The mode comprises levels with random sound bites with no loading screens. It’s infinitely replayable, running the gamut of mechanics and becoming progressively more challenging as players pursue higher scores. Though it’s available for $12.99 on PS5, those who own the PS4 version can upgrade at no additional cost.

Sayonara Wild Hearts is also available for iOS, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Xbox One, having received rave reviews at launch. Developer Simogo went on to create Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, a puzzle-focused experience with its own sense of style. You can read our review of it here.

Developed by Simogo of Sayonara Wild Hearts fame, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is a mystery puzzle adventure game that touts a non-linear structure. Players play as a woman who explores a mansion as she solves increasingly more dangerous and bizarre mysteries.

In our review of Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, we awarded it a score of 8/10, saying, “Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is a unique, distinct, and memorable experience that leverages the strengths of video games as a storytelling medium. It is recommended for anyone who is interested in mystery stories or adventure games.” Read the full review through here. 

Whether we can also expect Lorelei and the Laser Eyes to release for Xbox consoles at some point in the not-too-distant future remains to be seen, but that’s the only major platform that the game isn’t on at this point, so hopefully Annapurna Interactive and Simogo will remedy that sooner rather than later. 

"Much like Sayonara, what is truly striking about Lorelei, at least at first glance, is the visuals."

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is essentially set up as one of those old school adventure games — if you played any of LucasArts or Sierra’s catalog in the 1990s, or any classic text adventure games, or even some more modern visual novels such as the Ace Attorney or Zero Escape games, you’ll have some basic context and idea for how it works. You’re basically going around the game’s environs, investigating things, contextually interacting with them based on the knowledge or items you may have at the moment, and puzzling things out. There’s obviously the game’s own twists and takes on the formula — you can do things out of order (which may change how things unfold), and you can gradually unlock shortcuts that help finding your way across easier and less of a hassle. But you’re playing, at its core, an adventure game.  

Much like Sayonara, what is truly striking about Lorelei, at least at first glance, is the visuals. The game is highly stylized, using a monochromatic palette (broken by splashes of color used sparingly to great effect) — and it’s a hell of a look. The visuals are immediately eye catching, and in spite of how simple they may seem, they cast an incredible, incredible atmosphere that almost makes the location the game is set at come to life as a character all of its own. The developers Simogo recommend that you play this game in a dimly lit area — and I personally second that recommendation because it can definitely enhance the effect and the impact. 

"Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is a very unique and striking experience that merits playing almost solely on the back of that uniqueness, and the extremely singular atmosphere that it creates and casts."

The impact of that story will presumably depend from player to player, but to be honest, I think it’s the best thing about the game. The puzzles are fairly simplistic — we’re talking about basic observation, memory/recall, math, and “have the right item in your inventory” sort of things here. But they remain fun enough to add the extra mechanical depth to this game that I previously mentioned, and definitely make it a lot more compelling to explore the world and engage with it (and get lost more and more in its unique atmosphere). It also helps that you get to find optional items in the world if you explore, which can make it worth it to engage with the world all on its own for just that reason. 

But ultimately, all of this is playing second fiddle to the fact that, subjective experiences aside, for most people, the meat of this game shall be the story, and how it is told. And it’s an extremely interesting setup. The game begins with no preamble or introduction, and you figure out, as you play more, that you were invited to a hotel for some reason by an unknown person. Nothing else is truly known — when the game starts, Lorelei is truly a blank slate, and the game strongly suggests that in their quest to fulfill the game’s objective, which is to “uncover the truth of what happened” they should be questioning every single thing — up to and including Lorelei’s own identity and participation in these events. 

From there the story gets more and more bizarre and strange, as you find fragments that seem random and disconnected, until more and more a picture begins to form. That picture may not necessarily be comforting — the game’s scenario can get extremely surreal and meta, and it touches upon themes that may be difficult for some players. Matters are further compounded by the game’s non linearity, meaning you can come across something that seems even more out of place a whole lot earlier than you have the context to make sense of it. 

"Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is an experience that’s more than the sum of its parts. It’s not a game that will appeal to everyone, given its singular vision and how much it adheres to it."

I personally really enjoy this style. It’s a unique, interactive form of storytelling that is something that can only happen in video games — while movies like, say, Memento employ a lot of similar fragmentary and non linear techniques in theory for their storytelling, they are ultimately the exact same experience for every single person who engages with them, whereas Lorelei can unfold extremely differently for each player, depending not just on what they choose to interact with and how much they choose to engage with the game, but also when. 

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is an experience that’s more than the sum of its parts. It’s not a game that will appeal to everyone, given its singular vision and how much it adheres to it, and as I mentioned, the game has some shortcomings that could grate on the player. But it is extremely unique, extremely immersive, and very, very, very distinct to video games as a medium. Like this developer’s previous games, this is a title that you may come away from untouched or may find making a surprisingly large impression on you. It depends on just how much you find yourself in the footsteps of Lorelei as she tries to uncover the truth. But for me, the experience was incredibly unique, and well worth it. If you’re at all a fan of mystery stories, adventure games, or just really unique experiences, your takeaway will hew far closer to mine — and you’ll come away really enjoying what this game has to offer. 

This game was reviewed on Nintendo Switch.

The story centers on a woman who ventures to an old hotel in Central Europe at the behest of an “eccentric man.” Upon entering, she becomes embroiled in a mystery with various puzzles and riddles involving characters like an auteur, an artist and an illusionist. What your character’s role in all of this remains to be solved.

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes seemingly employs a non-linear structure that players can solve at their own pace. Very little is known, but it carries the same stylish presentation and music that defined Simogo’s earlier efforts. Stay tuned for more details and gameplay for the title in the coming weeks.

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is described by developer Simogo as a non-linear adventure game that will feature cryptic puzzles. The title’s website describes the game as featuring puzzles revolving around patterns that players will need to observe carefully.

The game is set somewhere in central Europe, and puts players in the shoes of a woman who is wandering around in search of answers. It will feature characters like an international auteur, an aristocratic artist, and a vagabond illusionist.

In the past, Simogo has worked on quite a few critically-acclaimed games, including rhythm game Sayonara Wild Hearts.

While Lorelei and the Laser Eyes doesn’t yet have a solid release date, it is slated to come to PC and Nintendo Switch in 2023.

Last year, we got the wild ride of Sayonara Wild Hearts. The game served as a key launch title to Apple Arcade, Apple’s mobile gaming service. Since then, the game has been ported to most other major platforms for players to enjoy the ride, and now they can add one more with Microsoft’s Xbox console.

As announced by publisher Annapurna Interactive and developer Simogo in a trailer, which you can see below, the game will come to Xbox One next week. It follows The Fool as she must make her way through the major tarot arcane in trippy and colorful rhythm battles in a variety of settings, ranging from cities to forests to the skies above. It looks pretty fantastic in full 4K, so it’s a visual treat.

Sayonara Wild Hearts is available now for PlayStation 4, Switch, PC, and iOS via Apple Arcade. The Xbox One version will release February 25th.

Simogo’s trippy rhythmic adventure Sayonara Wild Hearts is now available for purchase on Steam. That means PC players can finally try what console and mobile players have been raving out since the game launched in September. It’s also currently 20 percent off till December 19th so now is a good time to pick it up.

Described as a “pop album videogame”, where each song is its own personalized music video, Sayonara Wild Hearts is about love and loss. You play as a woman who’s recently faced heartbreak, taking on the persona of The Fool to combat several other entities on motorcycles. Don’t worry – it’s much cooler than you’d think.

Sayonara Wild Hearts is also available on Nintendo Switch and PS4. You can also pick it up on iOS as part of Apple Arcade which offers a variety of titles for $4.99 per month. It’s also been nominated for Best Art Direction, Best Mobile Game and Best Score/Music at The Game Awards 2019 so stay tuned to see if it wins.

The ambitious Apple Arcade is now available for $4.99 per month with more than 100 games planned for release this Fall. The launch line-up is already pretty hefty and all titles are available ad-free. If you want to try before signing up, the service offers a free one month trial.

Currently live for iPhones with iOS 13, the service will also be coming to iPad, Mac and Apple TV. It supports family sharing for up to six users with the ability to continue where you left off on another device. Both online and offline play are supported.

The line-up of available titles include Capcom’s Shinsekai: Into the Depths, Simogo’s Sayonara Wild Hearts, Dodge Roll’s Exit the Gungeon, Klei Entertainment’s Hot Lava, Frogger in Toy Town, the first part of Shantae and the Seven Sirens and many more. As far as subscription services go, it’s quite the offer and Apple is pouring a hefty amount into supporting it. Stay tuned for more details on new titles as they roll out.

Sayonara Wild Hearts lives up to its name. A wild and stylish ode to pop music, the game garnered a lot of attention when it was announced earlier in the year. It’s out now, and already found quite the audience. While the game only released digitally, those wanting a physical release are in luck, as a limited version of the game is available now.

Released via iam8bit, the physical edition will be available for both the PlayStation 4 and Switch. It will include the game, a reversible cover, and an embroidered logo patch pack in. The physical package will cost $35, and will be limited to only 5,000 copies each, so get them in a hurry through here. There’s also a vinyl soundtrack if you fancy it.

Sayonara Wild Hearts is available now digitally for PlayStation 4 and Switch, and was a launch title for the new Apple Arcade subscription service. The physical edition will ship sometime in Q1 2020.

Year Walk, the hit indie puzzler game that originally released on iOS in 2013, and PC and Mac in 2014, will be coming to Wii U this year, when it hits the console in Fall 2015. Based on the old Swedish tradition called “Årsgång,” the game will see you play the role of Daniel Svensson, who engages in the Swedish tradition of year walking one night. However, this walk is not like usual Årsgångs, as you will encounter multiple supernatural beings throughout your journey.

The Wii U version will also not just be a simple port.

On the developer’s blog, Simogo discussed the difference between the Wii U version of “Year Walk” and past releases.

“No, this is not a simple port,” the developers said. “We knew that we wouldn’t want to hand Year Walk off to a porting studio, yet we wanted a fresh view on the game to make it feel new, exciting and home on the platform. So we’ve worked together with someone we knew we could trust to do this – our friends Dakko Dakko.

“The game has been totally rebuilt for the platform, with the Wii U GamePad tightly integrated into the game. It’s hard to imagine that it was not made for Wii U originally – that’s how home it feels.”

“Unlike the PC-version, which used cursor controls to interact with puzzles and contraptions, we now use custom motion controls for almost every puzzle,” Simogo explained. “For example, if you find something in the forest that you can spin or rotate, you’ll physically rotate the GamePad, with really finely tuned controls. The GamePad rumbles and makes lovely sounds (make sure you have the volume all cranked up on it!), and it just feels amazingly tactile – like you’re actually holding the objects in your hands.”

Apart from this, the three defining features of the Wii U version will be the GamePad Touchscreen, the Encyclopedia, and NoteTaking. A map and optional hints will also show up on the GamePad screen.

We don’t have a release date for the Wii U version yet, but we will keep you posted. Stay tuned.