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?
Stellaris.
Lately I’ve been playing Angel Pop! It’s a tough little bullet hell from playdate, I’m not very good but the soundtrack is great https://studionnnn.bandcamp.com/album/angel-pop-playdate-soundtrack
Breath of the Wild which also does dynamic music that shifts and changes as you play/encounter enemies
Most modern games do this. It’s a little different depending on implementation, but usually there are short loops of music which can transition into one another, and the game attempts to detect what’s going on and make smooth transition at the end of each loop into an appropriate new loop based on the situation, so that the music is seamless but still reactive to what’s going on. When it’s done well, it’s basically invisible that anything special is even happening, which I’m sure is irritating if you’re the one who had to do the ball-busting labor of getting it all to work.
Fun fact, LucasArts was already doing this all the way back in 1991, back when video game sound beyond the bleeps and boops stage was still bleeding edge technology. One of a few different ways in which they were ahead of the curve by about 20-30 years if not more.
Like good CGI. The best work is the one you don’t notice.
Wonder how they did that back then? Shifting the tones up and down?
The wiki article goes into it; the canonical example (if you know to pay attention to it) is walking around in Woodtick in Monkey Island 2, and you can hear how the melody that’s playing is continuous, but some of the backing instruments will insert or change depending on which buildings you go into. You can probably find Let’s Play of the game on YouTube or etc to hear it in action.
Thanks. Read it and yeah, that had to be hard with a limited set of sound channels.
The entire arrangement would have to be smaller chunks that are flowed one into another or swapped out when an event changed.
Considering the memory and code space limitations of the time that was no small feat.
I know it’s cheating since the game is basically a playable soundtrack but “Hi-fi-Rush” brought me immense joy. On of the only games where I was actually vibing at my desk and rocking my head around to the beat.
You have no idea how hyped I got as the beginning notes of “Invaders Must Die” played.
RIP Tango Gameworks.
The closure of tango and the IP in Microsofts hands is a tragedy
So not quite what you’re asking for, but right when deeprock galactic came out I found this artist on bandcamp called dreamsaboutdogs. They make electronic music, and their album Cursed quickly became my unofficial deeprock soundtrack. It just meshes super well with the gameplay, I dunno.
I told my deeprock homie about it and now he does the same thing, so it’s not just me lmao
Tunic
Definitely Tunic. I listen to that soundtrack to study to
Katamari Damacy
NAAAAAAAA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NANA-N’NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAA
“BATMAAAN!”
The king is very displeased that this was so far down the list. You need to work on rolling up more points.
Honestly, The Last Of Us games. Gustavo Santaolalla is a ridiculously talented musician/producer. Apparently, the guy never learned to read music either!
If you like that you might also like vampire the masquerade redemption soundtrack that came out a few years earlier, and the deb of night radio show from bloodlines.
Literally any of the Ace Combat games! They have absolutely no business going as hard as they do in an arcade-y flight sim but good lord they are just incredible. I listen to the OSTs whilst I’m working all the time when I need pump up music - Zero is particularly good!
Superhexagon
I can’t believe nobody’s mentioned Furi!
The game is a boss rush fighting game that’s incredibly fun to play, and the developers worked with multiple different artists to make the soundtrack. Literally gave them spec sheets for the boss fight they were making music for and info on how the stages progressed etc. So the soundtrack is a living part of the fights themselves. 10/10 highly recommended
Furi is fantastic. The mechanics are arguably even tighter than the music.
Totally agree.
6.24 You’re mine You are the end Wisdom of rage A monster
All synth bangers.
Introduced me to carpenter brut and toxic avenger
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.
The artist behind Celeste’s soundtrack Lena Raine is really good at that kind of music, her Bandcamp is good for listening
Pretty old now, but Jet Set Radio/Jet Set Radio Future
Cell-shaded skating/graffiti game from my childhood will always have a place in my heart, and my playlists
Check out Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, it’s a spiritual successor to Jet Set Radio released in 2023. They consulted with Hideki Naganuma on the soundtrack.
Animal Crossing. Each hour of the day has a different track and it really makes it feel special to play at every different time of day. When your playing and the song switches or makes you want to play more.
