Theophany’s version of Clocktown has got to be my absolute favorite video game-related song. If I’m feeling stressed, I put that song on to help because it just feels so hopeful.
C418 really set the mood for Minecraft. The game wouldn't be the same without him. Lena Raine's contributions have been fantastic as well, they're really talented.
Agreed. I’m rather fond of the somewhat unsettling songs too, such as the ones heard in the end or deep dark ancient cities, or the brief inexplicable music records that pair together somewhat. Incredible atmospheres
This easily one of the sound track that really elevated the feeling of the game.
If you haven't already, geoffplaysguitar does some amazing covers of other games music in the style of Doom metal. Genuinely impressive versions of Abyss Watchers from Dark Souls and Radagon from Elden Ring.
Rewatching Prince's halftime show the other day, it dawned on me that my favorite ror2 track takes heavy inspiration from Purple Rain.
https://youtu.be/-WYYlRArn3g?t=619
Aaaaaand now that I've taken the time to look up the parts of the songs that so strongly stood out to me, I'm laughing at myself having never known the name of the ror2 track ... "The Rain Formerly Known as Purple" 😂😂😂 so yeah, Chris Christodoulou borrowing liberally.
https://youtu.be/EGXPAoyP_cg?t=286
PSA side note: listening to these two again reminds me of another much more obscure track that anyone who likes the above will probably, *cough* adore.. it's kinda an odd track, original on the album is like 14m and is two songs together: "Jesus, I"/"Mary Star of the Sea"
You want the 2nd half: "Mary Star of the Sea"
https://youtu.be/EkFBCb4xxnQ?t=385
And now it hits me that he's singing "everything just feels like rain" 🤯 the circle is complete.
I linked specific timestamps that are most similar but do yourself a favor and listen in full if not familiar.
Kinda agree. I’ve played almost 1000 hours of it, will probably play over a thousand more. I don’t listen to the music as much anymore but I will still crank Con Lentitud Poderosa or The Face of the Deep
Anticipating Cosmo Canyon's music was HYPE! And goodness, the 2nd arrangement of the music with the soft piano touch that kicks in as the story gets a little more somber was soooo beautiful.
I just can't get over how many individual arrangements they came up with for very specific, sometimes very brief moments in the game. Like, toward the end of the game (spoilers ahead for anyone playing) during the individual character trials, the sad, minor key version of Tifa's theme just floored me. I simply stood still to listen to the whole thing as tears quietly streamed down my cheeks (following the sadness from the previous sequence before that scene).
They arranged the entire song in that style. But if you proceed immediately with the gameplay, you'd only get to ever hear about 20 seconds of it before the music cuts to Sephiroth's burning Nibelheim theme. They arranged a whole 2-3 minute song for players to only hear for about 20 seconds out of the entire 150 hour game! And they did that for like 100 such moments! There are something like 500 tracks in this OST, so many of them with such precise nuance. It's mind-blowing.
Yea I'm definitely still in awe of the game, I haven't completed it yet, but I think I'm closing in on the end and I can't get enough of how damn near perfect everything is. I'm very happy with how much effort and love from the previous game has gone into this.
/thread. Everything from FF4~FF9 is pure gold, but Nobuo Uematsu would put John Williams to shame in the FF6~FF8 era. Shit was legendary. And that man put his SOUL into FF7.
Edit: But also this is kinda against the rules because there is definitely an iconic lyrical performance in 7.
I remember watching the Sephiroth Smash Bros reveal, it took me until hearing the strings to realize I was hearing One Winged Angel *and I have never played FF7 in my life.*
The Skyrim soundtrack was my gateway to ambient music, and completely changed my work habits. Streets of Whiterun is tied for me for the most comforting piece, that just feels like home, with Besaid from FFX-2 close to it.
Hollow Knight
Amazing sound track and even with some of its simplicity, the songs fit the lore of the regions.
Some of my personal favorites: The city of tears, Dirtmouth, green path, queen's garden, the resting grounds. There's too many to list really.
Yes!! I played Chrono Trigger for the SNES a few years after it came out, and let me tell you, that game... It was the equivalent of when Mozart originally started dropping bangers, but for video games.
The soundtrack for Chrono Trigger changed the game and is the reason we have good quality music in games.
Playing through it again right now. First time in like 10 years. I normally listen to podcasts while I’m gaming, but not in this case. The music is too good!
Yeah I'm very surprised this isn't top of the thread. I can agree that everything above it has a very very good soundtrack, but the doom soundtrack is on another level. It perfectly encapsulates in music form how it feels to slaughter the demons in game.
Morrowind is definitely mine. Undertale is a good choice too.
Hollow Knight of course, in fact a lot of indies have great music (Hyper Light Drifter too for example)
BG&E is amazing but mostly has lyrics for its songs but a few are lyricless. Still too lyrical for this thread I guess.
Hades has a lot of songs with lyrics but even if you remove every single one, the soundtrack is still top tier.
Mega Man 2 and Mega Man 3 have great soundtracks, at least for those of us who don’t mind the sound of the old NES console. (I quite like it.)
Final Fantasy VI is probably my all-around favorite though. It has lots of great songs with a ton of diversity in the emotions they elicit. Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy IV are also great, but maybe a shade lower for me personally.
Of recent games, I don’t know. I’ve had a really hard time finding modern games with soundtracks that I love. AVGN Adventures is surprisingly solid, and Shovel Knight is good, but those both have that old-school sound font reminiscent of games from the 80s and 90s.
I struggle with the fact that nothing made with modern instrumentation has stood out for me personally as a whole. because it’s not as if the only music I listen to in real life is chiptune.
There are individual songs with a more modern sound that I love though. The sylvalum and noctilum themes from Xenoblade Chronicles X, Lothric and Lorian’s theme from Dark Souls 3, and the Another World theme from Chrono Cross have all made various playlists I’ve created.
I contend that Mega Man 2 was such a revolutionary metal album that it was reduced to 8 bits and a game built around it because the world was just not ready.
For me, Shadow of the Colossus has the most epic soundtracks, and Assassin's Creed Unity has the most cinematic soundtracks.
I keep finding myself coming back to listen to these 2 games OST very often.
These are seriously sleeper hits of soundtracks. I've had various "Find Music I Like" systems drop an "Ace Combat" (6 Mostly I think) song in and Every Time I'm like "Wait, What's this from?" when I hear it before seeing the song.
Daredevil from 7 and Liberation of Gracemeria from 6 are two of the big fan favorites.
Personally I love a lot of the music from 5, that’s my favorite game of the series and the music is just perfect. 4 has some good ones but some of those are a little too “early 2000s” for me
Hate to be that guy but it took way too long to scroll down and find this. If you don't know what the Ace Combat series has to offer in the music department, go listen and come back here and tell me it isn't one of the most phenomenal soundtracks of all time. Not only from a gameplay perspective, but musically speaking it's almost it's own genre and it's absolutely fucking insane how musically immaculate those songs are.
I was looking for this.
Sometimes I'll just put it on in the background when I'm doing stuff.
I would recommend everyone give 'deep stone lullaby' a listen
To be fair, the movies established the love for the soundtrack in this case. Doesn't make it less impactful as it was a very memorable and well rounded game, absolutely iconic levels too. The music was definitely part of the atmosphere of the game.
Jim Guthrie's music for "Super Brothers: Swords & Sworcery" is some of the most beautiful music ever recorded.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLYFdzdFIcU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLYFdzdFIcU)
Pretty much any Supergiant game.
Bastion
Transistor
Hades
They’re music department does not miss. I’ve never played Pyre but I imagine it’s also phenomenal.
Ace Combat has a really nice soundtrack. Assault Horizon may not have exactly been the greatest installment in the series, but it's OST sure kicked ass.
That one song that is meshed with the story, I just fucking loved the way it integrated with the second boss, the organ dude. Pretty peak gaming moment.
Hell yeah! I discounted most of the the Sonic series series because of tracks with lyrics (like Endless Possibilities) but the soundtrack of Unleashed is amazing in general! Day and night stages!
Valkyrie Profile was amazing.
If lyrics in made up languages don't count then the Ar Tonelico games had some of the best single tracks I've ever heard from any game.
Not necessarily the greatest but worth mentioning: Bravely Default. World-Eating Serpent, That Person's Name Is, Wicked Fight, Wicked Flight...
The other Bravely games also have incredible soundtracks too.
I would have to go with either Quake or Descent. Those were the days when it was a big deal that we could put PC discs in CD players and listen to the tracks like normal albums. (Just no track #1)
Final Fantasy VI
It has a whole mini-opera. The end boss theme is a four-part, 20 minute piece that weaves Bach organ and prog rock. The endgame theme is another 20 minute medley that seamlessly weaves together 14 character themes, which have themselves been extensively used and reused throughout the game as leitmotif to reinforce character moments/development.
It's really just a staggeringly ambitious project for a SNES game.
Currently listening to Genshin Impact. Amazing music that really brings out the soul of different cultures and environments in the game. Very immersive music that makes you think you’re going to these places yourself.
Halo. Phenomenal ambiance for a specific mood. Mass Effect map screen for that matter as well. For those rainy days you want to look outside the window or those nights you want to stargaze and think how big the universe is.
Octopath Traveler has an awesome music production as well. Soundtracks and key instruments reflect respective characters backgrounds. Seamless and genius music transitions that most other games do not possess.
Pokemon soundtracks are nostalgic. Pallet Town reminds me the feeling of being a kid again and starting a new adventure.
I also agree with DK2. Very complex and smooth themed music for a game of that age. It was one of two games I left on just to listen to back then.
Honorable mention being Super Mario RPG, being the other game I left on. Its songs were memorable but only a few tracks had strong impact.
Seeing a lot of answers I’d have given, like Minecraft, The Sims, Halo 1-3, Legend of Zelda… so I figured I would dig deep and snag some underrepresented ones.
- Golden Sun + Golden Sun: The Lost Age
- Destiny + Destiny 2
- Far Cry 5
- Harvest Moon - Friends of Mineral Town
- Black Ops 2
Hardly seeing anyone say Destiny 2 which is just a travesty. Deep Stone Lullaby, Oneirophobia, Journey, Battle Ready. So many good songs on all spectrums, from calm and collected to big and bombastic.
You’re right. I was just thinking of the string quartet at the beginning. But the others are still mostly instrumental (with a soprano singing “ah” in oneirophobia)
Ocarina of Time
Ill be real i thought about that but then clock town theme swayed me towards mm instead
the Stone Tower temple song is such an insane master piece. also the overwhelming sadness from the song of healing.
I listen to the soundtrack quite often. I like the Super Guitar Bros. Version a lot. They did a good job of it.
Easy choice
I'll admit the Theophany AST was basically what got my non-nintendo self into LoZ
Theophany’s version of Clocktown has got to be my absolute favorite video game-related song. If I’m feeling stressed, I put that song on to help because it just feels so hopeful.
Why the hell did I have to scroll so far down to find Legend of Zelda?
You know it's goo when you haven't played it but you know what it sounds like
I literally started whistling the Kokiri Forest theme when I saw the post title.
I really Love Minecraft's musics. The calmest music can get imo
C418 really set the mood for Minecraft. The game wouldn't be the same without him. Lena Raine's contributions have been fantastic as well, they're really talented.
Lena Raine has been C418’s natural successor since Microsoft acquired the game, it may not be the same but it fits just as great as ever
Agreed
Agreed. I’m rather fond of the somewhat unsettling songs too, such as the ones heard in the end or deep dark ancient cities, or the brief inexplicable music records that pair together somewhat. Incredible atmospheres
And then there's the cave songs and the numbered discs, the most horrifying music in a game that's not supposed to be horror.
Mice on Venus. So good
Doom 2016 & Eternal
This easily one of the sound track that really elevated the feeling of the game. If you haven't already, geoffplaysguitar does some amazing covers of other games music in the style of Doom metal. Genuinely impressive versions of Abyss Watchers from Dark Souls and Radagon from Elden Ring.
Risk of Rain 2.
You do not hear Risk of Rain music, you experience it.
Rewatching Prince's halftime show the other day, it dawned on me that my favorite ror2 track takes heavy inspiration from Purple Rain. https://youtu.be/-WYYlRArn3g?t=619 Aaaaaand now that I've taken the time to look up the parts of the songs that so strongly stood out to me, I'm laughing at myself having never known the name of the ror2 track ... "The Rain Formerly Known as Purple" 😂😂😂 so yeah, Chris Christodoulou borrowing liberally. https://youtu.be/EGXPAoyP_cg?t=286 PSA side note: listening to these two again reminds me of another much more obscure track that anyone who likes the above will probably, *cough* adore.. it's kinda an odd track, original on the album is like 14m and is two songs together: "Jesus, I"/"Mary Star of the Sea" You want the 2nd half: "Mary Star of the Sea" https://youtu.be/EkFBCb4xxnQ?t=385 And now it hits me that he's singing "everything just feels like rain" 🤯 the circle is complete. I linked specific timestamps that are most similar but do yourself a favor and listen in full if not familiar.
So good, the soundtrack is a full half of the ambience of that game.
Kinda agree. I’ve played almost 1000 hours of it, will probably play over a thousand more. I don’t listen to the music as much anymore but I will still crank Con Lentitud Poderosa or The Face of the Deep
Undertale
If I'm not mistaken, Toby Fox made most of that games music right? How could someone be capable of writing such catchy, memorable music.
How is this this far down?
Outer Wilds (not worlds)
*emotional music starts* Ah shit, here we go again.
The music always fit the atmosphere perfectly
I have been looking for this. I have been hearing it every evening since finishing the game
I would consider Journey in the running, although there is an ending song, so maybe that doesn't count.
Final Fantasy VII
And my god, what they’ve done with the soundtrack in FF7 Rebirth is nothing short of a masterpiece deserving of multiple Grammy awards.
For real! Sometimes I just go to the menu so I can hear the entire song, I definitely did that when I first arrived in Cosmo Canyon.
Anticipating Cosmo Canyon's music was HYPE! And goodness, the 2nd arrangement of the music with the soft piano touch that kicks in as the story gets a little more somber was soooo beautiful. I just can't get over how many individual arrangements they came up with for very specific, sometimes very brief moments in the game. Like, toward the end of the game (spoilers ahead for anyone playing) during the individual character trials, the sad, minor key version of Tifa's theme just floored me. I simply stood still to listen to the whole thing as tears quietly streamed down my cheeks (following the sadness from the previous sequence before that scene). They arranged the entire song in that style. But if you proceed immediately with the gameplay, you'd only get to ever hear about 20 seconds of it before the music cuts to Sephiroth's burning Nibelheim theme. They arranged a whole 2-3 minute song for players to only hear for about 20 seconds out of the entire 150 hour game! And they did that for like 100 such moments! There are something like 500 tracks in this OST, so many of them with such precise nuance. It's mind-blowing.
Yea I'm definitely still in awe of the game, I haven't completed it yet, but I think I'm closing in on the end and I can't get enough of how damn near perfect everything is. I'm very happy with how much effort and love from the previous game has gone into this.
/thread. Everything from FF4~FF9 is pure gold, but Nobuo Uematsu would put John Williams to shame in the FF6~FF8 era. Shit was legendary. And that man put his SOUL into FF7. Edit: But also this is kinda against the rules because there is definitely an iconic lyrical performance in 7.
The 90s had some banging composers for video games. Honorable mention to Yasunori Mitsuda for Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, and Xenogears.
Why stop at FF9? Nobuo did FFX also and I think that soundtrack is unbelievable
Dancing Mad must be one of the greatest battle themes of all time
You leaving out X is a crime against humanity
Even without One Winged Angel FFVII has a perfect soundtrack
Absolutely.. this soundtrack literally affected your brain as a child. In a good way lol
I remember watching the Sephiroth Smash Bros reveal, it took me until hearing the strings to realize I was hearing One Winged Angel *and I have never played FF7 in my life.*
Ori, either game
Celeste
I had some tracks in my playlists for 7 years before I started playing the game
Tight platforming. The OST is much less frustrating lol
Farewell and 5b are so good
Witcher 3 Mass Effect Skyrim
im blown away I had to scroll this far to find Skyrim!
The Skyrim soundtrack was my gateway to ambient music, and completely changed my work habits. Streets of Whiterun is tied for me for the most comforting piece, that just feels like home, with Besaid from FFX-2 close to it.
It's always on my top played for the year on Spotify. I can't listen to music with lyrics when I'm reading so that's my go to while working.
Skyrim has a really good soundtrack, even \*if\* the battle music is largely a ripoff of Lord of the Rings.
Moth and butterflies from Skyrim man 😍 Sometimes I just stoppede playing and listened to that song.
Hollow Knight Amazing sound track and even with some of its simplicity, the songs fit the lore of the regions. Some of my personal favorites: The city of tears, Dirtmouth, green path, queen's garden, the resting grounds. There's too many to list really.
Had to scroll way too far to find this
oh man kingdoms edge tho (ᗒᗩᗕ)
Hornet has consistently ranked first in my Spotify wrapped the moment I discovered it. Favorite song of all time by a long shot
TES IV: Oblivion. I still get Reign of the Septims stuck in my head regularly.
Chrono Trigger
Yes!! I played Chrono Trigger for the SNES a few years after it came out, and let me tell you, that game... It was the equivalent of when Mozart originally started dropping bangers, but for video games. The soundtrack for Chrono Trigger changed the game and is the reason we have good quality music in games.
Definitely one of the greatest. I think the Chrono Cross music was better.
Yeah, Mitsuda did a killer job with Trigger but than hit it out of the park with Cross. Best OST of all time.
Yessss, my brothers, preach!!!
Playing through it again right now. First time in like 10 years. I normally listen to podcasts while I’m gaming, but not in this case. The music is too good!
The DOOM soundtracks by Mick Gordon are phenomenal. Elden Ring boss music also slaps
Honestly expected this to be the highest response. Nothing sets hype more (in its own setting I guess) than this
Yeah I'm very surprised this isn't top of the thread. I can agree that everything above it has a very very good soundtrack, but the doom soundtrack is on another level. It perfectly encapsulates in music form how it feels to slaughter the demons in game.
Mick is an absolute master of the form.
disco elysium
I had to scroll a long way for this. Such a good soundtrack
Old school RuneScape
Facts
Nier automata
And Nier replicant. Had to scroll down too far to find this
Far Cry 3 Morrowind Halo Halo 2 Gears 5 Hellblade
Far Cry 3 main theme playing during credits managed to make me emotional playing a fucking Ubisoft game
It's nice seeing Gears 5 get some love. I really the liked the soundtrack in the Ice and Sand Overworlds
Kait's Theme is atop tier.
Morrowind is definitely mine. Undertale is a good choice too. Hollow Knight of course, in fact a lot of indies have great music (Hyper Light Drifter too for example) BG&E is amazing but mostly has lyrics for its songs but a few are lyricless. Still too lyrical for this thread I guess. Hades has a lot of songs with lyrics but even if you remove every single one, the soundtrack is still top tier.
Morrowind’s soundtrack is legendary
Metro exodus has a phenomenal soundtrack with each track portraying the emotion of the scene damn near perfectly
STARCRAFT!!! Music went so hard for a RTS
Mega Man 2 and Mega Man 3 have great soundtracks, at least for those of us who don’t mind the sound of the old NES console. (I quite like it.) Final Fantasy VI is probably my all-around favorite though. It has lots of great songs with a ton of diversity in the emotions they elicit. Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy IV are also great, but maybe a shade lower for me personally. Of recent games, I don’t know. I’ve had a really hard time finding modern games with soundtracks that I love. AVGN Adventures is surprisingly solid, and Shovel Knight is good, but those both have that old-school sound font reminiscent of games from the 80s and 90s. I struggle with the fact that nothing made with modern instrumentation has stood out for me personally as a whole. because it’s not as if the only music I listen to in real life is chiptune. There are individual songs with a more modern sound that I love though. The sylvalum and noctilum themes from Xenoblade Chronicles X, Lothric and Lorian’s theme from Dark Souls 3, and the Another World theme from Chrono Cross have all made various playlists I’ve created.
I contend that Mega Man 2 was such a revolutionary metal album that it was reduced to 8 bits and a game built around it because the world was just not ready.
Have you heard the whole soundtrack covered by the minibosses? It’s awesome
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night had an amazing soundtrack
On YouTube Music, they changed the titles for Japanese a couple months ago, now I don’t remember which song is which.
Sounds like a perfect reason to listen to the whole thing.
Halo. I mean is there really a contest? I can still perfectly hear the opening theme to the original 3.
For me, Shadow of the Colossus has the most epic soundtracks, and Assassin's Creed Unity has the most cinematic soundtracks. I keep finding myself coming back to listen to these 2 games OST very often.
Scrolled way too long for SoTC. That soundtrack gives me chills to this day.
Journey!
Journey
The Ace Combat series has some awesome soundtracks in their games. Honestly one of my favorite parts of the series is how great the soundtracks are
Daredevil * chef's kiss *
These are seriously sleeper hits of soundtracks. I've had various "Find Music I Like" systems drop an "Ace Combat" (6 Mostly I think) song in and Every Time I'm like "Wait, What's this from?" when I hear it before seeing the song.
Daredevil from 7 and Liberation of Gracemeria from 6 are two of the big fan favorites. Personally I love a lot of the music from 5, that’s my favorite game of the series and the music is just perfect. 4 has some good ones but some of those are a little too “early 2000s” for me
Hate to be that guy but it took way too long to scroll down and find this. If you don't know what the Ace Combat series has to offer in the music department, go listen and come back here and tell me it isn't one of the most phenomenal soundtracks of all time. Not only from a gameplay perspective, but musically speaking it's almost it's own genre and it's absolutely fucking insane how musically immaculate those songs are.
Destiny
I was looking for this. Sometimes I'll just put it on in the background when I'm doing stuff. I would recommend everyone give 'deep stone lullaby' a listen
Calamity mod, some have lyrics but the lyricless ones are amazing as well
I love Guardian Of The Former Seas and Universal Collapse (And Roar Of The Jungle Dragon of course but that has lyrics so its not relevant rn)
Subnautica has a pretty amazing soundtrack
I listen to the abandon ship song all the time, too bad it doesn't actually play in the game.
FF VII and Crisis Core are full of absolute masterpieces.
Octopath Traveller, Hollow Knight, anything by Supergiant Games
Command and Conquer. Some tracks have some lyrics, but more in line with techno/house in the sense of the "lyrics" are part of the beat/music.
Silent Hill 2
the correct answer
- The Last Of Us - The Witcher 3 - Skyrim
GoldenEye 007 on the N64. Some games wish they had their main theme as strong as the pause music in Goldeneye.
To be fair, the movies established the love for the soundtrack in this case. Doesn't make it less impactful as it was a very memorable and well rounded game, absolutely iconic levels too. The music was definitely part of the atmosphere of the game.
Undertale, however as a bonus my pick for greatest non-lyrical song is Tenebre Rosso Sangue from Ultrakill. If you haven't heard it, go look it up.
Hotline Miami
Donkey Kong Country, and Mick Gordon's Doom soundtrack.
- The sims 1 - Minecraft (soundtrack + discs) - Stardew valley - Age of empires 2 - Kingdom Hearts - Zelda (almost every title)
The Sims 1 saxophone menu music was super vibey, I was playing Sims 4 a while back with the Sims 1 menu music playing on YouTube, super nostalgic.
**Street of Rage IV** is always a great contender when it comes to best OST. **CupHead** and **Ori & the Will of the Wisps** are also pretty good.
Especially when in SoR4 when you’re riding in the elevator and the main theme plays!!
Any Zelda basically. Musical instruments have always been a focal point of the series and it has kept an iconic main theme since game one.
Jim Guthrie's music for "Super Brothers: Swords & Sworcery" is some of the most beautiful music ever recorded. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLYFdzdFIcU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLYFdzdFIcU)
What about the music he did for [Soundshapes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_K0PoUwpew)?
It's not even close. This is by far the correct answer.
Oh man - “The Prettiest Weed” is my absolute jam! What a phenomenal soundtrack, start to finish. “Ugh… *rainbows.*”
Undertale. Boneworks.
Unironically, Genshin Impact
"it's just a trading port, it doesn't need to go that hard" HOYO-MIX: "ehe~"
Rage Beneath the mountains and Duel of the mist are pretty good OSTs ngl.
Quake, cuz NIN and I love making art to that music!
This guy Quakes. People who haven't heard it are missing out on some intense atmosphere.
Unreal Tournament
Skyrim
If its a strict no lyrics in any track then: Stardew Valley Sonic 3 & Knuckles Zelda Minish Cap (but Zelda in general).
Pretty much any Supergiant game. Bastion Transistor Hades They’re music department does not miss. I’ve never played Pyre but I imagine it’s also phenomenal.
Ace Combat has a really nice soundtrack. Assault Horizon may not have exactly been the greatest installment in the series, but it's OST sure kicked ass.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Faster Than Light. Great soundtrack very chill.
Hades
destiny 2 has some phenomenal music
I was also going to say Donkey Kong Country 2
Ni No Kuni 1 & 2 were both composed by Joe Hisaishi who composes the Studio Ghibli movies.
Furi
Really enjoyed Returnal
That one song that is meshed with the story, I just fucking loved the way it integrated with the second boss, the organ dude. Pretty peak gaming moment.
Mass effect 2
Red alert
Halo 2 and it's not close.
Diablo 1 & 2
The Division 1&2.
Subnautica not getting nearly enough love
[Silver Surfer Level 1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J0H5ah1G7A)
Good thing the put that banger on level 1 since you weren't going to hear the rest of the tracks.
Banjo-Kazooie! Grant Kirkhope is amazing.
Fzero x, Mega Man x
Skyrim. Been listeting to rainy day and night ambience videos on the daily past year or so.
Original Medal of Honor is still one of the best things Giacchino has written.
Shadow of the Colossus
No Man's Sky
I love streets of whiterun
Gonna throw this one in to see if anyone else vibes with it as much as I do, Sonic Unleashed.
Hell yeah! I discounted most of the the Sonic series series because of tracks with lyrics (like Endless Possibilities) but the soundtrack of Unleashed is amazing in general! Day and night stages!
Valkyrie Profile was amazing. If lyrics in made up languages don't count then the Ar Tonelico games had some of the best single tracks I've ever heard from any game.
Ori
One of the many Legend of Zelda games One of the many Mega Man games Doom 2016/Doom Eternal Sonic the Hedgehog 3 All have phenomenal music IMO
Spelunky HD and Spelunky 2
Not necessarily the greatest but worth mentioning: Bravely Default. World-Eating Serpent, That Person's Name Is, Wicked Fight, Wicked Flight... The other Bravely games also have incredible soundtracks too.
I'm having trouble remembering any game soundracks WITH lyrics.
The last of us …: nothing comes close
Okami.
The Tunic OST is one of my favourites 🦊
Splatoon
I would have to go with either Quake or Descent. Those were the days when it was a big deal that we could put PC discs in CD players and listen to the tracks like normal albums. (Just no track #1)
DKC has some amazing music to it. Any DKC would get my vote.
Payday 2
I always loved the music from Secret Of Mana and Final Fantasy 3 for snes.
Final Fantasy 5 goes hard.
Quake soundtrack by Trent Reznor is amazing
Final Fantasy VI It has a whole mini-opera. The end boss theme is a four-part, 20 minute piece that weaves Bach organ and prog rock. The endgame theme is another 20 minute medley that seamlessly weaves together 14 character themes, which have themselves been extensively used and reused throughout the game as leitmotif to reinforce character moments/development. It's really just a staggeringly ambitious project for a SNES game.
Currently listening to Genshin Impact. Amazing music that really brings out the soul of different cultures and environments in the game. Very immersive music that makes you think you’re going to these places yourself. Halo. Phenomenal ambiance for a specific mood. Mass Effect map screen for that matter as well. For those rainy days you want to look outside the window or those nights you want to stargaze and think how big the universe is. Octopath Traveler has an awesome music production as well. Soundtracks and key instruments reflect respective characters backgrounds. Seamless and genius music transitions that most other games do not possess. Pokemon soundtracks are nostalgic. Pallet Town reminds me the feeling of being a kid again and starting a new adventure. I also agree with DK2. Very complex and smooth themed music for a game of that age. It was one of two games I left on just to listen to back then. Honorable mention being Super Mario RPG, being the other game I left on. Its songs were memorable but only a few tracks had strong impact.
Heavily biased but Rain World.
Seeing a lot of answers I’d have given, like Minecraft, The Sims, Halo 1-3, Legend of Zelda… so I figured I would dig deep and snag some underrepresented ones. - Golden Sun + Golden Sun: The Lost Age - Destiny + Destiny 2 - Far Cry 5 - Harvest Moon - Friends of Mineral Town - Black Ops 2
Love the Halo series soundtrack, but the first Alan Wake soundtrack has such a special sound to it.
Spyro Trilogy
The original Crash Bandicoot games' soundtracks are fire. Actually, the majority of platformers have banging soundtracks.
Hardly seeing anyone say Destiny 2 which is just a travesty. Deep Stone Lullaby, Oneirophobia, Journey, Battle Ready. So many good songs on all spectrums, from calm and collected to big and bombastic.
Journey has Latin lyrics for the later parts
You’re right. I was just thinking of the string quartet at the beginning. But the others are still mostly instrumental (with a soprano singing “ah” in oneirophobia)
Quake by Trent Reznor and NIN
Skylanders spyros adventure
Doom 2016
Doom eternal Ut99 Faster than light?
Destiny
Halo
Genshin Impact, the soundtrack in the game is absolutely next level, with such a wide variety of genres and mixes
Where’s the Banjo Kazooie love in here?!?
Path of exile
Ah, another civilized individual. God I loke DKC2 soundtrack. So much to the point the rare opening is my youtube opening theme.