Sayonara Wild Hearts, an impressive pop music game, is now available on PS5.
The indomitable hearts never die.
Sayonara Wild Hearts is a game that presents a true challenge when it comes to describing it. Although it falls under the rhythm game genre, it also incorporates elements like riding motorcycles and dragons, wielding giant swords, dodging fireballs, and teleporting to a retro-futuristic virtual reality world. The game's structure resembles a pop album, narrating a story of love and loss, with the narration voiced by Queen Latifah. It’s a mix of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and R-Type, with creative direction by Carly Rae Jepsen. The experience is best understood by playing it.
Since its release in 2019 for Nintendo Switch and PS4, from which it had disappeared from Apple Arcade, the game has been well received. Recently, an enhanced version was released for PS5, offering a free upgrade to PS4 users. This new version brings improvements in performance and an endless mode called remix arcade.
The game follows the story of a heartbroken young woman who is transported to an alternate realm, where she must restore harmony by collecting hearts. The gameplay unfolds through 23 short levels, which include everything from racing through urban streets to battles against motorcycle gangs and flights over the ruins of a devastated city. With an arcade-style gameplay, the goal is to achieve a high score, accomplished by collecting hearts and other items, all set to the rhythm of an ethereal pop melody accompanying the action.
Despite its two-hour duration, the game makes excellent use of this time, constantly varying the mechanics. Vehicles shift from skateboards to motorcycles, cars, human flights, and dragons, covering various gameplay styles ranging from classic arcade shooters to 3D platformers and racing games. Almost all these genres are reinterpreted through rhythmic action, making the experience agile and cohesive. Additionally, the game is accessible; if a player repeatedly fails at a section, they are given the option to skip it and continue.
Sayonara Wild Hearts also stands out for its stunning aesthetics. The dreamlike world is polished and appealing, featuring a color palette of pink, blue, and purple, where characters dance while battling and mechas formed by robotic wolves appear. The blend of the bizarre and the cool is one of its hallmarks, supported by an exceptional pop soundtrack created by Daniel Olsén and Jonathan Eng, along with vocalist Linnea Olsson.
As a standout album, Sayonara is a game I often return to. I have played it several times over the past six years, and each time I am impressed by its boldness, with feelings that have not faded over time. Its ideal length allows for the entire experience to be absorbed without difficulty.
For those who were not familiar with Sayonara Wild Hearts, it might be surprising to learn that it comes from Simogo, the Swedish studio behind Lorelei and the Laser Eyes. The diversity of Simogo's games ranges from folk horror to audio dramas and interactive espionage novels. This remarkable consistency and inventiveness make Sayonara one of the team's most creative works.
