Mumbling and Rambling Along

I heard about this game through a podcast and the host did an awful job of describing it, but how could you properly describe this game? It was an amazing journey through music, color, rhythm, and love through different perspectives, palettes, and dance. Possible spoilers ahead, though the game is spoiler-resistant as far as games go.

Sayonara Wild Hearts starts you off with a view of a woman that is seemingly heartbroken and sad. Then some celestial beings, seemingly derived from the characters on tarot cards, decide she is the vessel to restore their world to balance. At the end of this mystical and floaty opening sequence, the synth-laden pop music sets you into motion on top of a motorcycle. Collecting coins or coin-like objects is your goal and music is the driving force. The levels pulse with the song’s color and energy that turns your unknowing dance moves into timely movements of your character to dodge obstacles.

It’s hard to overstate how important the music is to this game and how well it complements the experience. To write this review I put the soundtrack on, and I can visualize each and every level’s mood and ambiance based just off the beat. The levels vary in their intensity just as a good soundtrack or album would which complements the rise and fall of the level’s complexity and difficulty. I truly enjoyed each and every level, even when I died to a single section at least fifty times in a row. The game, to its credit, does allow for truly stuck players to continue on with no penalty after seeing many attempts being made. I’m sure that will affect the high scores possible on a given level, but it’s a good way to make sure all players regardless of skill level can experience the entirety of the game.

Game-play in Sayonara Wild Hearts is straightforward, using typical rhythm game mechanics of dodging obstacles and collecting points on a one or two axis of movement for most of the levels. At various points though, a Quick-Time-Event (QTE) or a series of QTEs will start that prompt the player to hit a button at a precise time. Succeeding in these QTEs can significantly increase the score the player receives at the end of the level and have the player character do particularly flashy moves and sequences as part of a miniature boss battle.

The game also encourages replay through the high score and medal system, as well as harder versions of the levels and additional challenges that are associated with tarot cards. These challenges as well as the incredible soundtrack make it easy for me to keep this game on the list of games that I can pick up on a slow weekend and enjoy all over again. While short, I cannot recommend this game enough to those who enjoy a good rhythm game with a bumping soundtrack. A full run through the game only took a little over an hour, but I’ll likely be booting it up again soon for another run soon enough!

Thank you for reading this quick review/rave about Sayonara Wild Hearts! If you have a topic or game you think I'd enjoy or would like to hear my opinion on, you can reach me on the fediverse at @dar13@linuxrocks.online.

Additional Notes: I played this game through SteamPlay on Arch Linux, and it worked phenomenally with zero issues. However, as of this writing, the soundtrack is not available separate from the game and is a DLC (or on Spotify). Hopefully that changes sooner rather than later considering the changes Valve have made to soundtracks on Steam.