This time my yearly look at the game soundtracks was even later than I originally planned. But what can you do, when Russia invades your country your priorities change.
Anyways, while 2021 wasn’t particularly rich in choice in terms of game music as far as new releases were concerned (that I’ve played or cared about to check), there were some extremely fantastic highlights like Chicory. Also, I’ve decided to list the amazing Gnosia soundtrack by its Switch release year, even though originally game had a 2019 release on Vita of all things.
One game worth mentioning that I couldn’t in good faith review or “officially” include, but love the soundtrack of, is Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One. Despite listening to this music for several years during the development of the game, I still love it and recommend checking it out.
So, let’s get started with games divided into categories as usual.
NEW GAMES RELEASED IN 2021:
Papetura by Floex: https://store.floex.cz/album/papetura-soundtrack
Strangeland by Victor Pflug: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1640680/Strangeland__Official_Soundtrack/
Ys IX: Monstrum Nox by Falcom Sound Team jdk: https://open.spotify.com/album/0LaY5OJk6YcEPVtuQW5b1O
Labyrinth City: Pierre the Maze Detective by Xavier Thiry: https://xavierthiry.bandcamp.com/album/labyrinth-city-pierre-the-maze-detective-ost
Chicory: A Colorful Tale by Lena Raine: https://radicaldreamland.bandcamp.com/album/chicory-a-colorful-tale-original-soundtrack
Exo One by Rhys Lindsay: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1595980/Exo_One_Soundtrack/
Psychonauts 2 by Peter McConnell: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1726810/Psychonauts_2_Original_Soundtrack_Vol_1/
Scarlet Nexus by Hayata Takeda: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1590565/SCARLET_NEXUS_Brain_Punk_Bundle/
Gnosia by Q flavor: https://soundcloud.com/nnoono/sets/gnosiabgm
RE-RELEASES/COMPLETE VERSION RELEASES OF 2021:
Mass Effect Legendary Edition by Various Artists: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FobS3w7QX-Y
Yakuza 4 Remastered by Various Artists (and the rest of Yakuza games ported to PC last year): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLLycZ-c0Tg
NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139… by Keiichi Okabe: https://store.na.square-enix-games.com/en_US/product/631126/nier-replicant-ver122474487139-original-soundtrack-cd
Castlevania Advance Collection by Various Artists: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUSjNuMo-PI
Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters by Nobuo Uematsu (6 games in the collection): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4BwuYALNx8
STUFF FROM OTHER YEARS I’VE PLAYED SINCE LAST TIME:
Cyberpunk 2077 by Various Artists: https://cyberpunk2077.bandcamp.com/music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EegPbRtmzXY
GRIS by Berlinist: https://berlinistband.bandcamp.com/album/gris-original-game-soundtrack
Blasphemous by Carlos Viola: https://thegamekitchen.bandcamp.com/album/blasphemous
Wasteland 3 by Mark Morgan: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1382210/Wasteland_3_Digital_Deluxe_Extras/
So, as I suspected last year, the soundtrack to Cyberpunk 2077 indeed turned out to be good. But what I didn’t expect was how fantastic the Blasphemous music will turn out to be. It’s a shame not all soundtracks can be bought and not all that can be bought are even packaged nicely (Scarlet Nexus is a mess, for example). And I wish more of them would be available in lossless format, online and through some great “buy it and own it” no DRM services like Bandcamp. Though it has been recently purchased by Epic Games… Hopefully, it won’t ruin this wonderful service.