it’s worth stating outright: I absolutely loved this game. Despite being unmusical at a bone-deep level, I have a fondness for rhythm games, and this hit the spot. I love how it looked, how it sounded, how it made me feel.
Long after the story has faded and the soundtrack is a memory, what will stick with me is the emotional weight this game carried. Every single aspect came together to wow me, to exhilarate and take my breath away, to soaring highs and gliding lows. Very few pieces of media have the same degree of vision and resulting precise execution as Sayonara Wild Hearts. In 90 minutes, it has turned me into a lifelong champion of its vivid neon.
Game: Sayonara Wild Hearts
Developer: Simogo
Publisher: Annapurna Interactive
Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, iOS
Time to complete: 90 mins (though I did not count the challenges, etc. in this time, just the main story)
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Fantastic game, I should replay it. Immaculate vibes and great music. The soundtrack is banging.
Yeah I’ll definitely be picking this one up when I see it, the visuals are incredible and for a short game experience a rhythm game will be a nice break to the flow of the 70+ hour games I’ve been committed to recently.
Thanks for doing this review!