Last time I decided to do a “look back at” videogame music of a previous year was mostly due to how big the wave of 80s inspired synthwave and like was and mostly to check just how prevalent it was in videogames. This time, I’m doing it because I feel like last year just had several truly amazing soundtracks that became an integral part of my main music playlist.
I am listing only the games that I have played myself, so additionally, I want to mention to Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, Torment: Tides of Numenera, Divinity: Original Sin II, Cuphead and Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus which I haven’t played, but heard good things about in terms of music. Sonic Mania gets a special mention because it has awesome music, but I haven’t finished it yet. And a very special mention goes to Detention and Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, which I have played and loved, but soundtracks of which are more about fitting the game perfectly and enhancing the overall sound design, rather than about memorable tracks you will be listening to outside of the game. Oh and I also need to mention Sylvio 2, which has a great soundtrack, but which is based almost completely on the music from the first game which I’ve mentioned last time.
Night in the Woods: Alec Holowca – End Credits (full soundtrack in 3 volumes)
Nier: Automata: Keiichi Okabe – A Beautiful Song
Zero Escape: The Nonary Games: Shinji Hosoe – Ambidexterity
The Sexy Brutale: Main Theme (full soundtrack)
Prey: Mick Gordon – The Experiment
And here’s the dose of 80s for the year:
Nex Machina: Tuomas Nikkinen – Future Labs (full soundtrack)
Hope you like these and make sure to check the games as well! :)