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« Last post by Evan_B on May 03, 2024, 08:28:06 AM »
Sayonara Wild Hearts is a near-perfect experience. I think it doesn’t do a great job of explaining its mechanics, but it honestly doesn’t have to- every action is so straightforward and simple to execute, the game’s overwhelming amount of visual and auditory information is made interactive with ease.
I do question the structure of a first playthrough. Each Heartbreak does make sense as an isolated level and experience, but the way that battles are broken into multiple stages and the relative shortness of each sometimes makes me wish they were a bit longer. Because the game is relatively consequence-free, you can complete each stage with ease, and the way they are broken up does make sense for score chasing and mastery. But, I don’t think many people are aiming for either of those things on a first playthrough, and the full-play mode seems like a better fit for a first time around than the way it’s currently presented. This is an incredibly minor critique that is largely based on my own preferences.
The game is widely appreciated for good reason. It doesn’t take its rhythm roots too seriously (except when it does), nor is it highly punitive in the same way as other score chasers.
Bloodstained, on the other hand, suffers from being on the Switch, or at least, that console not having a great deal of priority/optimization. The instrumentation of a lot of the background music was also a bummer.