A Rhythm Game with Real Heart! (Spoilers ahead for Sayonara Wild Hearts)

     Sayonara Wild Hearts is a game about healing. In the first few seconds of the game you're introduced to the protagonist in her room, lying in her bed. "Long ago, in a town very much like yours, there was a young woman who was very happy, until one day her heart broke so violently that her sorrow echoed  throughout space and time." This is the opening line as you turn the game on, and it sets up exactly what the game is about. The protagonist, or the fool, if you want to call her that (we'll get there), has a broken heart and she's struggling to get over things that have occurred, we don't get any more hints into what it may be, which is exactly why this game is so applicable to everyone. This is the overall theme of the game, but don't worry, if it feels a little depressing, it only lasts that way for a few seconds. What awaits is a fast paced rhythm game all about accepting who you are and loving that person.

    As the game begins, the narrator explains a story of how there used to be three great celestial beings that ruled over the cosmos until Death and his four friends overthrew them and began causing chaos. The three great beings decided to create a great hero to fight the five evil forces and bring peace back to their universe. This hero is personified as a heart fairy, which the protagonist is literally sucked out of her window to chase. Once caught, this spirit becomes a Tarot card of The Fool, which fuses with the girl and changes her into the hero that you play as for the rest of the rest of the game. You drive her motorcycle, ride a deer, fly on a glider, slash swords and shoot guns along to an impressive pop-synth soundtrack, which was actually made by a group along with development. In fact, this game doubles as a visual record (as stated in a trailer for the game). All of the gameplay and soundtrack really are in service to the main theme of the game: To keep going and accept yourself.

    The girl travels through different dream like worlds, mostly cities, but there's a forest and a desert that you also have to travel through on the way to the five different "bosses." These bosses are interesting though, as you learn by playing through the game, all of them are tied to the tarot cards, The Lovers, The Devil, The Hermit, the Lone Wolves, and Death. You go through the game, traveling to different parts of this cosmic dreamworld and confronting them, but only at the end do you truly understand what it is that the game is about. After you defeat Death, all five of the cards create a pentagram and suck "The Fool" out of the protagonist and make you, as the protagonist fight her. You're literally fighting against yourself at this point, and it makes the player realize that she hasn't been fighting evil, she's been fighting against the different parts of herself that she doesn't like. She realizes in this final sequence of the game that those parts of her are okay, and the best way to deal with them is to embrace those difficult parts of herself, symbolized here with you replaying part of the boss fights, but instead of defeating the bosses, she kisses them on the cheek and they fuse together with her. Once she "defeats"or accepts all of these parts of herself, she's put on the back of a dragon, flying through the dream world. As she flies, the three divine powers from the beginning tell her something to the effect of, "You have brought peace and harmony back to our world, now it is time to find harmony in yours." In the last few moments of gameplay, it seems that the divine powers have a message for the player of the game. They're essentially saying that they hope that you've taken something from the game, and that you'll use it to make yourself better, and in my mind, that's the most important kind of message that any entertainment product could possibly offer.

    "Not long ago, in a town much like yours, there was a young woman who fell... out of love... asleep... away... for years she fell through spirals of sadness and anger until she could not fall any deeper... and fell right back into her groove." This is the last line of narration in the game, and also one of the most perfect endings I've ever seen to a story. Once the Narrator says this, the girl floats back into her room with her hair down (for the first time in the game), picks up her guitar and begins playing, as the credits start to roll. The entire game has been bopping along to a crazy and intense soundtrack bridging different genres and feels, including some classical pieces such as Clair de Lune, but the credits theme is actually seemingly performed by the protagonist, and it's such a perfect and sweet moment as she comes to terms with what it is that she can do in her own life. Once she is able to accept herself for who she is, she's capable of making something incredible and it's a great way of showing how even in the toughest times, you can learn to love yourself and move on from whatever issues you may be facing. It's a beautiful lesson to learn, and it always takes me by surprise just how moving the game is as it enters the home stretch.

    Sayonara Wild Hearts is a strange and beautiful game. I went into it totally blind, not knowing at all what to expect, but I was so blown away by playing it, that I've played it through several times now. It's not a big time commitment, as you can play the entire game in less than an hour probably, and it's not extremely challenging, but the visuals are extremely flashy, the music is catchy, and that works as a great package to wrap up this important story that unfolds as you go along. The game keeps you hooked until the very last moments when it reveals at the end of the credits, "Oh! Queen Latifa was the narrator." The fact that they wait until the very end to reveal that little detail just shows that this game didn't have to lean on star power to get it on shelves as so many big budget games do, the marketing for this little indie was almost completely word of mouth, and was made by a very small studio, as many other indies have. Sayonara Wild Hearts is a beautiful game and I hope that the rhythm game genre will continue to expand and come up with exciting new ideas like this one. 

    Thank you so much for reading this post, I hope you'll consider checking out the game and supporting the developers, or at least the soundtrack, which is truly beautiful. I'll talk to you all next Friday. Stay safe and have a good week!