THE BEST VIDEO GAMING HAS TO OFFER,
AND SO MUCH MORE
Video game music is slowly but surely creeping into mainstream appreciation. For several years now, scores have been sneaking into classical music charts, sometimes causing friction when their origins are unearthed, but otherwise being wholly appreciated. With ClassicFM launching a new video game music show, how this music is found and received is all about to change, but which songs have already earned critical acclaim in the video game community, without ever touching the wider classical audience?
Blizzard
The American company Blizzard has become famous over the years for their amazing scores and multi-media efforts to support their games. Their latest game, Overwatch, has featured the regular release of crisp animated shorts, that often reach an audience who would never otherwise play the game.
But in Blizzard’s games, one of the best songs has to be the “Nightsong,” a Darnassian Elf song that plays in the game:
Skyrim
Another widely acclaimed fantasy game, The Elder Scrolls, contains the “Skyrim” theme takes all the smooth subtlety of the “Nightsong” and throws it out the window in favor of a powerful, percussion and voice heavy chant, that leaves Goosebumps every time.
World of Warcraft and Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls genre have both had an incredible effect on the video game world, with several further fantasy theme games like The Witcher or Age of Gods, the latter of which has hundreds of free spins available as per Oddschecker.
Paradox
The Swedish video game publisher Paradox’s interactives are best known for their 4X grand strategy games like Crusader Kings or Stellaris. Such large games can take hours on a single playthrough, so the soundtracks often play an important part of the gaming experience. And out of all of the Paradox games, no soundtrack sets the scene quite like the Sci-Fi epic Stellaris:
As you spend the game exploring and colonizing space, it only seems fitting that one of its most popular songs (above) throws some musical homage out to the critically acclaimed film Interstellar.
Halo
Halo is another Sci-Fi game, but it trades space exploration for a galaxy-spanning war. While this not might seem like the setting for beautiful music, boy does this series deliver. With several quite melancholic and calm moments to the plot, and a real-time-strategy spin-off that really lets Halo’s music shine, quite a significant portion of the video game community believe that this is some of the best stuff out there.
These are a few great starters, but the likes of Final Fantasy, Nier: “Automata,” The Legend of Zelda and so much more are waiting for eager explorers to find and enjoy. Interest and production too, are only increasing, so now is the perfect time to expand your horizons and maybe even try a game or two on the side.
