I’ve started recognizing when a section of a game feels baller, but it’s 99% because of the soundtrack. They can have the most generic basis for an emotional scene, and then as long as the music nails the mood it could be just blocks on a screen.

Final Fantasy XIV has had awe-inspiring tracks for the finales of each expansion since Shadowbringers; pretty much starting at the final zone through the final dungeon and trial.

Ace Attorney always gets it with its confrontation tracks; it could just be two people arguing in a hallway and it turns the battle of words into the most epic thing.

I’ll also give a shout out to Ori and the Blind Forest / Will of the Wisps. For both of those, it’s not just a few banger tracks for the exciting moments; even the downtime tracks are so memorable.

The Sims 2

No game will ever have a better soundtrack than Halo 3

Mechanicus and

Ixion

Both games came out fairly recent and have OSTs by Guillaume David. They are both good games on their own, but get great due to the OST.

You can check tehm out here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLsX9WUdYnU&list=PLnSG0OA5vYnTLQ77f5EmLoW52vIX5jAAK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhTXyUERugQ&list=PLLIWYDpOq7WJYefSkcfYujE5JaLmB0Ezf

secret tip: Fez

Minecraft

Nier Automata

Subnautica

Sly cooper 1, crash twinsanity, Witcher 3, Banjo-Kazooie, Hi-Fi Rush, Nier Automata

• FTL Multiverse (Kix et. al.)
• Touhou
• Supergiant Games
• Blue Archive
• Minecraft

I've been listening to alot of Amateur composers like Boris Harazanov, Baltic House Orchestra, Mathias Fritsch and Filip Lakovic.

To The Moon

I have played that game five times (so I could share the experience with other people) and have broken down into tears at the end every time.

Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2

Hard pick because I listen to a game or series for a while, then another. Just today I went and listened to a lot of Sonic tracks, which I do once every few months. I guess Atlus games (SMT, Persona, EO), Metal Gear Rising, Ace Attorney, TWEWY are in the lead off the top of my head, but after a month I might give a different answer. My relaxing music playlist is mostly the official classical arrangements of Etrian Odyssey 1+2, so let's go with that.

The old Deus Ex and Endless Space are the ones I listen to the most.

Nier Automata, Cyberpunk, System Shock 2, GTA Vice City, Doom 2016 (I cannot listen to Eternals soundtrack knowing how Mick Gordon got ripped off there)

The Neverhood

Is 2016 old enough now?
The DOOM 2016 soundtrack fucking rips.

Let's try and keep it below ~~10~~ 11 entries:

• Disco Elysium
• Outer Wilds
• Hollow Knight
• Shadow of the Colossus + Ico
• Pyre (+all other Supergiant games)
• Valkyrie Profile
• Banner Saga trilogy
• Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
• Chrono Trigger + Cross
• Eastshade

Honestly nowadays so many games have great soundtracks, it is a joy to behold! Makes it harder to chose favorites though...

I listen to Stellaris OST a lot these days. Turns out that good music to plan galactic domination is also good music to design and build software.

Don’t really play the game much anymore though. That was one of my main pandemic games.

Bastion, Beyond Good & Evil, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, Mirror's Edge.

and Hades, although I refuse to call it a "patient gamer" game

Nier Automata. The entire discograpy

Ones I haven't seen in this thread yet:

Cuphead, Cave Story, Celeste, Dredge, Furi, Katamari Damacy (and others in the series), Peggle, Super Mario Galaxy

All you young'uns and your fancy moderns music.

Nothing beats Gone Jackals songs in Full Throttle.

https://youtu.be/Dih7toPsows?si=wENFI_wtzVJstjHG&t=110

Deus Ex and System Shock 2

• Shovel Knight
• Chrono Trigger
• Unreal Tournament 99
• Quake II

Unreal Tournament 2004 is my favorite OST by number of tracks that I love. It has several absolute banger tracks, like Morpheus3, Hyperblast-Redux, Convoy, Atlantis and Level11. I often keep a number of those tracks on my playlists.

Although I don't like the game itself much (I suck at it), Cloudbuilt also has some awesome tracks, my personal favorite is Aurora. The guitar chords at the apex is just heavenly.

Rebel Galaxy has some very nice stuff to feel like a 'merican space cowboy, it's mostly licensed music as far as i can tell.

Assault Android Cactus usually gets your blood pumping hard, which is great because the game is a pretty fun twin-stick arena. The tracks Assault and Licorice are just 👨‍🍳😙👌

... Come to think of it, looking at my list, I'm a real sucker for sci-fi OSTs, huh. I do want to make honorable mentions to Mass Effect (mostly 2), Skyrim and Smash Bros. Ultimate

• Halo Combat Evolved
• Mirror's Edge
• Sim City 3000
• The Sims
• The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time
• Fez
• Flatout 2
• Jet Set Radio
• Sword and Sorcery LP

• Rome Total War
• Anno 1602
• Stronghold

I suspect I'm driven by nostalgia and by literally hundreds of hours of repeat exposure.

Minecraft (incl. Wynncraft)

Homeworld and Hotline Miami are my two favorites!

All of Persona OSTs, if i had to pick one it would be 5, but all of them have songs on my playlist that i hear to this day.

I also love Devil May Cry OSTs, i heard bury the light on repeat for months

Bit dated, but at the time Descent II’s Redbook sountrack was pretty good for ‘96.

• Chrono Trigger
• Undertale/Deltarune
• The World Ends With You
• Jet Set Radio
• Them's Fightin' Herds
• F-Zero GX
• VVVVVV
• CrossCode
• Crypt of the Necrodancer
• Shatter

Bungie-era Halo has the best OST in the industry hands down, though recently Lunacid let me hear some certified bangers; someone here mentioned B:G&E, and I second that opinion although I wouldn't have thought of it myself.

FTL

SimCity 4 ❤️