I may have got music confused with audio experience in the other thread but I’d nominate Destiny 2 for best music as well as best audio experience, because those guns sound great.
I thought the game would lose something with the departure of Marty O’Donnell, but Michael Salvatori keeps the flame burning like a true lord of Iron. There is so much good music in Destiny 2, from the orchestral score to the weirder electronic elements.
My favourite is probably journey. Arguably the game never really makes you feel truly powerless in the face of the destruction at the start of the game, but as you ramble through the mountains to this lonely piece it does feel that you’ve lost something.
I really love the music of Nessus.
The new Tower music has become my happy place too.
Really surprised it hasn’t been nominated yet, actually. One of Hollow Knight’s many strengths is its atmosphere—the weariness tinged with little fragments of light and beauty that permeate its dying world—and its music is an essential part of that. Each area theme contributes just as much to that area’s character as the game’s art and visual design, from the hauntingly beautiful music in the City of Tears to the driving beat in Crystal Peak to the warm melody of the Queen’s Gardens. And the boss themes double down on that commitment to atmosphere, like the string orchestra that mirrors the fast, driving tension in the Mantis Lords fight and slow-burning combat in the Broken Vessel battle. Not only is the soundtrack great even in a vacuum, but it’s an integral part of the game’s storytelling.
I would nominate Nier: Automata but since that has been said numerous times over (well deserved!!)
So I’ll throw in a vote for Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, the way the various metal songs lend themselves to the epic boss fights is really great and gets you pumped to run shotgun first into some Nazi’s, it evokes some of the same pounding battle music that gave Doom’16 such spirit and ferocity.
I guess it kind of depends on how much you like heavy metal, but I think it really helps bring some life to those gun fights and action sequences.
I dunno if anybody else will go on this ride with me, but since Nier and Persona have their nominations I’m gonna change my contribution and throw in the happiest soundtrack of 2017, Atelier Firis: The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey
This is the only soundtrack I’ve gone out of my way to find so that I can listen to outside of the game world. I have described it as “coming home.” Whenever I listen to it I am happy remembering the places and times I had in the game.
My top nominations would normally go to Nier or Persona, which are two of my favorite soundtracks of all time, but those have enough people coming up to bat for them. The only other soundtrack I bought this year was Destiny 2, mostly after hearing Journey (which I totally agree has this incredible effect in the context of that mission).
One of my (spoilery) favorite thing about the soundtrack is the switch in social space theme. The first track is melancholy and haunting with a bit of positivity. But when the game ends and you get dropped in the new Tower, you hear this track and it does such a good job of conveying the hope you feel in that moment. I still love listening to it every time I’m there.
Hey, Waypointeers! There’s only seven more days left on nominations! The mod team are gearing up for Phase 2 of The GILM Awards, so we can let y’all decide what the Waypoint Community felt were their favourite works of 2017. We know a few people are wrestling about their nominations, so this is just a reminder to get yours in before the deadline hits — we’re not taking late submissions!
On that note, there’s a few items that have only been nominated once so far. If you feel strongly about any of these making it to our final poll, they need a second nomination before Phase 1 closes.
Rakuen
Hover: Revolt of Gamers
Sonic Forces
So Let Us Melt
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
ARMS
Gravity Rush 2
The Norwood Suite
Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus
Atelier Firis: The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey
Nomination: Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
Maybe it’s all for naught at this point, but I found myself very affected by this game’s soundtrack basically from the title screen. That’s this one, on endless loop:
I only just started playing this game about a week ago, but a combination of the story (which seems fairly effective and sentimental up to this point) and personal life developments (finishing student teaching) have already pushed this game, with music in tow, towards the top of my year end list. A couple other good cuts:
Partly because I haven’t played too much stuff that released this year, and partly because I have a thing for vocaloid music, I’ll nominate Hatsune Miku Future Tone as my favorite game music. 200+ tracks of sweet vocaloid goodness? Yes please!
Completely forgot to nominate something here. I’m gonna go with Ruiner. It’s got some really heavy, unsettling, hypnotic, industrial electronic music and I haven’t been so pumped to commit heavily stylized violence since Hotline Miami.
I will second Prey. Mick Gordon’s been putting in work these past couple of years. Wolfenstein 2’s soundtrack was also composed by him and has a killer menu theme, but I found the OST for Prey stuck with me longer. It hits on a lot of different aesthetics, going from very synth-y sci fi beats one second to very moody acoustic guitars the next, and it somehow worked. As previously mentioned, the highlight of the game is definitely Semi Sacred Geometry, which is found in a combat encounter that has you fighting off monsters while the song roars in the background. It’s real good.
I also want to take a minute to give a mention to Daniel Licht’s work on the Dishonored series. Licht sadly passed away this year and his contribution to Dishonored will be sorely missed. He composed for the newest game, Death of the Outsider, as well as all the previous games going as far back as 2012. Which each entry he was able to create scores that helped define the world of Dishonored and make it all the more memorable. I can’t think of those games without hearing his music. There was nothing quite like it.
Cosmo D’s The Norwood Suite has a soundtrack that’s so good that I listen to it during work. It’s even more incredible when it’s put in the surreal sonic spaces found in the game.
