62 / wfmag.ccReviewRated
GENRE
Pop / Arcade
/ Rhythm
FORMAT
Switch (tested)
/ PS4 / iOS /
Apple Arcade
DEVELOPER
Simogo
PUBLISHER
Annapurna
Interactive
PRICE
£10.99
RELEASE
Out nowInfo
ReviewPlay it again, Simogo
or 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.Sayonara Wild Hearts
F
VERDICT
An exquisite sugar-
rush of arcade and pop,
Sayonara Wild Hearts
will steal your heart.89 %
ReviewRated
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.REVIEWED BY
Alan Wen
It’s difficult for a screenshot to do justice to
a game that’s so beautiful in motion. At least
characters occasionally stop to strike a pose. Collecting hearts is
crucial for racking up
your score, though
you’ll need to nab
the elusive diamonds
to get that sweet
Gold Rank.