Summary
There are so many aspects of the gaming industry that have seeped across pop culture, from individual characters and story ideas to types of gameplay and things that have very little to do with game mechanics. The music of a game is an element that is easily overlooked, but it can become iconic in its own right just as easily as any other part of a game.
Video game icons like Mario and Sonic have madehuge use of iconic themes over the years, while entire soundtracks, like those heard repeatedly as players adventure across huge open worlds for hundreds of hours, have become so ingrained that players can name the game just from a few notes of music.
Video game music used to be very different to what it is today, and one of the first games to change this came in the form of the early open-world gaming masterpieceShadow of the Colossus. This game featured a dark, brooding story, and it built a huge, purposefully empty world to match it.
This left the soundtrack a big job to match up to the world, but it nailed it. TheShadow of the Colossussoundtrack is huge and orchestral, inspiring other companies with future games like the FromSoftware series. One of the most individual games of all time, and a hugely important one in the open-world genre, this was both a soundtrack and a game that changed the world.
The idea of a huge game from the studio behindGrand Theft Autoset in the Wild West was bold, andRed Dead Redemptionshowed that it could pay off. However, there was always going to be more that could be done, both in terms of the world and the musical score.
WithRed Dead Redemption 2, Rockstar managed to create a definitive open-world game with an epic, moving story, a beautiful world filled with an enormous assortment of tales to tell, and a soundtrack that balances impactful vocals that fit the style of the Western world and minimalist pieces that add drama and appropriate levels of emotion. Avoiding feeling too dark and broody while remaining serious, the style of music blends perfectly with the world and gameplay to helpRed Dead Redemption 2become one of the most famous open-world games of all time.
Though the franchise has been more notable in recent years for the tumultuous Netflix show and animated films,The Witcher 3: Wild Huntremains the best piece of media to come from the world of the Continent. Geralt’s adventure searching for his adopted daughter, Ciri, made an impact few games have achieved in their time.
The European-influenced medieval style not only fit the history of the franchise, with the books having been written by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, but it also fits the world built within the game. The dark fantasy style, which features a lot of complicated morality, helped inspire a soundtrack that feels bleak but not overwhelmingly so. Polish folk-metal and Slavic folk songs were also huge inspirations in nailing the music for this masterpiece.
Not every video game creates a great and memorable soundtrack that fits into its world through pure originality.Grand Theft Auto: Vice Cityis known for its medley soundtrackscomprised of songs from various erasto help the players feel more situated in the fictional version of 1986 Miami.
The radio stations and collaborative soundtrack feature many classic hits, and fans argued when the definitive version of the game was released over some controversial exclusions, showing just how much the soundtrack of this game means to players. It also helped to set the tone for howGTAgames would continue to immerse players in the world of this infamous franchise in games to come.
FromSoftware has solidified a name for themselves since the fateful launch ofDemon’s Soulson the PS3, spawningtheir own genre of epic games, all sharing similiarly bleak and overwhelming settings, though each holding their own distinctive touches. While many of them have had freeing player experiences,Elden Ringis the first to give players a truly open-world experience, and the soundtrack matches the grandiose, surreal, and dark vibes perfectly.
Elden Ringdelivers all the orchestral and chorus-filled sounds of the previous FromSoftware games, but it adds more diverse and delicate ambiance, more fitting to traveling around a huge open-world map. Managing to define so many different dangerous, memorable bosses by great individual themes is an art that FromSoftware has mastered, andElden Ringis a real pinnacle in the history of the studio’s fantastic soundtracks.
The music in everyLegend of Zeldagame, in addition to a number of iconic sound effects, was already renown within the video game world long beforeBreath of the Wild. However, this game, the firstZeldaone with a truly open world, made for a totally different beast.
Breath of the Wildmusic came with many different inspirations. The orchestral and piano elements were creative and managed to evoke the feeling of something grand and epic while also seeming friendly, unlike many large open-world games that aim for a serious, darker nature. This has caused many comparisons of the music to Studio Ghibli film soundtracks, and it has helped the game become a definitive jumping-on point for younger gamers looking to explore large open-world games.
Ghost of Tsushimais a game, as well as a soundtrack, that hasn’t received the sort of love it deserves. The journey of Jin Sakai is such a great story, featuring fun and consistently interesting gameplay, that it is easy to forget this idea would work in any medium.
The story is so well-crafted, and the game’s visuals and cinematic-style thinking were so breathtaking, thatGhost of Tsushimawould have worked as an anime, live-action film, TV series, or anything. But, those visuals are accompanied by some of the very best songs and pieces of music that have featured in any game’s soundtrack. The ultimate ambiance for an open-world game has become truly beloved to many fans, but it still deserves so much more recognition than it has gotten, failing to win many of the awards for video game music after release.
There are very few games with such immersive, recognizable, and beloved soundtracks that entire fan bases are dedicated purely to the music.Skyrim’s music is unmatched, from the ambient tones featured during travel to iconic themes of different cities, and even the medieval folk music and epics played in taverns or during battles.
Skyrimhas such a breadth of music that 10-hour mixes of nonstop entries from the soundtrack have millions of views on YouTube. There are games with music this memorable, but they are few and far between, and almost none of them has the huge variation of iconic music across so many genres and styles.
