The levels themselves are thankfully just as delightful and eclectic. A self-titled ‘pop album video game’, each level in Sayonara Wild Hearts consists of a playable music video for a track from the game’s original soundtrack, a blissfully vibrant collection of vocal and electro-pop that happily wears its influences on its sleeve. Running at only an hour, its story is one designed for replayability and precise appreciation, a refreshing break from the 100+ hour gargantuan open worlds that have otherwise run rampant throughout contemporary video game libraries. It is no exaggeration that ever since its release in September, I have played (or at least watched) through the entirety of Sayonara Wild Hearts’ campaign over ten times, and its capacity for delight never dwindles on each subsequent playthrough. Wild hearts never die! The empowering rallying call that echoes throughout Sayonara Wild Hearts‘ dreampop narrative doubled as a personal motto of mine for the remainder of the year, an essential reminder that the strongest love one can express is for themselves. Sayonara Wild Hearts (Simogo / PS4, Switch, PC, iOS) This is a list devoted to the narratives and the experiences that particularly stuck with me, or attempted to take a step outside the norm.

As such, this following list isn’t necessarily a ranked order of my favourites from 2019 (although plenty of them are). For the purposes of Ludonarrative Discussion, it was a graciously fruitful one too, crammed with enrapturing interactive narratives that once again toyed with the potential of non-linear or player-defined storytelling. The result was a year defined by experimentation and esoteric independent titles rule-breakers and rule-makers alike.

It’s hardly a secret that the next-generation of consoles (the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X) were heading our way in 2020, resulting in plenty of developers staving off their high-profile releases until this anticipated new wave of systems hit.

Last year was a strange one for video games. Online Screen Editor Jacob Heayes runs through some of the highlights of 2019 in video game storytelling.

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