You are going through an abandoned city, devoid of human life, surrounded only by grass-filled, run-down buildings and silence. Suddenly, you hear string instruments building up the tension, just like in scary movies, alerting you that something is near. When you turn around, zombies are coming your way! The music picks up, and you know you’ll have to engage in battle. This is the magic that composers bring to video games.
Video games wouldn’t be the same without music, just like in movies. Some people can even recognize musical compositions from video games they have never played before because of the impact of the songs inserted in the games. This is why there are annual music awards— like the Annual Games Music Awards—to celebrate different musical compositions that have gained recognition due to their amazing soundtracks that bring video games to life.
- Chrono Cross – “The Scars of Time” (1999)
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Chrono Chross is the continuation of the Chrono series, which includes Chrono Trigger and Radical Dreamers. In summary, the Chrono series tackles the premise of a time travel story throughout several role-playing games. Japanese composer Yasunori Mitsuda put together Chrono Cross’s soundtrack.
The soundtrack album was released in 1999 by DigiCube, and later, re-released by video game publisher Square Enix, which eventually became the winner of the Gold Prize at the PlayStation Awards of 2000. I’ll be focusing on the opening song, which is also known as the main theme of Chrono Cross, titled “The Scars of Time.”
Mitsuda’s inspiration comes from the Mediterranean, Fado, Celtic, and some African music that can be clearly heard in the opening song. At the start, the song begins very serenely with mainly a guitar and a flute, creating an atmosphere where you become immersed in medieval music. The song later builds up with string instruments into a more fast-paced composition, where it takes the listener to a world where one can usually imagine gypsies dancing to the percussion and string instruments. This mix makes the song memorable. The great story-telling and other musical themes explored throughout the video game help too!
- The Last of Us – “The Last of Us” Theme Song (2013)
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Released in 2013 and winner of the BAFTA Games Award for Audio Achievement, the action-survival horror video game The Last of Us made a very epic entrance. It was developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. This is one of my all-time favorite video games in terms of story, voice acting, and music, which helped it win the Game of the Year Award.
The main composer for this game’s soundtrack was Argentine musician Gustavo Santaolalla. The main theme, as well as other songs in the game, feature the guitar as the main instrument. The goal of Santaolalla was not to make scary compositions, if not emotional ones that add to the quality of the story-making process. The main theme gives off a Western-cowboy style of music, but is still unique to the video game, beginning with the guitar as the melody and building up with a mix of other percussion instruments along with the song.
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – “Sword of Destiny” (2015)
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Winner of the Game and Audio of the Year Awards, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt became very popular in the video game industry. Developed and published by CD Projekt, polish musical director Marcin Przybyłowicz was the composer for The Witcher 3’s soundtrack, emphasizing the cinematic experience within its sound.
Przybyłowicz commented in a GameSpot interview, “The theme music was recorded by the Brandenburg State Orchestra in Frankfurt and directed by Bernud Ruf.” They worked with folk musician experts that know which instruments have the feel of folk music and should be featured in the soundtrack to contribute to the main style of the game. The instruments that are heard in “Sword of Destiny,” the theme song of ‘’The Witcher 3’’, can be recognized as “sections of the lute, the hurdy-gurdy, the renaissance fiddle, and the bowled gusli.” The vocals of women singing in the soundtracks play a major role in the production of the folkloric style in the music. It is with the vocals that “Sword of Destiny” begins, with the instruments adding up while the song continues to provide an impressive and epic cinematic experience for the listeners.
- Tales of Zestiria – “White Light” (2015)
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Tales of Zestiria is part of the Tales Series, just as Chrono Cross is part of the Chrono series. Winner of the Platinum award from Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu, the opening song, also known as “White Light,” of this role-playing game (RPG) is so hyped up. The game was developed by Bandai Namco Studios and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment.
Just when you start up the game in your console, the screen bombards you with electric guitars and drums to kick off the video game experience of this RPG. The song is originally performed by a Japanese rock act, Superfly, with vocalist Shiho Ochi and former guitarist Kōichi Tabo. In contrast with the game in itself, instead of Shiho Ochi singing the song, the melody is replaced with an electric guitar guiding it throughout the whole theme, which makes the video game opening even more epic than with the vocals.
- Horizon Zero Dawn – “Aloy’s Theme” (2017)
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Horizon Zero Dawn, the action role-playing game of 2017 developed by Guerilla Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, is the winner of the BAFTA Game Awards for Best Music.
“Aloy’s Theme” in particular is one of the best compositions in the video game’s soundtrack. The three main composers of the album were Joris de Man, The Flight, and Niels van der Leest, but the composer that mainly took care of “Aloy’s Theme” was Joris de Man. He searched for “a voice that conveyed the right mix of ‘’gentle strength and fragility” for the song, and that’s how he found German singer Julie Elven.
Julie Elven sings the main melody of “Aloy’s Theme” accompanied by instrumentals that you would find in a native or tribe kind of styling, signaling nature in the beginning, afterward joined in by string instruments for a more cinematic experience. This combination is what hints at the nature-walked adventure path that the protagonist of the video game, Aloy, has to follow to fulfill her goal in a machine world. It’s so impressive how for other themes and motifs in the game, the composers had to include invented instruments specifically for the game to provide real foreign sounds that can only be found inside Aloy’s world.
It’s jaw-dropping how composers, musicians, artists, and musical directors combine their forces to create unique music for video games around the world. There are still many video games with epic soundtracks that are not listed here, but I’ll leave that up to you to research and enjoy the magnificent experience of well-made compositions. Here are the mentions of the 2019 Annual Games Music Awards:
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Best Score — Traditional / Acoustic: Ghost Giant (Zoink Games)
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Best Score — Orchestral / Cinematic: Monster Hunter World: Iceborne
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Best Score — Rock / Electronic / Hybrid: Oninaki
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Best Score — Chiptune / Retro: River City Girls
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Best Score — Western Localisation: Caravan Stories
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Best Score — Fan Favorite: Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers
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Best Score — Writers’ Choice: Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers