Sayonara Wild Hearts is Getting a Retail Release Worldwide, Complete With Neat Stickers

About a year ago, Swedish game studio Simogo taught us that wild hearts never die. And yesterday, Simogo confirmed its surreal rhythm-action game, Sayonara Wild Hearts, will indeed live forever through a worldwide physical release on September 29.

French site Just for Games was the first to drop the news about a widespread physical release for Sayonara Wild Hearts, and Simogo confirmed it on Twitter. It's coming to Switch and PlayStation 4, and each copy even has a little surprise: One of six sticker logos that represent each of the Major Arcana the main character battles against in-game. (Plus the main character herself.) That includes The Dancing Devils, The Howling Moons, The Stereo Lovers, Hermit 64, Little Death, and The Fool.

This all means Sayonara Wild Hearts should be available at your local GameStop soon enough. This upcoming release is more widespread than the limited physical copies currently distributed by iam8bit. In an age where physical retail game releases are slowly dwindling away—never mind physical releases of niche indie games—it's good to see Simogo's critically-acclaimed title earn a spot on the shelf.

Sayonara Wild Hearts was one of my favorite games in 2019. I still fire it up and play it from time to time; it's a short game, all told, but it can take hours to get a gold rank for every level. I'm still trying, and I admit the process of trying is still a pleasure. Sayonara Wild Hearts's mix of music, flashy visuals, and rhythm-based quick-time events combine to make a music game that should be familiar to fans of Rez and the like.

Sayonara Wild Hearts is entirely its own journey, though. Every level you slide, glide, and dance through is part of a larger story about rebuilding after a heavy loss. The music spans several genres, and things sometimes get a bit wild. Mastering the Parallel Universes level is still one of my great personal achievements.

If you're a fan of rhythm games, Sayonara Wild Hearts is a must-try. And now you have the option of easily buying a copy that you can stick on your shelf—plus there's the bonus sticker, which you can stick anywhere. I recommend your cat's head.