The refreshingly vibrant and creative-looking Sayonara Wild Hearts has finally been given a release date from Annapurna Interactive, and will be releasing on all it’s platforms on September 19th. The game will have the player racing and pressing buttons to the rhythm in a colorful world set to a full album of pop music.
The game was developed by Simogo, and published Annapurna Interactive, who are a publisher with a consistently interesting output. In the past they’ve published more fringe, artistic titles such as Gorogoa and What Remains of Edith Finch, they’ve recently published the critically acclaimed Telling Lies – the spiritual successor to Her Story – and they’ve helped distribute indie favorites such as Journey, Donut County, and Gone Home. With it’s unconventional presentation and premise, as well as fringe gameplay, Sayonara Wild Hearts seems like just the kind of game that’d be right up their alley.
It’s a game that’s a bit difficult to explain without having played it for yourself, but the best way to describe it is as an experience. The whole thing is gameplay focused, and has a rather loose, vague story from the look of things, but will be very enjoyable to those who picture elaborate music videos in their heads when they’ve got their headphones in on the bus. The player will constantly be faced with new camera angles, new music, and new enemies to face, all the while movement and sound work in conjunction to make the whole experience look and feel like a dream.
An excerpt from Simogo’s website describes the game as:
Sayonara Wild Hearts is a dreamy arcade game about riding motorcycles, skateboarding, dance battling, shooting lasers, wielding swords, and breaking hearts at 200 mph. As the heart of a young woman breaks, the balance of the universe is disturbed. A diamond butterfly appears in her dreams and leads her through a highway in the sky, where she finds her other self: the masked biker called The Fool. Journey through a custom-written pop soundtrack, chase scores, and set out to find the harmony of the universe, hidden away in the hearts of Little Death and her star-crossed allies: Dancing Devils, Howling Moons, Stereo Lovers and Hermit 64.
Sayonara Wild Hearts will release for PS4, Nintendo Switch, and Apple Arcade on September 19th.
