Here’s why you should definitely be playing Simogo’s rhythm-action game. Our review of Sayonara Wild Hearts…
For the past decade, Swedish developer Simogo has escaped simple categorisation, not settling on any specific genre while making the most of mobile to create unusual and innovative experiences. Sayonara Wild Hearts is yet another dazzling title to add to its distinct repertoire.
Essentially a playable pop album that would take a heart of stone not to be swept up in its neon dream euphoria, as it carries you through big emotions and heartbreak, as all great pop songs should. But Sayonara Wild Hearts also unabashedly celebrates video games in their purest form.
Sure, its controls are mostly limited to movement with occasional moments of pretty lenient rhythm-based QTEs, but you’re also on a wild kaleidoscopic tour of arcade gaming’s greatest hits. Your course may be on rails, yet the journey is never short on ideas, which is fitting for your masked heroine who takes on The Fool, a tarot arcana that represents infinite potential.
By the hour or so of its duration, you’ll have sped down narrow alleys on your motorbike, taken part in a street fight against a girl gang, pursued a duo shifting you between different planes of reality at the click of their fingers, been sucked into first-person VR that transforms into a slowed-down bullet hell, while also paying homage to Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s synaesthetic Rez by turning into a lock-on rail shooter towards the end. And that’s just a few examples, as it breathlessly executes one thing after another with more joyous abandon than a Mario game and with the rollercoaster rush of a Sonic level.
All of this, bolstered by a dynamic camera that does as much dizzying choreography as the balletic characters, is enough to make you forget that the game asks little of you in terms of inputs, including even the shooting sections.
It’s ultimately more about the experience than getting good, though high-score chasers can also tap into feel-good factors for every tricky heart piece collected or perfectly timed rhythm tap, which add an extra flourish to The Fool’s animations. If there is a wrinkle, it’s that getting hit by an attack or crashing into an obstacle rewinds you back a few seconds, which is meant to be a generous way of letting you retry without penalty, but also ends up disrupting the song’s wondrous flow – fail too many times and you’re given a choice to skip the level, though I strongly recommend switching this off if you don’t want to deprive yourself of any part of the excellent soundtrack.
Naturally, this is a short experience, albeit still longer than a typical LP, though beating it once lets you play the whole album uninterrupted, while completionists can aim for nailing the Gold Ranks for each song and some rather cryptic achievements. In truth, these extras are hardly necessary, because, just like any catchy pop record, Sayonara Wild Hearts simply begs to be played again and again.
Highlight
You can’t talk about Sayonara Wild Hearts without mentioning its infectious soundtrack, composed by long-time Simogo collaborators Daniel Olsén and Jonathan Eng, with vocals from Linnea Olsson. On its own, it’s a strong contender for album of the year, matching Swedish pop contemporaries Robyn and Lykke Li – even the soundtrack was available to download and stream the same day the game launched.
Verdict
An exquisite sugar-rush of arcade and pop, Sayonara Wild Hearts will steal your heart.
89%
Genre: Pop / Arcade / Rhythm
Format: Switch (tested) / PS4 / iOS / Apple Arcade
Developer: Simogo
Publisher: Annapurna Interactive
Price: £10.99
Release: Out now
