Good game soundtracks?
Good game soundtracks?
I've been looking for some more instrumental music to listen to while working, besides putting FF and Stardew on loop.
Obligatory Nier series music mention.
Surprised to not see FTL mentioned yet.
I'm loving the track Balatro has too. I wish that game had more music like the one song it has.
The Dustforce OST maybe? https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBB4108C5CB4E1DD6
Terraria.
Super Meat Boy - Ballad of the burning squirrel
Super Meat Boy - Forest Funk
Super Meat Boy - Betus Blues
The composer for Super Meat Boy has done lots of great tracks for Binding of Isaac and Crypt of the Necrodancer too (Danny Baranowsky)
Enter the Gungeon - Abbey or Die
Enter the Gungeon - Behold the Boss Eater
Enter the Gungeon - Boss Battle Beating
Metal Gear solid theme
Nine Sols - Collage
Hades soundtrack (all of it) + if you search for the composer (Darren Korb) then you'll find loads more great soundtracks he's done (notably for Bastion).
Hollow Knight soundtrack (all of it + the piano cover version)
Street Fighter 6 - Viator (theme for Ryu + there's a real cool metal cover that is on YouTube by an indie metal band)
Wipeout HD soundtrack (all of it)
Super Hexagon (all 3 tracks)
Hotline Miami soundtrack
Dead Cells
Lots of people have rightly mentioned FTL
Frank Kelpacki has done tons of great soundtracks across the whole Command and Conquer series and it's worth searching through.
If you're into chip tunes, then it is also worth checking out Streets of Rage 2 soundtrack.
In case you haven't noticed, I'm really into video game instrumentals. If anyone else is interested, there's a great podcast called Sound of Gaming by BBC radio 3 that is worth going through the back catalogue of episodes.
Pokémon music. Especially the route themes and battle themes. If I had to list the bangers it would take hours
Maybe try soundtrack from Celeste, Transistor, Gris
The Return of the Obra Dinn! Fantastic OST (maritime/sea shanty inspired) and a truly unique game too. https://youtu.be/8qvdAWLcPyU
Persona 5. I have p4 tracks also.
I can provide some examples if you are looking for something specific but to list some games that haven't been mentioned yet, there's:
The Touhou games along with the remixes/covers and fan games like the two "Touhouvania" games.
Most of the Castlevania games.
Most of the Sonic games and fan games like Sonic After the Sequel and SRB2.
And to go with something really obscure, Chaos Legion.
Hardspace: Shipbreaker has a beautiful ambient folk vibe:
- NieR Series
- Outer Wilds
- Gris
- Death's Door
- A Plague Tale: Innocence
- Kingdom: Two Crowns
Gothic 2! Full soundtrack, or a compilation of just ambient tracks
Mass Effect 2 and 3 might have what you’re looking for.
Baldur’s Gate 3 as well.
oh man i have a spotify folder full of playlists, including
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talos principle
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sherlock holmes chapter one
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deadbolt
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murder by numbers
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baldurs gate 3
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witcher 3
but it's missing metroid prime (esp. chozo ruins and phendrana drifts) and professor layton (any of the puzzle themes).
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I'm a sucker for a cello. When I'm testing new audio equipment I put on Austin Wintory's soundtrack to Journey. So, so beautiful.
TUNIC. I also highly recommend the game, it's in my top 5.
Any of Marty O'Donnell's Halo soundtracks
I've been playing so many soundtracks for my background music at work. Of course, nostalgia makes some songs slap harder than they deserve to, so your results may vary, but some of my favorites have been:
Mega Man series
Warcraft (I'm especially fond of Warcraft 2 songs)
Donkey Kong Country series
Variety lists (one hit wonders from games you nearly forgot)
Spotify has a lot of video game playlists, and even some covers in different styles. Right now we're listening to metal versions of classic games.
Elite Dangerous, both original OST and Odyssey (for the planetside background music)
If you like prog metal and hard rock, I've yet to find a better soundtrack than Guilty Gear XX. The fan favorite is "Holy Orders (Be Just or Be Dead)", but for my money, the best songs on the soundtrack are "Existence" and "Awe of She".
Nothing hits harder then good old Zelda Music! Best of the best in my books ;)
Castlevania Symphony of the Night.
My brother had a string quartet play one of the songs at his wedding. It was so beautiful.
Lots of Elder Scrolls and Elder Scrolls Online
Lots of Metal Gear stuff
Kingdoms of Amalur
Shadow of the Colossus
Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon (badass 80s music)
Assassins Creed 3
If you like metal... the tracks from 2004 Painkiller rocks.
Permanently Deleted
Any Fromsoft soulsborne game.
VVVVVV
Star Control 2: The Ur-Quan Masters has some great tunes.
Edit: and The Talos Principle
The persona series has some great songs
ATM I love the soundtracks of:
- Civilization 6
- Genshin Impact
- Persona 3
- Rimworld (+ P-music mod)
Doesn't look like anyone listed the Ori soundtracks by Gareth Coker yet, they're amazing. Also can't go wrong with WoW if you're looking for more classic fantasy style.
The Nitronic Rush soundtrack is some really awesome techno. It feels very Tron-esque at times.
Persona 3/4/5 (not all tracks are instrumentals, but most of them are and they are straight bangers)
Katana Zero Danganronpa 1, 2, V3 Silent Hill 1, 2, 3 (all I can vouch for, but I hear the later games still have banging soundtracks) Crosscode Kingdom Hearts 1/2 Nier Automata Minecraft Donkey Kong Country 1/2 VA-11 HALL-A Catherine Full Body Deadbolt Risk of Rain 1/2
Some of these you'd have to sift through, like Silent Hill is one part industrial creepy noise, and one part absolutely incredible hip hop and rock
That nobody mentioned Transport Tycoon Deluxe is criminal. I recommend the live-action version recorded for the mobile release: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuJy9oCdUns
Diablo 2, Deus Ex Human Revolution, Mass Effect 1
Minecraft
Shadow of the Colossus OST https://youtu.be/57jIlw6HmCE?si=Lf3pXvLo7vT1DAeB
Psychonauts 2. Peter McConnell only got better as the years went by.
Not a game, but you can't go wrong with most of the Ocean's Eleven-Thirteen soundtracks, if you like funky jazzy stuff.
Total Annihilation
How is there not a Single mention of celeste? It is one of the few things that can keep me focussed for hours.
- Risk of Rain 2
- Hollow Knight
- Earthbound
Non-game instrumental artists:
- GoGo Penguin
- Floating Points (especially "Promises")
- Kiasmos
- Max Cooper
- Boards of Canada
- Reid Willis
- C418
Need for Speed 3 -- the original hot pursuit has an amazing techno and rock soundtrack.
GTA V has an awesome soundtrack (listen to the original score, not the music they licensed)
The very first Hitman and Hitman Contracts had some killer techno/electronic soundtracks.
Any of these are great to play in the background while you work.
Portal / Portal 2
"Science Is Fun" is a great track, as are the end songs "Still Alive" and "I Want You Gone".
Stellaris. Absolutely fantastic.
The Dead Cells soundtrack. Especially:
- Prisoner's Awakening (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzK3z8MLSpA&list=PLombWqRALIZDwEsPJuGvD6soVFA46I7f2&index=3)
- Clocktower (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ1Pk8HBYJU&list=PLombWqRALIZDwEsPJuGvD6soVFA46I7f2&index=21)
- Temple (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fg0R4w7LvG4&list=PLombWqRALIZDwEsPJuGvD6soVFA46I7f2&index=20)
- Lighthouse (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fqHBOTFgcI&list=PLombWqRALIZDwEsPJuGvD6soVFA46I7f2&index=41)
Overall, Surviving Mars might be my favorite work soundtrack. Assorted tracks from Stellaris plus the Age of Wonders and Civilization series are also good. Something about the soundtracks in 4X games and games like them always puts me in a productive mood while not making me emotional and thus distracted like RPG soundtracks can sometimes.
Since you like FF, I'd suggest looking into Uematsu's other works as well, especially Lost Odyssey. For similar ones in the genre, there's also Yasunori Mitsuda's work in the Chrono and Xeno series.
Offworld Trading Company. Haven't played the game but it's a great sci-fi soundtrack by Christopher Tin of Civ IV fame.
Child of light
Ultrakill has some bangers, didn't even play the game Injust stumbled on the OST.
The Witcher 3, I love BANANA TIGER.
Red Dead Redemption 1 and 2.
No Man's Sky
Lost Ember
Gris
Deep Rock Galactic
Route 96
Cyberpunk 2077
So so so many more
starfield the game is divisive to say the least, but i cant imagine anyone would talk bad about the soundtrack. inon zur's best work so far, and the death metal songs in there are fucking awesome too
Subnautica has a long and beautiful OST. It's been a long-time favorite of mine, and just a great instrumental jam to fuel my creativity lately. Stardew has my other favorite game soundtrack!
I would suggest "quake 2", it's rock /metal and put me in a good mood when I work. Now if you like instrumental metal, it's no game music, but I would suggest Aephenemer (their official instrumental playlist is on YouTube).
No-one has suggested Baldur's Gate 3?
@MacedWindow Diablo 2 for sure
Tropico 3
Thomas was alone OST is superb.
Cloudpunk OST for a Blade Runner vibe.
Shenmue: Orchestral Soundtrack
Those are my favourites but I'll also put something different here too,
Civilization Beyond Earth and Battletech have marvelous soundtracks
Rise of Nations soundtrack is fantastic sandis the only "video game music" that I semi-regularly listen to.
Especially check out "High Strung" that would always play in multiplayer whenever a player dropped a nuke on another player.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL829D6AF91A5C465E&si=yvPeVG9kuDx71mZb
XCOM 2 Legacy Soundtrack. Some darned good beats on there.
I liked the music in La-Mulana 1&2.
I know it's a little obscure, but if you like Kamen Rider and ancient games, the music from this game is awesome
Can't go wrong with pretty much any pre-Skyward Sword Zelda. SS itself also has Ballad of the Goddess, which was good, but I can't remember any other tunes from it or BOTW that aren't just reprises of tracks from previous games.
There's a lack of Ace Combat in this thread so I'm going to single out 7's but they're all pretty good.
Also Redout has a soundtrack to spike your heartrate
I prefer Sci-fi background noise so Surviving Mars is my favorite. Mass Effect is ok but I find it gets a little too cinematic and bombastic at times. FTL and Into The Breach, or really anything by Ben Prunty is good too
Commenting here because I tend to enjoy game soundtracks and want to look these up.
Portal 2, Minecraft, Half Life 2, Black Mesa, Team Fortress 2, Battle Block Theatre, Doom 2016, Doom Eternal,...
Spiritfarer has an excellent soundtrack, which is utterly wasted on such a mediocre game.
As an added bonus, some of the tracks on the OST are longer than you'll ever experience in game because they cut them short for some reason.
Wh40k: Mechanicus has some amazing music.
My favorite soundtrack ever, of course, is that of The Secret of Monkey Island (MT-32) by Michael Land. A lot of nostalgia there.
I also very much like the soundtrack to Dune by Stephane Picq. There's an edition that combines the Adlib, Adlib Gold, and MT-32 versions which is "chef's kiss". Alternatively, I can recommend the Space Opera edition.
Strike Commander by Nenad Vugrinec on MT-32 is also great.
For chiptunes, I really liked Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3 by Alex Mauer.
Or, for a real classic, Earthbound by Keiichi Suzuki and Hirokazu Tanaka.
Yes, I have a bit of a thing for retro sounds. 😁
- Bionic Commando Rearmed (by Simon Viklund)
- Crypt of the Necrodancer (VA)
- Katamari Fortissimo Damacy (VA)
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is a music focused game and god damn but it is funky. State of Mind and Condensed Milk are my favorites but the range is wide and excellent. No two songs really share the same style.
If you're a metalhead, Metal: Hellsinger won a bunch of best music awards with such offerings as Stygia and This Devastation. It's not instrumental, but it's worth a listen and if you like what you hear it's worth a play as well. Think if Doom was a rhythm game.
Generally speaking, all of the Persona soundtracks are also top tier ambient chill tracks, especially so if you've actually played the games and have an emotional connection to these songs like myself. Persona 5 is a little more generally upbeat but I like it the best, but P4 and P3 have plenty of low key jazzfunk. I don't have specifics to recommend here but know that all three of the P3/4/5 soundtracks come with my seal of approval. EDIT: I have specifics to recommend here. Persona 5 - Rivers in the Desert Persona 4 - The Poem for Everyone's Souls ( <- This one appears in all three games with minor differences and is close to what I expect you're actually looking for from this thread) Persona 3 - Living With Determination
FAR: Lone Sails
What Remains of Edith Finch
Divinity II: Original Sin
Frostpunk
These are all (mostly) non-vocal, great for some background noise. Great games too!
Orchestral my pick is Journey, with Uncharted as a close second
Actiony my pick is Scott Pilgrim vs The World The Game. Love the band.
Retro - Chrono Trigger/Spyro 1-3/Pokemon Ruby Sapphire Emerald.
RimWorld
Hyperlight Drifter - disasterpeace
Fez - disasterpeace
Scott pilgrim vs the world - anamanaguchi
Here's 7.5 hours of music from Horizon Forbidden West:
Fire Emblem Fates, Telltale’s The Walking Dead, and Ocarina of Time are some of my favorite Soundtracks in my library
Since you already mentioned Final Fantasy (I assume that's FF).
Halo 2
Nier:Automata
UndertaleLost Odyssey, Fantasian, Halo 1, Desperados 3, Arcanum, Pillars of Eternity, and Bastion are pretty good to listen to when trying to focus.
Look at all these normie answers, and no one mentioning Minit. https://invidious.private.coffee/watch?v=zRIRyK2pHh8&listen=1