Sayonara: Wild Hearts is a musical action game by Simogo that puts the player in control of a woman with a broken heart as she explores the surreal world inside her mind. It's also the source of the prettiest migraine I have ever had.

Speaking purely in terms of presentation, Sayonara is an achievement on its own. Using the familiar motifs of tarot arcanas, the game establishes its protagonist and the antagonists in gorgeously animated 3D scenes that seamlessly merge into the gameplay. Tension builds up and releases along with the beats, which are in themselves are a treat for the synthwave enjoyers out there. There are also some fantastic designs that mesh the ideas around sound and music to the level in unexpected and mindblowing ways, the Stereo Lovers stage being my uncontested favorite.

But there is such a thing as too much color, too much flashing and too much motion. Having finished the game in a single sitting just over an hour long, I walked away with a headache so bad, the mere thought of playing the game again to attempt high scores or solve the riddles felt terrifying. I shiver to think of someone with actual epilepsy trying this game out, as even for me, as beautiful as the motorcycle ride through the Heartbreak Subspace was, it's hard to tell if it was worth it in the end.

Plus, as beautiful as the ride is, it lacks the mechanical precision that one would expect from a game tagged as rhythm. Controls feel floaty and the intense use of perspective and unusual framing leads to lots of avoidable mistakes when dodging or swaying. Plus, the intended movement rarely matches the beat, which means this is less of a musical game and more a game with music playing along the action. These are all intentional design decisions, mind you, and they work very well for what the game is trying to achieve, but it bears saying that this won't scratch the rhythm game itch nor does it have that extensive, satisfying replayability those games tend to have.

All in all, Sayonara: Wild Hearts merits a recommendation, but a very cautious one.