Personally, I’m a huge fan of Hollow Knight, Ori and the (Blind Forest/Will of the Wisps), and Kingdom Hearts. Orchestral soundtracks are just something else…
NieR: Automata
The Weight of the World
Japanese version!! Like dang the emotion the singer carried into the song and the director allowed it to go official. It bring tears to my old soul more than the story itself.
For focused work: Shenzhen IO Exapunks Opus Magnum Into the Breach Firewatch IXION
Other: Blue Archive Symphony 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim Branched Remix Minecraft Stardew Valley Spelunky Helltaker Kirby
Indie games in general have great OSTs, MGS:R and Persona (and SMT in general) are obvious popular picks.
The World Ends With You is less mainstream (with one of the few gripes being the lack of boss-specific themes, at least in the DS original I played - but it makes up with the diverse overworld and normal battle themes), as is Etrian Odyssey.
I think orchestra is mixed, it’s either the best fucking tracks ever (often when mixed with electric guitar or other modern instruments, but not necessarily), or they kind of blend with other orchestral tracks I know and don’t end up being unique enough to remember.
The World Ends With you has amazing OST, thanks for reminding me!
The world needs more TWEWY and Etrian Odyssey love. Great picks.
TWEWY is grossly underrated in general, but when it comes to the OST, that’s doubly true.
Make’s me wonder what they were thinking when they made the anime that was so sparse, even void at times, of all this amazing music they had to work with.
Eh, on one hand it’s overrated when people keep saying “it’s a better Persona, those fans just don’t play anything except Persona 5”, I think that’s stupid. TWEWY genuinely has a lot of flaws. A slightly too fast endgame, the second screen, etc.
But for me the gameplay is just so goddamn fun and well designed (making your own set of attacks, combining input methods, all the risk vs reward difficulty systems), and it has a few really good ideas that make me want to recommend it to anyone. I imagine you can beat the game in like, 10 hours on Easy without optional fights too, so, it’s not a big time investment. (Though actually getting the game is difficult. Switch I heard sucks at controls, phone version doesn’t seem to work on new ones, emulating the DS probably sucks too)
In fact, I thought the OST would be the overrated thing, since its style might not be for everyone.
Chris Christodoulou killed it with the Risk of Rain 2 soundtrack, personal favorite is The Rain Formally Known as Purple
Far too many to list, but Final Fantasy IX’s soundtrack is a tremendous work of art, and a perfect final bow for Nobuo Uematsu from the series. It’s always stuck with me among nearly ever other soundtrack.
Notable Mentions (in no order):
- Sonic 2 and 3&K
- Hotline Miami 1 & 2
- Street Fighter 2
- Nier Automata
- Castlevania (Whole Damn Series)
- Donkey Kong Country & 2
- Doom I & II
- Undertale
- Freedom Planet
- Golden Sun 1 & 2
- Hollow Knight
- Skyrim
- Kirby Series
- Mario Series
- MegaMan 2 & 3 (Shout-out to The Megas)
- Super Meat Boy
And so many others, but I’ll be here all day if I keep going.
There are so many good game soundtracks listed in this tread!
Here are some of my favorites:
- Chrono Trigger
- Diablo II
- Elden Ring
- Final Fantasy <insert number> (and pretty much anything by Nobuo Uematsu)
- Hades (and all of the Supergiant Games soundtracks)
- NieR: Automata
- Witcher III
I am wondering why this hasn’t been said more often, but Undertale! Also, the super smash series always had great osts too> Undertale
I really vibe with Minecraft. The nostalgia just hits different when I listen to it.
Undertale is my #1. Bully is my #2.
I have so many favorites, Ori soundtracks are amazing, Kingdom Hearts, Genshin Impact, Minecraft For more lighthearted yet genius silliness though: Part Time UFO
Not really a game but a visual Novel everyone needs to read and listen to: Umineko
I never realized that Minecraft used an outside musician for their songs. I always thought it was in house until one night my wife was listening to one of her sleepy time playlists and it suddenly started playing a Minecraft song. I asked why she was listening to Minecraft and she had no idea what I was talking about since she had never played the game. I checked her phone and sure enough it was on the artist’s album and not on a Minecraft one.
All-timer has to go to Chrono Trigger. Absolutely incredible soundtrack from start to finish.
Genshin OST, especially Sumeru, Absolutely slaps
Halo (of course), Deus Ex, Cyberpunk 2077, Doom, Elder Scrolls, the Sega Genesis Sonic games, Psychonauts, Super Mario, Mirror’s Edge, hell, I never really thought about it before but there is a lot of good stuff out there.
It’s undertale for me. What a magical soundtrack that is.
- Nanashi no Game
- Soma Bringer (only one song linked, there was no playlist available)
- Final Fantasy XIV
- The Last Guardian
FFXIV and Nanashi are notable as they’re by the same composer (latter game was done under a pseudonym) and even happen to share at least one song, in some form.
Soma Bringer has the most beautiful music of this list.
Last Guardian has the most inspiring music.