Many games feature amazing music, but certain games take it beyond even that.
Games like DOOM are known for the “procedural” composition they use to marry gameplay and sound, and not only that, the way the music is a perfect tonal match to what is happening.
What games have you played that feature music that doesn’t just make you notice it, but also pulls you further in?
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. That game is damn near flawless.
Terraria and Stardew Valley
Deus Ex Mankind Divided.
Rain World.
Super Metroid.
I’ll second Nier Automata. There aren’t even any words in the lyrics, it’s amazing.Nier Automata. There aren’t even any words in the lyrics, it’s amazing.
Except for the “final” track, “Weight of the World”, which is just amazing and chilling, especially in the context of the game and lore if you make it to the end of true ending e. Apparently the Japanese version uses a take where the vocalist started crying during it, and in the English version you can hear the vocalist struggling towards the end.
And there’s the one track that’s name escapes me with the robots chanting “become as gods”.
A lot of the other tracks have chanting, but it’s intentionally not in any language, despite every track having a pretty heavy emotional feel to it.
Hollow Knight and Celeste are the two that come to mind for me.
Nier Automata
The soundtrack is integral to the experience.
The credits sequence, IMO, is the current high for games as a medium.
When the chorus kicks in on end of yorha, after you ask for help, still gives me goosebumps.
Not normally that kind of person, but the way all aspects of design, music, story, and user input collide make it the most impactful experience I’ve ever had in a game.
Genuinely my favourite gaming moment. Nothing before or since from the medium has made me feel as much as that sequence. It’s just fantastic. If you game at all you need to try it.
It’s a magnum opus, to be sure. I’ll be blown away if Yoko Taro finds a way to top it.
Katamari Damacy
Literally every game by Supergiant. Most recent would be Hades 2, when I finally beat the 3rd boss and start slashing into the fourth area, the music was so hype I was smiling all the way through.
A better pick may be Transistor though. It’s kind of a half action half strategy game, where you kind of pause to plan out and execute your next moves. During that pause phase, the music would turn into a muted version, and main character would hum to it in sync.Also, Journey and Abzu. They simply are experiences that should not be had without good headphones.
So uh… Fun thing about Transistor.
As the credits roll, Red sings for the first time in the game. The death of her lover at the beginning of the story turns her mute, which is why she only ever hums to the music in the game. During your first play-through. At the end of the game, the credits roll to the tune of “Paper Boats” which is the first song in the game to have lyrics, sung by Red.
It’s an emotional high point that hits hard. She can sing again!
But there’s more.
In new game+ Red no longer hums during all pause screens. She now sings the previously unheard lyrics of several songs in the game!
Tunic
Mass Effect, the first one. The soundtrack, being event driven, made the whole thing feel like a space opera you’d watch as a tv series, not just be an RPG.
FTL and Celeste have basically the perfect soft background music; once you’re played them it is remarkable how many YouTube videos reuse one or the other for their turned-way-down background music
That, and then Grand Poo World 2 has basically the best retro action game soundtrack I have ever heard. I for-real believe that the quality of the soundtrack is like 75% of why it comes across as more polished than any other romhack.
