Outer Wilds is great. Have so many songs on my list of favourites!
Gaming
From video gaming to card games and stuff in between, if it's gaming you can probably discuss it here!
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For me it's Skyrim. Streets of Whiterun, Masser, Jerral Mountains, Under an Ancient Sun, so many tracks that just instantly transport me back to the world I was immersed in throughout most of high school. They bring a sense of peace that comes from exploring in a simpler time.
I’ve always been a big fan of pretty much all of the Persona series’ soundtracks.
Mass Destruction from Persona 3 is just *chefs kiss*
Pyre's both my favorite game and has my favorite OST. The tracks are layered in a way that they can change on the fly - and the instruments of certain characters kick in during the magical superbowl theme in really satisfying ways. Here's a couple examples:
The Dissidents' theme: Thrash Pack
Final showdown theme versus Dissidents: Never to Return
The Essence's theme: Sky Dance
Final Showdown theme versus Essence: Never to Return
Favorite tracks gotta be Path to Glory, though.
Literally any Final Fantasy for me. Nobuo Uematsu is just an incredible composer.
Dragon Quest series too, although Koichi Sugiyama was a…not great person.
Monkey Island 2 holds a special place for me because it introduced iMUSE and dynamically altering the music with the environment which was years ahead of its time.
Shout out to Touhou.
Shadow of the Colossus by Kow Otani
Freedom Fighters by Jesper Kyd
Just in case some of you don't know...
https://downloads.khinsider.com/
It is a website with gamerips of soundtracks. There are ways to download albums without making accounts, so don't go signing up for this.
Enjoy!
Persona 5 Royal. Close 2nd is Nier: Automata. Both amazing OSTs
Check out J-music Ensemble's Persona 5 cover album Metagroove! It's really well made, I couldn't go back to listening the vanilla soundtrack without thinking of it.
As a metalhead Doom 2016 has a place in my heart (same as Duke Nukem 3D). Also, the opening credits to both Silent Hill 1&2.
Edit: let's not forget that one track in Wolfenstein: The New Order by Fredrik Thordendal of Meshuggah
- Nanashi no Game
- Soma Bringer (only one song linked, there was no playlist available)
- Final Fantasy XIV
- The Last Guardian
FFXIV and Nanashi are notable as they're by the same composer (latter game was done under a pseudonym) and even happen to share at least one song, in some form.
Soma Bringer has the most beautiful music of this list.
Last Guardian has the most inspiring music.
Jake Kaufman always does amazing work, here's some of my favorites of his from the Shantae series: https://youtu.be/ovk4ygEzMCI
https://youtu.be/3OhJnSL4XWA
https://youtu.be/MZ7bCDjif9M
https://youtu.be/6wJmVxvJTEs
Cave Story has some great retro tracks. Some people prefer the originals but I played it with the arranged versions: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLr5fTLogAd5tW_oPORRtgznxL-kUt9z7h
Little known PC game called Chenso Club has a pumping soundtrack by Knasibas: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nHBZFT82t4__lHXCD8bi3WhA98hQaSGuo&feature=share
Far too many to list, but Final Fantasy IX's soundtrack is a tremendous work of art, and a perfect final bow for Nobuo Uematsu from the series. It's always stuck with me among nearly ever other soundtrack.
Notable Mentions (in no order):
- Sonic 2 and 3&K
- Hotline Miami 1 & 2
- Street Fighter 2
- Nier Automata
- Castlevania (Whole Damn Series)
- Donkey Kong Country & 2
- Doom I & II
- Undertale
- Freedom Planet
- Golden Sun 1 & 2
- Hollow Knight
- Skyrim
- Kirby Series
- Mario Series
- MegaMan 2 & 3 (Shout-out to The Megas)
- Super Meat Boy
And so many others, but I'll be here all day if I keep going.
Kenshi's soundtrack has such an amazing, surreal sound. Such a vibe, love it.
It's Skyrim for me. Growing up I've never played any games (because GiRLs DoN't GaMe) but I've heard some of Jeremy Soul's Skyrim tracks on YouTube and was completely enchanted. Learned that it is from the game, decided to try and now I'm a gamer, lol.
Oh, and also the main theme of Dragon Age: Origins is just divine. And honorary mention to Mass Effect and Witcher music too.
The soundtracks from NieR:Automata and NieR Replicant are definitely my favorite of all time.
Halo: Reach and Halo 3: ODST are also very good.
Celeste, especially Farewell.
Soundtracks filled front-to-back with bangers that have stuck with me over the years:
Sonic Mayhem's Quake 2 -- and, of course, Trent Reznor's Quake. 植松 伸夫 -- Final Fantasy 7. Grant Kirkhope/Graeme Norgate's GoldenEye 64. Max Lichtenstein's Pax Imperia 2. Richard Joseph's Chaos Engine. Just about anything Mick Gordon touches. ...aaaaand just about every Mario, Metroid, Sonic, DOOM (Heretic included), Command and Conquer, Advance Wars...
Outer Wilds, Alan Wake, Gray Matter
Vanilla WoW, Celeste, and Mirrors Edge all makes me feel like when I played the games for the first time as soon as I hear them. Fantastic evocative soundtrack.
Doom 2016, Mirror's Edge, Metal Gear Rising, Nier Automata, ah so many options... probably a bit of recency bias, but I think I'll say Neon White.
When it comes to licensed soundtracks, DiRT 2's soundtrack is perfection.
Slay the Spire. There are a number of good songs but the theme for the final super secret boss is an absolute banger.
The halo theme original and mjolner mix, a walk in the woods from halo 1 . ff7 tifas theme and aeriths / aeris theme and the mass effect 3 ending theme to name a few
One of my favourite soundtracks of all time was the haunting soundscapes from Anarchy Online. Timeless and haunting whilst travelling the wastelands of the planet Rubi-Ka.
I can’t froth at the mouth about game music, without mentioning Dear Esther. The arty solo exploreable story in a rugged haunting Hebridean landscape. The piano and cello move together in deep tones, and build up to ascending anthems of emotion. Composer Jessica Curry is simply a genius, and I can easily be moved to tears with this soundtrack. My favourite track is “I have begun my ascent”.
Also Supergiant Games soundtracks to Transistor and Pyre are emotive and catchy as any non-soundtrack album.
Celeste really gets me.
Mass Effect has banger tracks pretty much throughout the entire trilogy. I also quite often go back to the Bastion soundtrack. The tracks are great on their own already but how they used the songs within the game was brilliant.
I also want to mention the Gothic soundtrack because I get nostalgic every time I hear it. The main theme just transports me back into that world instantly. Even though it's been like 10 years since I last played these games.
Cowboy Bebop, hands down. Oh, and Samurai Champloo.
For me, it's Doom (2016), Battlefield 1, Hotline Miami, and Witcher 3 (even though after a 100 hours in some songs got a bit boring)
The Metal Gear Solid series, particularly Snake Eater.
It's just so dramatic and over the top like the rest of the game.
They even wisely use it as a pallet cleanser after fighting The End and you have to climb that long ass ladder.
One that I love (in addition to Ori and Hollow Knight) is Spiritfarer. Beautiful all the way through with lovely orchestration and colorful melodies.
For me it has to be a mix of doom 2016 the witcher 3 and chrono trigger. So many good soundtracks between them.
I think the Elder Scrolls games all have great music, but Morrowind's OST has always stood out as amazing. Hearing that opening soundtrack immediately sends me back to playing it for the first time!
Xenoblade 2, Xenosaga 2, Sonic 3 and Knuckles, Final Fantasy 6, Octopath 2, Jet Set Radio Future 😎
The Hollow Knight soundtrack is great. A slightly more obscure favorite of mine is Jamestown, the music in that game goes incredibly well with the gameplay and gets me hyped.
FF7, Ff10, Halo 3, Mario Galaxy, Persona 4
Doom Eternal, Destiny and Halo
Man this question isn't even fair there are so many fantastic soundtracks in gaming I could literally go on for hours about them.
Doom, Mass Effect, Halo, Skyrim, Ratchet and Clank, Assassin's creed(3 especially), Divinity original sin 2, pathfinder: wrath of the righteous, monster hunter, league of legends(all of riot games really), darktide, sonic, payday, witcher, Spiderman, Zelda, cyberpunk, megaman, final fantasy, Devil may cry, metal gear, undertale
that's just what I think of off the top of my head, there could easily be an entire sub just dedicated to the topic
-Persona 4 & 5
-Paradise Killer
-Celeste
-Hotline Miami
-Signalis
-Oxenfree
-Coffee Talk
are all in my normal album rotation