Nier Automata, the parts with choral music sent chills down my spine. Reminded me of the intro theme to Ghost in the Shell (1995), where they mixed Japanese wedding chorals with percussion.
The strength of Night in the Woods’s music is spoken to by the number of truly excellent covers of the songs from its Guitar-Hero-style minigames:
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Nomination: Hover: Revolt of Gamers
I’m not going to say anything good about this game. I haven’t even played it. I just know that the title is bad and that it tried to be a new Jet Set Radio and, well, the result didn’t look like it was for me.
But let me tell you about the most criminally underrepresented and underappreciated composer in video games: Hideki Naganuma. You’ll know his work from Jet Set Radio, Jet Set Radio Future, and, if you’re cool, Sonic Rush, but he doesn’t actually compose that much music for the industry. In the last 5 years, he has composed only 3 songs in games that have came out in North America. One song in Yakuza 5, and the other two in this game. For someone who is in love with his style of fun electronic music, that is heartbreaking, but hearing these two hot bangers from a video game I otherwise know very little about is enough for me to nominate it for best soundtrack.
And if the evidence presented isn’t enough to convince you, then I don’t know. I feel bad that you can’t experience joy.
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"CUPHEEEAAAD!"
And just like that Inkwell Isle’s overworld theme bounces through my ears, the memory of a job well done still firmly embedded in my psyche. This game is a strong contender in a lot of categories, but for me Game Music is its main strength.
So dig this: Every piece of music in Cuphead works double duty as a musical composition and mechanical game element which informs the player about a given stage. It could be fast tempo which indicates fast platforming is necessary to survive, multiple instrumental phrases which foreshadow future challenges within a level (listen here for the train track-like piano part which warns about the rollercoaster before it starts its cycle), or something like King Dice’s amazing song which literally tells the player what they need to do in order to progress through his Die House. The songs contribute to the emotion of the moment or scene and alter how the player interacts with the game.
Cuphead’s soundtrack succeeds in a way that could easily change how we think about music in games. It’s not just great music. It’s great Game Music.
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I nominate Dujanah. I’m only just starting to dip into this game but it’s become immediately apparent that the music is extremely good and a lot of it will probably make it into my day to day rotation (which is extremely rare for game music).
I’d recommend everybody check out the soundtrack, it has a ton of good and very varied stuff on there. While I realize it is extremely unlikely to win I think it should absolutely should make it through the nomination process.
Also I’m happy to see @DonutSecret nominating Splatoon 2, that soundtrack is way more interesting than you would expect and it deserves some love.
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I just bought this earlier today on look alone. Didn’t know it was also notable for music, even more excited now!
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Pyre also wins this one as well for me. Night In The Woods comes close and Destiny 2 warrants a mention but not much else stands out this year
Aside from the glorious end credits song from Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus obviously
Sonic Forces yeah whats up discourse dot zone
Fist Bump is the best main theme the series has had in many years, obviously, but the individual level soundtracks also has some absolute bangers. And the boss music also is extremely good, even when it’s dumb.
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Nomination: NieR: Automata is my top choice for this category for sure.
But there are a lot of strong contenders this year. Persona 5, Cuphead, etc. One game in particular I feel has been left out in this thread is Yakuza 0.
It’s got some really hype boss themes:
As well as killer fake 80s disco:
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Seconded for Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
The music is sparse, but it reminds me a ton of Minecraft Alpha when the music tracks would just appear to give you such a somber feeling of a lonely world.
In BotW, all it takes is a few notes in the wind to bring you into the world with an outlook of an adventurer looking for the next small comfort to find. The music will become a jolt as the tension with the monsters and demons run high, but also makes sure to reward you with a flourish as those climax ends in your victory.
Seconding Night In The Woods.
Lots of good music this year, and Mario Odyssey is a close second… but I think Night in the Woods nailed the best feeling that the music was made for the game, part of the world, all that.
Splatoon 2
I remember driving down my street listening to the new Lil B mixtape black Ken and it had that grunting noise common to many Splatoon 2 songs. It instantly made me think about what it would be like to be inking the street and swimming through the streets of my city. As a game to be able to create a distinct sound that can evoke emotion when heard in other music is something I have never experienced in my life before now. Also I love the music on its own just as something to listen to and enjoy
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I’m seconding Sonic Mania
The music in that game is amazing. Not only are there original tracks that feel like they were made by someone who really understood what a classic Sonic game should sound like they were also able to then remix older tracks in a way that feels fresh.
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I will absolutely second Dujanah.
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This year I’ve just started out with becoming a part time freelance game composer, the first step in a lifelong dream borne out of my love of video game music since way back in the NES days.
I have a lot of favourite game soundtracks. Music, for me can forgive a lot of other flaws a game has. It’s something I think about a lot.
So it’s not lightly that I say that I think NieR: Automata is probably in my top 5 game soundtracks of all time.
So Let Us Melt
Jessica Curry is a godsend. The combination of choir, orchestral strings, and electronic patterns on this soundtrack give me goosebumps every time.
So this is a hard sell if you haven’t played it. But Doki Doki Literature Club the music, which is just basically one song, is a character. The song’s arrangement changes depending on what is happening in the game, it goes from cute, to powerful, to deeply disturbing ending in a bittersweet melancholy.
Of all the music this year, its the one I keep thinking of constantly, I haven’t managed to hear the last version of the song without crying yet.
I second Splatoon 2 (Nintendo Switch)
It’s rare that I’ll want to listen to music from a game outside from the game itself. Splatoon 2 was that game for me this year.
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Nice! I hope it showing up in the voting stage will get it some more attention. It’s quite the thing.
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Persona 5, surprise surprise.
I went back to listen to the full OSTs for P4 and P5 just to make myself certain of this opinion: P5 has a better soundtrack than P4, and therefore probably the best game soundtrack ever.
