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?
As spoiled by the picture I chose for the post, my pick is Katana Zero.
Each stage has its own track, and it is not just background noise. Zero carries with him a walkman, and each level begins with him pulling it out at putting his earphones in, then starting the track as the name of the song appears on screen.
Whenever Zero isn’t himself listening to something, any music heard is environmental, like the soft background music of a hotel lobby, or the annoying low tones passing through the walls from a party at the neighbors.
If you’re a fan, and didn’t know, there is an expansion coming to Katana Zero. It’s been teased with a few gameplay clips, and a new OST track.
Yeah Katana Zero is crazy good, I’ve had Meat Grinder (Ludowic) on repeat for so long, that song is just perfect in terms of beats to focus to
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.
Diablo 1. I have a hard time playing the game anymore, it’s super clunky, but the guitar music from the overworld fucking slaps
Agreed. The Tristram theme has no business sounding as good as it does. I
Anima Flux has a sick soundtrack! Caught myself playing longer just because those tracks are straight fire
Doom 2016
Oh. Just actually read the body of your post!
I mean it’s a damn good pick.
Can you tell me more about Katana Zero? I have one of this developers other games and looked at this the other day but opted out. I don’t listen to audio when I look at trailers, so I didn’t hear the music or anything.
Also, YIIK has a great soundtrack even though everyone bombed the hell out of that game. I still listen to tracks from it. Inscryption, The Path, 2064: Read Only Memories, The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa, Going Under, games developed by Blaze Epic, Dicey Dungeons, Party Hard, Stray Cat Crossing, New Ice York, Beyond Galaxyland, JARS, Ladykiller in a Bind, Oxenfree, Dust Force, & Plants vs. Zombies (Laura Shigihara still has me bopping). Not including classic video game bangers - this is just stuff I pulled from a quick Steam-y glance.
*Love has a banger of a soundtrack too. Kentucky Route Zero as well.
Askiisoft hasn’t made any other widely known games. Of the three, only Katana Zero is on steam.
Are you referring to the publisher? They just front the funding for the development, and handle distribution. In this case that’s Devolver, who deals with a ton of small studios, and hence there’s a very wide range of games under them. But they’re all made by different people. A lot of Devolver projects are one-offs where the game is the only thing the particular studio has made, and will make.
Katana ZERO marries gameplay, story, and sound, immaculately.
The player character has the ability to see the future. The act of playing through a level (dying and re-trying), in universe, is Zero looking into the future and seeing what will work and what won’t.
This gets complicated once you run into opponents with the same ability, as they will actively use your previous attempts to beat them to predict what you’ll try to do.
It’s as mix of puzzle and action. I won’t say too much about the story, but it is worth engaging with the dialogue system, taking in the world building, and doing some thinking about what is going on. If you do, the story, and particularly the ending, is a lot more meaningful.
Oh hey, I didn’t realize. I like Olija, and thought that they were worked on by the same developer. They’re lumped together with The Messenger in a bundle and just assumed it was the same dev working their way through whatever vibe they were feeling. I don’t know too much about Devolver, but that’s for the 411. I was interested in this game because I like One Slash and Samurai Jazz and figured it could potentially have a similar vibe to it. I’m going to grab it, and give it a go. Thank you!
Terraria and Stardew Valley
I havent seen it mentioned yet, but ultrakill. Holy fuck this game’s soundtrack is like cocaine, nothing beats the absolute rush that is every song in this track. From the guitar/percussion in prelude slamming away the drums like your bullets breaking the skulls of whats in your line of sight, to the absolute state of HOLY FUCK the tracks in the p- levels rip into your soul. Its fantastic
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.
Alan Wake (the og one). It’s music was so in tune with the atmosphere, and it is one of the very few soundtracks I listen to.
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
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. That game is damn near flawless.
Castlevania music is a style of its own. Love that stuff.
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.
Is it cheating to say Crypt of the Necrodancer?
Must move to the music’s beat, and the music itself is by Danny Baranowsky (other works include the original PCl soundtracks for Super Meat Boy and Binding of Isaac)
Nah, that’s exactly the type of game that’s a right answer.
