Throughout my first run of the game, I never once got a gold rank, and it was only after multiple tries afterwards that I could get them on the earlier levels. Getting gold ranks does not require pinpoint perfection for any stage, but that is not to say they are easy to get. These do not unlock anything, but do provide a nice challenge if you want to go after them. There are also 24 Zodiac Riddles to solve, which are small challenges that require you to perform a specific task in given levels. I find myself going back to the game just to play a few levels whenever I have a spare moment, simply because it is so fun. After the credits roll, you unlock a mode which lets you play through the whole game back to back, and if you can get a gold rank on each level, you get a similar mode, except you are not allowed to die once throughout the playthrough. However, Sayonara Wild Hearts is hugely replayable, given that the levels are so short. Sayonara Wild Hearts is hugely replayable

It is one of those games that does not take long at all to finish – the main story only takes about an hour, so you may be worried at first that you will not get your money’s worth. While the levels all play the same fundamentally with the simple controls, it is the set-pieces and action on screen that helps differentiate everything. There are occasional quicktime events, which are controlled with only one button, but fear not, as these do not result in automatic failure and only serve to increase your score, and are so infrequent that they never feel like a distraction. The controls are so simple that anyone can play the game: you simply move left to right as the level advances. Levels are all very short, making it very easy to just pick up the game and play through a few levels at a time. The developers themselves know this, as they describe the game as “a dreamy arcade game about riding motorcycles, skateboarding, dance battling, shooting lasers, wielding swords, and breaking hearts at 200 mph.” The developers are not shy about their wildly different influences, ranging from Charli XCX, WarioWare, and Tron, and so much more. One moment you are riding motorcycles through city landscapes, the next you are fencing against a motorcycle gang, and then you are inside a VR helmet. It is not exactly a rhythm game, but the music is so well-timed with the action on screen that it often feels like one.

It has a very arcade-like sense of structure and level progression, with each level lasting around three minutes at most.

Sayonara Wild Hearts is one of those games that is hard to define.

Sayonara wild hearts inside