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?
Unreal Tournament. A soundtrack made by the sceners and trackers. If you know, you know.
Ahoy videos are epic!
Furi
Came here to say this. Amazing game.
Wytchwood has a soundtrack that goes unnecessarily hard. Especially by the docks. Everything about that game is satisfying.
Myth II Soulblighter.
RimWorld - see the YouTube comments for people telling stories of what each song reminds them of.
Shoutout to ‘simple’ music that works well in a game - Project Highrise, Shapez, or Outbound for example.
Diablo 2. The music fit that game perfectly.
The SFX are pristine, too.
Also username checks out.
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.
Doom 2016
Oh. Just actually read the body of your post!
I mean it’s a damn good pick.
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
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.
Terraria and Stardew Valley
My day gets 200% better whenever I hear that summer song
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
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
Wasteland 3’s soundtrack is full of bangers. The ambient music and generic combat music is good, but the game has a lot of special tracks that play over specific combat moments. They are religious or nostalgic songs being covered by modern bands, giving the soundtrack a kind of distorted feel. It’s very good.
The Battle Hymn of the Republic from Wasteland 3 is amazing
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
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.