On first play-through, this game feels like a pretty short, maybe forgettable romp. Go back for the gold medals though, and soon enough, like listening to an album over and over, it grows on you. Before you know it, you'll be singing all the tunes in the shower.

I would never have picked this up if it wasn't gifted to me, but I'm so glad I did. The feeling of nailing a run after a bunch of tries using muscle-memory and rhythm is super satisfying. Weirdly, the gameplay sometimes feels like a more refined and deeper take on 3D-era Sonic the Hedgehog. Sega should take some inspiration from this.

Sayonara Wild Hearts does not care about being a video game. It has interactive elements, but they are purely in the service of making its audio and visual experience cooler and more meaningful. Gameplay loops between an auto-runner format, a flight simulator, and various timing based quick-time events without any warning, as it's unnecessary for what Sayonara Wild Hearts is trying to accomplish. The only thing that matters is that you follow the line that makes you part of the music video that is its world and get to act out some truly breathtaking visuals in an artistic representation of finding yourself, your heart, and your muse in life again. As a creative endeavor and a passion project, it is a sublime use of video games as a medium.

It's also kind of a bad rhythm game. While SWH appears to be on tracks, all movement is done via a very slow and gentle drift, meaning that the occasional QTE is the only real 'on the beat' action a player has to perform. Enemy patterns are rendered trivial as long as you follow the trail of breadcrumbs that give you points, levels that don't end in a boss fight are pitifully short, and each of the game's gimmicks only really provides a difference to movement, with no real meaningful 'feel' changes outside of one level where the enemy you're pursuing snaps on the beat, warping between two realities with each snap. Sayonara Wild Hearts is at its best as a video game when it manages to marry its music with the thrust of its levels, and it does this... I dunno, maybe three times, and only for parts of its longer 'boss' levels that serve to be the game's showpiece moments?

If it's your favorite game ever and an unforgettable experience, I get it. The use of the visuals with the music alone and how you naturally feel like you're brought along for the ride in an incredibly intimate way is an almost wholly unique experience. But the game ranks you, it has points, it asks to be treated as a rhythm game, and as such... I just don't think it uses its gameplay in service of its music very well. Conceptually, absolutely, but the feel isn't there. When the timing of your QTE's is off, the music fades and pauses and sort of just wrecks the vibe. And yeah, messing up the QTE is your fault, but it's the first time you're hearing the song and the prompt for the proper timing has a weird visual indicator! It's consistent stumbles like that which keep Wild Hearts from being an all-time favorite and more an incredibly novelty.