People often play video games today for hours at a time, especially the high-end, more graphically demanding triple-A video games, so it’s important to have an epic accompanying soundtrack playing along in the background to enhance the experience for the player.
Having repetitive sound effects on a short loop playing over and over may have worked on the earlier video games from the 1980s, but it just wouldn’t work in today’s games.
In recent years, some of the most memorable music has been created by talented young music composers who are now plying their trade in the video game industry. Is Video Game Music (VGM) now a major artistic discipline? Let’s dive in to find out.
How important is Video Game Music?
Video Game Music is now more popular and relevant than ever. Music plays an important role in our video games and helps set the tone. It can heighten a player’s experience and make certain scenes more immersive, much like an epic soundtrack can make a movie a hundred times better.
Without music in video games, they would be quite boring. Many experts in the music industry now regard VGM as one of the most exciting areas of contemporary music.
It’s not just the triple-A video games that feature some amazing music but also today’s feature-rich online slots you can play at renown online casino sites.
Which video games have the best soundtracks?
Almost all of today’s best video games, especially action, adventure, MMORPG, and MMO video games, have amazing music. However, a handful of video games have soundtracks that are better than all the rest.
Some of them have won multiple industry awards. Examples of video games with amazing soundtracks are the following:
- Legend of Zelda: Breath of Wild – the minds behind the iconic music featured in this game were Yasuaki Iwata, Manaka Kataoka, and Hajime Wakai. These three Japanese composers collaborated to produce an unforgettable soundtrack, which included songs such as the main theme, The King of Hyrule’s Wish, 100 Years Ago, Sheikah Tower, Temple of Time, Highland, and Shrine
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – the American composer, Jeremy Soule, came up with the soundtrack for this game, which included several memorable tracks. Soule has also crafted music featuring in the soundtracks of several other hit games, such as Icewind Dale, Harry Potter, and Guild Wars
- Last of Us – famous tracks from this game, like Vanishing Grace and The Path, were from the mind of Argentinian composer Gustavo Santaolla
- Dark Souls – the composer responsible for the iconic songs in this video game, like Taurus demon, Gwyn, Lord of Cinder, and Ornstein & Smough, was Motoi Sakuraba
Some of the other famous video games that many will agree have amazing soundtracks are Starfield, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Final Fantasy 7, Deadly Premonition, Silent Hill 2, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Others include BioShock: Infinite, Kingdom Hearts, Fallout: New Vegas, Persona 5, Mafia 3, Undertale, and Journey, to name a few.
Some of the most notable composers who have helped create one or more of today’s best video game soundtracks are Michiru Yamana, David Wise, Yasunori Mitsuda, Yoko Shimomura, Nobu Uematsu, Koji Kondo, Inon Zur, and Martin O’Donnell.
Final note
With composers like these creating unforgettable soundtracks that will be remembered for years to come, we can safely say that VGM is now a major music discipline in its own right. Classical music has now found a new home via video games for a modern audience.
The symphonic soundtracks featured in today’s best games have become more popular than ever and are being listened to by people who might have never listened to this type of music before. It’s all thanks to video games.
