# Sayonara Wild Hearts — user reviews > 50 indexed App Store user reviews of Sayonara Wild Hearts by Annapurna Games, LLC, rated 4.75/5 from 2,159 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sayonara-wild-hearts/id1441675161/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sayonara-wild-hearts/id1441675161.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 1,905 · 4★ 99 · 3★ 63 · 2★ 41 · 1★ 50 ## What do users think of Sayonara Wild Hearts? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 🎨 Stunning visuals and art design - 🎵 Excellent, immersive soundtrack - 🎢 Unique, creative gameplay mechanics - 🎯 Satisfying challenge and replayability - 🎨 Cohesive, dream-like aesthetic - 👑 Impressive production values - 👍 Seamless story and gameplay integration **Cons** - 🎮 Inconsistent touch controls and sensitivity - ⏱️ Levels feel too short at times - 🤔 Unclear tutorial or instructions **Commonly reported bugs** - Occasional performance issues or slowdown - Inconsistent save state handling across devices **Most requested features** - Longer levels or more content - Improved touch control responsiveness - Epilepsy warning before gameplay ## Newest reviews (12 of 50) ### 5/5 — Amazing - Deserves a Sequel! *2020-02-03, version 1.0.1* This game was so gorgeous to play. The music is great, as made evident by the trailer (and you can download the soundtrack). Every moment of Sayonara was neon pink-filled joy. If you love over the top anime flourishes, you will find this immensely satisfying. My only complaint would be that I’d like the songs to be longer! Sometimes the levels finishes right when I’m getting into the beat. I realize this would increase development costs, but I think it’s a great opportunity for a sequel! (Played with a controller, which I found great.) Edit: I’ve now replayed this game many times and have listened to the soundtrack over and over again. I retract my comment about longer songs. This is the perfect length. I love that this is a pop album game, not a rhythm game with 200 levels. Instead, make more [games] albums! ### 5/5 — It’s perfect *2020-01-24, version 1.0.1* Sayonara Wild Hearts is one of the most engaging and beautiful indies I have ever played. Its mix of fluid movement and catchy beats made me feel as if I was in a calming and surreal dream. The controls are intuitive enough. Sometimes it felt like the stock sensitivity was just way too slow. Thankfully after I changed it I was able to play perfectly fine. The QTE bits that I was worried about felt... well... like they weren’t out of place or slowed the pace of the game. I did a couple of times wonder why you couldn’t tap anywhere when the prompts appeared. I felt like my hand got in the way of many beautiful animations. Graphics and music is where this game really excels though. There were many times I found myself jaw a gape and humming along with the incredibly palpable soundtrack. Though a funny mental image it really is a testament of how this game really bends your mind to its will. Though I had a few gripes with the controls it wasn’t a big enough problem to hold the game at fault. I still find myself humming the soundtrack to myself and believe that this game will be around for a while. I believe in it’s staying power. It’s a beautiful reminder of how poignant indies can truly be. Thank you for such a great and memorable experience. ### 5/5 — Stunning Design; Interactions could be better *2019-12-24, version 1.0.1* This game is absolutely beautiful. The songs were fantastic and characters fit perfectly. Some rounds were a little difficult but I was able to finish the whole game in an hour. One improvement that could be made is the swiping. It was a little difficult to get the character to move where you want it in time. There seemed to be a delayed reaction on some levels. I spent most of the time figuring out ways to get past this. Another improvement would be to put a start sign on the screen when the level has started. There were times when I didn’t even realize the level had started due to how smooth the transitions from storyline to gameplay were. ### 5/5 — One of the best experiences for a mobile game *2019-12-08, version 1.0.1* I haven’t really gotten lost in a game in such a long time and then I downloaded this game just to try it out and see why apple was making a big fuss about it. Boy was I in for a treat. Although the game is pretty short, it’s honestly a joy to play through again and listen to the soundtrack while getting completely sucked into the visuals. It really is one of the games Apple Arcade really brings to the table and it’s a blast to play. ### 5/5 — Cool and straight up touching in every way *2019-12-06, version 1.0.1* Other than a genuine “Thank You” to everyone involved in putting this together, I don’t have a lot to say. Every aspect Sayonara Wild Hearts speaks to me personally and it quickly became one of my favorite games of all time around the the 6th level, and cemented it’s place there more so with every second. It feels like plugging directly into someone’s dream game, realized completely and I’ve really never played a mash-up experience like it, and I’m a pretty avid gamer. If you like THINGS you owe it to yourself to play Sayonara Wild Hearts. I didn’t know I wanted to hear Queen Latifah shout “KNOCK OUT” when I defeated a ballet dancing magical girl anime biker gang into glittery heart shards, but someone did, and I’m thankful. ### 5/5 — Very unique, and fun *2019-12-01, version 1.0.1* The game makes you wonder how a game like this came into being, very creative and was especially surprised when the enemy vomits and... [redacted spoiler]. Basically the game changes mechanics every now and then so you don’t get bored of its’ mechanics. Gorgeous animations, great soundtracks, and runs smoothly on my device (iPhone 7). It’s very refreshing a game like this, especially in 2019. Definitely get it and try it if you already have ApAc subscription! Very worthy of being on stage on ApAc announcement. ### 5/5 — The best mobile game *2019-11-29, version 1.0.1* By far the best game I’ve played this year, and certainly the best game I’ve ever played on mobile. I won’t take a star off for this, but I’ll just note that playing it with a touch screen is a little difficult as sometimes my finger is visually obstructing what I need to see to get through the level - I ended up getting it in my Switch and have thoroughly enjoyed that play experience. Highly highly recommend for anyone who wants to play a beautifully designed game with a killer soundtrack! ### 5/5 — Beautiful and fluid *2019-11-22, version 1.0.1* This game does not hold your hand. “Hey,” it seems to say, “we’ve all played rhythm games before, right? So let’s just dive in.” And assuming you have in fact played a rhythm game before, you’ll be glad you dived in. It’s visually stunning. The music is great. The gameplay is fluid and satisfying—especially when you get rewarded for a particularly risky move. The penalty for failure is so minimal that you don’t get frustrated on tricky parts. And the ending brought a tear to my eye. My one complaint is that the driving level isn’t great—the controls are very sluggish, compared to the fast, fluid controls of the rest of the game. But that’s a nitpick in a great game. ### 5/5 — Unapologetically Cool *2019-11-22, version 1.0.1* This game is absurdly confident and doesn’t give a crap what you think—and that’s one of the things that makes it so great. I came late to this game. I remember it being demoed at the Apple event, I remember seeing it all over the arcade page, it was hyped constantly at launch, and I wasn’t interested at all in what looked like subway surfers on acid. It turned it to be one of my favorite games of all time. Yep, a shiny, pink and teal, pulsing neon beacon sitting right next to borderlands, elder scrolls, the Witcher, and all those other AAA console titles sitting on my shelf. It’s so creative, the soundtrack is so great, it’s so simple, but it’s a game that you can get good at. Reminds me of something like those Dance Dance games in arcades or Guitar Hero: sure, it’s a game... but you can be a freaking BA at it if you play long enough. I also love the all-female cast, it gives the game something truly special that I really love and find incredibly refreshing as a guy. A seminal title from the developer and I DEMAND more from them in the future. Great work, y’all, no complaints or critique. And that’s incredibly rare for me. ### 5/5 — Wow...Um...UNEXPECTED AWSOMENESS *2019-11-16, version 1.0.1* Like ITS AWSOME! The graphics are JUST RIGHT and ITS SO AWSOME! Though I do wish it was like multiplayer so I could play with my friends and family. I’ve never seen something with so much like COLOR and GRAPHICS! There is only a few downsides though. The controls are hard to figure out at first for there is no tutorial, and it’s hard to play on the phone, but sometimes that makes it more fun! I also wold recommend that there would be more levels for I almost finished them all in only 20 minutes. But overall it my FAVORITE game EVER!! 😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁 ### 5/5 — Astounding *2019-11-16, version 1.0.1* While the format of the ‘visual album’ is well-known, I feel there have been far fewer ‘playable albums’. My favorite playable album used to be Rez, but this feels like an album in the best sense of the word: every level has a different idea, yet the work overall is cohesive and a pleasure to enjoy again and again. It’s remarkable how effortlessly Simogo takes disparate game mechanics (included a small homage to Rez!) and includes them all together in the levels with exquisite editing. Just as songs quickly transition between verses, choruses, bridges and instrumentals, so too do the game mechanics of Sayonara change up. But this kind of game would fall by the wayside were it not for the stellar soundtrack. The soundtrack is easily one of my favorite gaming soundtracks of all time. Listening to it on its own is very enjoyable, but playing the album in Sayonara is an altogether different experience, and utterly essential. ### 5/5 — Beautifully designed game! *2019-10-16, version 1.0.0* I’m not a huge gamer, and just download games to keep me entertained during flights. This game is beautiful and designed so so well. What’s better is the awesome music! It’s just an overall really cool simple, yet entertaining game. The only down side is that I beat the entire game in a few days, which shows how easy it is since I don’t actively play games. I honestly hope they add more levels or another world soon. 13/10 def recommend. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 2/5 — Horrible handling of save states, bad experience ruins a good game *2019-10-11, version 1.0.0* This would be a great game, but any attempt to play it across devices or in areas of spotty service is met with a rage-provoking mess of a situation. The game seems to have no local storage of your progress. So if you are on the subway or something, you have to start from the beginning (and even forced to watch the opening cutscene again). And if you’re willing to do that, it may just boot you back out randomly to the beginning to start over again. This game should have no reliance on the cloud except to sync across devices. And even that it does poorly with a lot of lag between my iPhone and my iPad. ### 3/5 — Great game play it on steam *2021-06-21, version 1.0.1* Idk for me the kind of movements the game expects me to do seem a little too much for swipe controls. Like I'm constantly swiping 2-3 times in the later stages just to be unable to even make it past a part because my fingers can't input that hard of a turn. I would definitely rate it higher but I can't give it more stars because the control scheme is just too archaic for a game like this. Like maybe if the touch movement was 1:1 or something but how it is I don't get enough of a response even with high sensitivity. That's my literal only complaint as I just want to play the game how it's meant to be played, I don't think swipe controls were meant to be played with. Also experienced a lot of slowdown within the game itself, not sure if that's just a game optimization thing or my phone, but it was large enough to make me notice. ### 3/5 — Excellent visuals and music, awful touch controls *2020-12-23, version 1.0.1* The idea and art design of this game are incredible, but the game is almost telling you to use a 3rd party controller. The touch controls are a complete failure: swiping to move wide areas is an assuredly absolutely awful idea and should not have passed any sort of reasonable beta testing. This could be easily remedied by arrow buttons that countless other games already use; no need to introduce swiping because it looks intuitive. I really want to like this game: as an art form it’s beautiful, but strictly speaking as a game out of the box, it falls short by cripplingly bad touch controls. I’ve gotten about a third of the Gold ranks, but it’s unlikely I try to get more because swiping is, simply put, terrible. ### 3/5 — Beautiful but clunky *2020-01-26, version 1.0.1* The game is beautiful and the music is amazing. The largest problem with the fame is how clunky it feels. The controls get changed constantly and there’s no direction on what to do it’s just trial and error. It feels like they didn’t play test the game because sometimes when trying to turn or steer it feels so unnatural and you can’t even turn what looks like a simple corner. Each level is different, which is very nice, but the controls change so you never know what to expect. I go to pick up the game and play half a level and quickly put it down because I remember how awful it feels to feel so extremely out of control of your character. ### 3/5 — Excellent game ruined by frustrating controls *2019-09-29, version 1.0.0* This game is overall excellent. The visuals, music, overall theme are all great and definitely a showcase game for Apple Arcade. With that said, the controls just using the touchscreen are incredibly frustrating and eventually ruin the experience. Despite sensitivity set to high, it takes way too much effort to move around. Swiping feels as though it barely does anything and it’s very easy to exit the game or jump into multitasking when trying to swipe left or right. Some of the fast paced levels feel nearly impossible because the game simply isn’t responsive to touch inputs and everything you do with the character is far slower than it should be. Others say it is much better with a controller but honestly the game needs to be adjusted so that it can be used with just the touchscreen on a phone. ### 4/5 — Touch Controls *2021-06-14, version 1.0.1* Amazing game, but the touch controls on phone are a bit off. Even after changing them from normal to high sensitivity, there is a lack of consistency. Some levels (mainly the heartbreak levels) have an insanely high sensitivity and I’ll be flying all over the map with the slightest movement. Other levels, the movement is slow and feels like very low sensitivity. I wish the touch controls were more consistent. Other than that, fantastic game and more than worth it. ### 4/5 — Well done app. *2021-02-06, version 1.0.1* I love this app. Well made design-wise, the narration, and the music is catchy. I do notice the all female cast and that is cool as well. As a guy I don’t really care what character I play as, guy or girl, it’s about getting points and achieving goals. This game is maybe one of the main reasons for me to keep paying for Apple Arcade. The constant motion of the screen trying to catch items on the X-Y-Z axis at regular speed makes it difficult to catch that gold rating every level. I feel the controls were a bit funky starting out on the iPhone 12 Pro Max. I had to switch to high sensitivity in order to be able to get from one side of the screen to the other in time to catch more gems and hearts. ### 4/5 — Great game, don’t play it on your phone *2020-09-27, version 1.0.1* This is the game I got Apple Arcade for, and it didn’t disappoint. It’s gorgeous and engrossing, and even though an initial play through only takes about an hour, there’s a lot of fun to be had in replaying levels over and over again to try for gold ranks. The soundtrack is a lot of fun, too! The gameplay itself is fairly simple but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I docked a star because the mechanics are just really clunky in the mobile version; the controls aren’t as responsive as I’d like them to be and some levels are almost impossible because of it. You can toggle sensitivity settings, which helps a little. I recently purchased the game on my Nintendo Switch, and I like the controls there much better. I think this game is a must-play, but if you can, play it on a console, or at least pair a controller to your phone. ### 4/5 — So I am SHOOK *2020-03-15, version 1.0.1* Holy crap! This game is pretty good. The music is not too much of my taste but the visuals totally distract me from that. Everything is so bright and colorful and so cool to look at. The music and the visuals are very compatible with each other and I love it. I do have one small problem though. It’s the way you are allowed to move the character. Yes, I love how you can move very freely and the game does not restrict you. However, it feels stiff and to move the character around quickly to dodge projectiles can be rather hard and sometimes frustrating. I do like the fact that they give you the opinion to skip that section of the level if you get stuck. The story isn’t too hard to follow but if you lose the main plot of the story, head right to the first level and the description of the game in the App Store. I would like another thing like this game and I would like for it to be a bit longer please ### 4/5 — Fantastic Art, Feels like a Tech Demo *2019-12-11, version 1.0.1* I was ready to give this game a 5 star review after the first “boss level” which was a long, intense, and multi phase experience that left me in awe. Unfortunately, that was the highlight of the entire game for me, as nothing else really lived up to it. The controls and art for this game are stellar and the aesthetic shines through in every aspect of the game from the menus to the music. This game is somewhat of a hybrid rhythm game experience, where you control your character as she flies down tracks and occasionally pulls off cool jumps in time with the music. The problem with this game is simply that the tracks are way, way too short. In rhythm games one of the appeals is entering the “flow” of the music and experiencing the combination of music and kinesthetic feedback of the video game. 2/3 of the levels in this game felt like they were less than a minute long and would often introduce a new idea and just move on without really expanding on it. By the time I felt myself mastering a mechanic it was dropped for a new idea. The boss levels were also disappointingly short in comparison to the first boss level. Overall it was a fun, interesting experience that left me wanting more. I’m interested in what this developer can do after the success of this game, and hope they can spend time fully fleshing out their creativity into a fully realized product. 4/5 ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Meaningful Experience *2021-10-13, version 1.0.2* The music and art of this game always get me emotional. I played it during a breakup period in my life and now I associate this game with the idea of getting better. The soundtrack is excellent and is streaming on Apple Music. I highly recommend giving it a listen after you experience the game. The gameplay is good but I don’t play for the revolutionary gameplay. I came for the for audio/visual experience and I am not disappointed. ### 5/5 — Great Game. 1 Suggestion. *2021-05-13, version 1.0.1* this game is great. It’s basically an interactive pop album/music videos, and I can’t get enough of it. It’s great to play from start to finish. However… I do have one suggestion. If you happen to update this game, please put an epilepsy warning before the game actually starts. That would be an improvement, so that people with epilepsy don’t download this game by mistake, and start having problems. I don’t want you guys to end up getting sued. ### 5/5 — Still Here! *2021-02-17, version 1.0.1* It feels like you guys just manifested y’all’s imagination so perfectly and beautifully that it just is everything that could be anything, legit no words can explain the visuals. But what are the visuals without the sounds and music? The music made it a thousand times better. And then there is the meaning behind it, the most beautiful part, the meaning of it can be almost anything. It just has to suit yourself, and what you think of it. I think of it as finding yourself and remembering that it’s always been there. Then accepting your faults at the end of it all, and then you just live on. At least that’s my take on it. There are many other meanings you can think of which I like. Thank you, for one of the best story games. [Input cheesy word that means bye] ### 5/5 — What? Just. Happened? *2020-09-03, version 1.0.1* I don’t know who taped my childhood and adolescent dreams and made a game out of them, but I’d like my cut please. Although I’m kidding about “my cut”, I’m serious about the rest. It’s astounding to me. I used to put on headphones on a car ride and “run” through the trees, hills and cityscapes we drove through. I knew I was daydreaming but it felt real. Music was my escape, and those daydreams were inspired by my actual dreams. Flying, running and jumping great distances were ordinary pastimes. Leaving my body and floating up to the snow even though it was summer in reality was a touching experience, though I knew it was only a dream. The flying ship with the floating islands which were outlined as clouds... this brings it all back. Thank you for reminding me how free I used to feel! I was brought to tears by level 3. This is, indeed, the work of Strong Creatives. Don’t lose that edge, guys! Also, my cat would like a sequel. He likes the bright lights. (What? Oh.) And the deer. 🤍🦌 Sayonara ### 5/5 — wonderful！！！ *2020-08-14, version 1.0.1* I used to play some familiar games like this one, but this is the best one I had ever played. For the difficulty, I think is hard or easy enough to me. After crash times I can pass it. But if you want to get a high rank that you need more practice. So the last one rewards I guess I can’t get it. The good points of the game is 1. Music 2. Fantastic views. 3. Interesting action. I really like the music. I hope I can download them in the Apple Music. If you don’t mind, you can post some pictures in the game to show up the drawings. Some insufficient places is the controller. I use my iPad to play the game. I can’t control the girl turn left or right easily. I have to swish it hardly or it just move little that the girl crashed. I expect you guys would make a good new game. Have to say, if you have epilepsy. Do not play this game. It’ll kill you! ### 5/5 — AWESOME *2020-06-29, version 1.0.1* Ok this is hands down the coolest game I have ever played. The music I mean it is amazing. And the graphics are awesome all those colors and it being so abnormal in an amazing way like the colors in cities are just bland but in this game they are amazing. Also I love how you are in space sometimes.i haven’t even been playing this game for ten minutes but I can tell this is an amazing game. GREAT JOB. 42jNasidjfgfdhisgfijgbjvkfosiisjdnufugkeogjskkzje87kdjgjgnsjoekzjjdnfirutieowjgjr84)$’4)5’4ilejritjrjwjrorkgjrieosk😝😝😝 ### 5/5 — Words cannot describe *2020-05-11, version 1.0.1* I honestly think this is the best and all time favorite game I have ever played on my phone. The music is lovely, Queen Latifah’s voice narrating is pretty cool and oddly soothing, and the graphics and visuals are fantastic, they remind me of sailor moon in the best way possible, just with an added tarot card aspect that’s really wonderful. All around just rad and undeniably awesome game. Give it a shot, the message at the end after beating all the levels is one hell of a shout out to girl power! ### 5/5 — This game is a masterpiece *2020-03-18, version 1.0.1* I could not have said it any better. This game is something that I have never seen before and playing this just absolutely blew my mind. The graphics are just beautiful and the aesthetic is very retro yet very original. The soundtrack is just beautiful as well, I can get listen to every song hour on hours of repeating them to get the gold rank. It is a game that just defines almost everything that I wanted to see in a video game. ### 5/5 — Absolutely Amazing *2020-02-20, version 1.0.1* This game is absolutely dripping with cool. Even more than a great game, it’s an experience. From the music to the art, I’ve been totally captivated with it from beginning to end! One note for the developers however, the controls make the game much harder than it has to be. Even with touch sensitivity set to high, I have a hard time swerving from side to side in time, especially in the harder levels. Overall I love this game, and can’t recommend it enough! ### 5/5 — SPEECHLESS, THIS GAME IS GREAT *2020-02-04, version 1.0.1* Wow, this game got me hooked, it starts with an incredible story, very well art job with the big impact of its soundtracks that will surprise you EVERY SECOND, gameplay changes alot and never gets boring im playing every chapter again to watch the animations, arts, and very appreciate the way you guys made it. Playing while being high turns this masterpiece multiple by 420 (no surprise!) Apple arcade worth all my money by this game only... --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-06-10.*