Community Highlight: Musicians I Would Like To See Compose a Game Soundtrack

(Article written by 4Player community member: Absolutely_Daft. Want to get your own article on the front page? Submit one here.)

I love video game music and music outside of video games. If I’m not playing a game, then I’m listening to music. I even listen to game soundtracks in my spare time. With all the time I had listening to a wide variety of genres, there are some artists out there whose music I believe would make great compositions for games if they pursued that Idea. With an open mind and ears out and about, these are the artists I would enjoy hearing their game compositions or become great additional liscened music.

Survival Horror (Lorn)

With “Cherry Moon” featured on Dirt 3 and “Soft Room” on Sleeping Dogs, I would love to hear Lorn compose a survivor horror soundtrack. His discography and approach to music leaves a grim, depressing, and even creepy sound that I don’t want to listen to in the dark. Hearing out his beats and how it all comes together is what makes him awesome. “Until There is No End” in a way summarizes his unique style while “Diamond” and “The Well” reveal more of his latent eeriness. The games pictured would range from the psychological Silent Hill to an action based Clive Barker’s Undying. Either way Lorn will be very fitting to this task since his music is in a way survival horror.

Fantasy (Yes, Sebastian Hardie (Windchase), ELO)

From time to time, I listen to the progressive and symphonic rock of bands like Yes, Sebastian Hardie, and the Electric Light Orchestra to exercise my imagination. The energy and talent these bands provide will be great to tell a story of a brave party on a quest for freedom, spirituality, or honor. The emotions created by the music fills the imagination with images of immensely structured cities, stunningly green fields and high mountains, heroic battles with gargantuan beasts and treacherous generals, romantic affairs, and political scandals taking place within the game’s continent. It would be a small step outside of the norm since a majority of fantasy soundtracks are composed of orchestrated music. I think it would be awesome to ride on horseback while hearing Windchase’s “Horsemen of Symphinity” when playing an RPG like Elder Scrolls or Riding Epona in Zelda.

Beat ‘em Ups/MetroidVania (Danger)

Danger is one of my all time favorite producers. Tracks like “9h20” and “4h30” feature an eerie vibe similar to Lorn, but what separates this french producer from Lorn is that Danger provides a more energetic dance beat that keeps me listening for hours with mysterious graphic universe that shows his creativity. Songs like “3h11” and his remixes of Empire of the Sun’s “Walking on a Dream” and Lil John ft. Kee’s “Give it all You Got” is the kind of music Yuzo Koshiro would sample and use for a new Streets of Rage installment. Danger’s production gives out crime/gang violence tendencies one would feel in a movie like The Warriors and Mad Max which will sound great for dome wrecking thugs. I can see players 2D-platforming away from hazards in a modern-setting metriodvania to “3h16”.

Sci-Fi (Nero)

I admit to listening to dubstep on occasion. Think whatever you will about the genre, I think English based producers Nero are great. Their Album “Welcome Reality” to me tells a tale of a world set in a dystopian era much like the CD Projekt’s upcoming title Cyberpunk 2077. Nero can break off from the dubstep stereotypes with tracks like “Reaching Out” and “Departure”. They even have an orchestral background with their “Symphony 2808” that can potentially step up the star ship battles that would take place in games like Mass Effect.

I am open to all kinds of music and continuing to find great artists that are like diamonds in the sand. I dream of and continue to work on my way to becoming a game designer, I previously wanted to become a music producer, so I want this to all come together at some point. I will think up more combinations of artists and games genres in the future. To me, music is a journey, and video game music should help both in discovering new artists both licensed owners and original composers, and while making a playthrough worthwhile that create good memories to reminisce about when listening to a good track.