Sayonara Wild Hearts (2019)

I am continuously blown away by Annapurna, a publisher that has quickly become the A24 of video games. I see the Annapurna name, I know I'm about to play a game that I will at the very least find interesting and unique. Such is the case with Sayonara Wild Hearts, a visually striking music game that relies more on vibes than actual score or proficiency in the game.

It becomes clear that Sayonara Wild Hearts is more interested in the style and story it wants to tell in the opening level, scored beautifully by "Claire de Lune." The game is immensely forgiving, and the score seems to only exist to give replayers a little more value for their dollar. Yet I coasted through Sayonara Wild Hearts blown away more by the game's effortless cool and surprisingly moving story that this game was putting before me. By the end, I found myself close to tearing up at this story about forgiving the pains of the past and learning from past loves to become a better person. Again, Annapurna gives me a relatively simple game with a style that presents a beautiful story that takes me by surprise.

I also loved how inventive Sayonara Wild Hearts was, referencing games as varied as Rez, Tetris, Panzer Dragoon, Asteroids, and others. Each world feels entirely different and by referencing these other games, this also feels like a love letter to video games in general. In addition to this, every song is great, the game always looks gorgeous, and I adore the overall style that this game has, a neon dream thumping with excitement.

But while I like this type of quick and easy game that gets in, gets out, and leaves you thinking about it long after it's done, there's almost something too simple about Sayonara Wild Hearts. This is clearly a game that wants you to play it over and over again, and get the rhythms of each level down by heart in order to master it. But I also didn't feel the desire to give this game that much dedication once I had finished the general story. There's almost a flimsiness to the controls that kept me getting stuck at times, and again, it really seems like the goal of this game is to get players to know exactly what to do in their bones. That's fine, and it offers replay value, but I never had that interest in that sort of dedication.

But once again, Annapurna has highlighted another powerful and cool game that will stick with me for quite some time. This is beautifully, both narratively and stylistically, and I would love to see more games that look and feel the way Sayonara Wild Hearts does.

En oikein tiedä mikä Sayonara Wild Hearts yrittää olla tai miten sitä parhaiten kuvailisi, mutta kai se monelle peliä rakastaneelle on jonkinlainen audiovisuaalinen kokemus, ehkä jotain rytmipelin kaltaista, mutta itselläni peli ei väräyttänyt oikein mitään viisareita ehkä sen oudonkin tyylin vuoksi. Musiikkigenre ei ole ihan oma juttu, joka jo tietyllä tavalla rikkoo yhden oleellisen asian tästä kokemuksesta, joten arvosteluni ei välttämättä ole kauhean pätevä objektiivisesti katsoen. Itselläni ei myöskään ole minkäänlaista rytmitajua, joten menin pelin läpi täysin silmiin luottaen, musiikin ollessa itselleni vain jotain taustahälyä.

Pelissä kuljetaan pääasiassa jossain unimaailmassa neonväreillä kyllästettyjä katuja motskarilla kaahaten ja yritetään väistellä esteitä ja kerätä pisteitä. Pelissä käytetään vain tattia ja välillä yhtä painiketta tehtäviin hyppyihin ja vastustajien kanssa "taisteluun". Sinänsä simppeliä, mutta kun vauhti on tuhatta ja sataa, niin omat silmät ei pysy tuollaisen perässä ja peli oli tietyissä kohdin hieman turhauttavakin. Useamman kentän läpäisin pisteiden valossa vaivoin (pronssitaso) tai keskiarvoisesti (hopeataso), ja ekalla (ja todennäköisesti ainoalla) pelikerralla ei tainnut yhtäkään kultatason suoritusta tulla.

Pelin kesto oli sopiva ja se eteni pääasiassa ihan kohtuullisen hyvällä tahdilla. Peli otti paljon vaikutteita monista eri genreistä, mm. shumpeista, joka oli ihan kivaa vaihtelua ja visuaalinen ilme oli vähintäänkin omintakeinen ja ihan kivankin näköinen. Ihan mukavaa pikkupelattavaa, mutta ei tästä pelistä jää jälkipolville kerrottavaa.

2/5 tyydyttävä

Top tenner right here. I will never capture in retrospective critique the wonder and interest I felt when first playing this game. How it manages to utilize and deepen the generic, radio-EDM Pop Album and the structure of simple controls arcade games to just rapid-fire massage serotonin into my brain wrinkles is something I cannot properly communicate at the moment because I am high.

I was when playing this game as well, and depending on how you tend to interact with THC, I suggest you do the same.

It should be more socially acceptable to record Lets Plays of yourself, for yourself, and for posterity. Maybe one day soon, but until then, Sayonara Wild Hearts!

For a music game, it doesn't really empower you to build multipliers or look for different ways of achieving high scores for its levels. It simply expects you to bend to its will and play each level exactly as it wants in order for you to achieve a high rank. The controls are slippery and imprecise in a way that feels neither challenging nor satisfying. The music is cute, but a very bland take on Chvrches-like synthpop that feels sort of off brand, not unlike royalty-free versions of popular songs. And its general "exploration" of heartbreak, if you want to call it that, is really surface-level feel-good pablum that doesn't really connect itself to the ludonarrative in the way, say, something like Braid does. I love rhythm games and indie games, so I was super looking forward to this, but it felt painfully shallow if mildly enjoyable on an aesthetic level.

Played digital copy on Nintendo Switch.