Music is an increasingly important part of modern video games, able to elevate an experience to new heights, adding real emotion to scenes and engaging the player on a more subconscious level. What’s particularly delightful is when it goes beyond merely being an added element alongside the action that takes place on screen, but rather an integral part of the game, right down to its very conception. Of course, just being good music that you can happily listen to outside of a game-playing context helps as well…
Music is a special part of the Alan Wake 2 experience, as it’s threaded in and out of a truly multimedia experience. On the one hand there’s the often haunting atmospheric soundtrack composed by Petri Alanko to accompany the regular gameplay’s blend of calmer scenes and survival horror action, ramping up the emotions and tension excellently, but then there’s the times where the music breaks out of the box.
Evoking TV show inspirations that Remedy have loved to toy with, each chapter in the game concludes with a moment of musical limbo featuring lyrics written to tie back into the narrative and moments you’ve just been experiencing. It starts off with the wonderfully chilled Follow You into the Dark, featuring RAKEL.
Then there’s the returning Old Gods of Asgard, an in-game alter ego band of Poets of the Fall, and some really fun twists found within Alan Wake’s Dark Place.
Brilliantly creative, Alan Wake 2’s soundtrack is our best of the year.
Listen to Alan Wake 2’s Original Soundtrack on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music.
– Stefan L
Hi-Fi Rush – Runner Up
In a game built around music, it sure is helpful that said music is frankly awesome. Now, Hi-Fi Rush has a series of headline licensed tracks, racking up hits from Nine Inch Nails through to The Black Keys, but in order to qualify for this award it’s all about the support, and Hi-Fi Rush’s soundtrack delivers in spades. Built around the work of composers Shuichi Kobori (The Evil Within, Metal Gear Solid 4) and Masatoshi Yanaga (Ghostwire Tokyo), Hi-Fi Rush rocks, rattles, slams, funks, noodles, chugs and slaps throughout its run-time. There’s also soundalike replacements for licensed tracks to keep it streamer friendly.
The fact that the soundtrack is central to the game itself only makes this all the more powerful, with players matching their attacks to the beat for big combos and increased damage, strengthening the link between music and gaming. Few games have ever achieved the level of synergy between the two so completely as Hi-Fi Rush.
– Dom L
Listen to the Hi-Fi Rush soundtrack on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube.
Armored Core 6 – Runner Up
Armored Core 6’s dystopian future of mech warfare was a stunning addition to the series, but its trademark armament-heavy action wouldn’t have had quite the same impact without the stunning soundtrack that accompanies it. Fusing synthwave tones that wouldn’t be out of place in Blade Runner with chugging guitars and industrial beats brings an element of menace and aggression to From Software’s gameplay, forging a futuristic soundscape that forces you ever onward to increasing acts of explosive mayhem.
Composers Kota Hoshino, Takashi Onodero and Shoe Miyazawa have created something undoubtedly striking, powerful and imposing, providing the perfect accompaniment to riding in a giant mech.
– Dom L
Listen to the Armored Core 6 soundtrack on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube.
Honourable Mentions (in alphabetical order)
- C-Smash VRS
- Lunacid
- Octopath Traveller 2
Which soundtracks really captured your imagination, amplified the gameplay and story, and got your toes tapping this year?
