GOTY 2015 - Best Music

So on the podcast with Johnny V., which was recorded in September, Jeff said the crew was already discussing this years best music in games. I've also been thinking about this lately and would love to hear the communities thoughts so far. This was one of my favorite Bombcrew discussions last year on the podcast and I loved reading through the soundtrack thread, really delving into different soundtracks. Here are my thoughts.

This year, one game's soundtrack blasted out of my speakers and slapped me in my face, and that game is Rocket League. There were countless time that I would leave menu/title screen to idle on my PS4 while browsing on my computer. Although the OST features just two different producers (Mike Ault and Hollywood Principle), the songs cover multiple styles, and several include talented vocals of various singers. The OST might not resonate with listeners who don't enjoy electronic music but there's no denying that the songs easily stand on their own legs outside of the game. This soundtrack is far and away my top of the year. One of my only compaints with the music relates to the usage within the game: it is only played during the menu/title screen with no option to play during matches. The OST sits saved in my Spotify app and is played very very often. It's not often that songs of this caliber are produced originally for a video game.

Stand out songs include:

• Firework - Hollywood Principle [Not sure why this is not in the OST]
• 15:05 - Flying Forever (feat. Morgan Perry) [My personal favorite with some great vocals; I can confidently say this is my favorite original song from a game this year.]
• 31:52 - Lacuna [This one builds up for a while but really gets going soon after the 2:00 mark]
• 39:02 - Love Thru The Night (feat. Morgan Perry)

The only other game I can say really stood out for me in terms of music was another surprise hit: Undertale. The game features looping bits of music, all influenced by the chiptune style to match the aesthetic of the game. Although most loops are very short, the boss encounters' tend to be longer. What Undertale does well is make each section of music feel very personalized to the situation at hand; every encounter and change of settings is accompanied by the perfect music and ambiance. No two loops are alike and this makes each one feel special, which, not surprisingly, I could say the same for the games enemies. As I click through the various time stamps (found in the description on the YouTube page), I feel as if I'm playing through the game again in my head by recalling each setting and enemy matched to the music. It's not easy to produce looping music that is also enjoyable, but Toby Fox does so throughout the whole game; Unfortunately, the short looping nature is also what keeps it from being near my top spot. I'm including more standouts here because they're each short.

• Ghost Fight (7:27 - 8:23)
• Heartache (13:20 - 15:09)
• Waterfall (28:24 - 30:29)
• Dummy! (33:10 - 35:57)
• NGAHHH!! (40:39 - 42:00)/Spear of Justice (42:01 - 43:57)
• Metal Crusher (46:23 - 47:25)
• Spider Dance (55:42 - 57:28) [My favorite. I listened to this multiple times outside of the game.]
• Undertale (1:10:57 - 1:17:17)
• ASGORE (1:21:38 - 1:24:15) [Second favorite. Just so perfect in its setting.]
• Hopes And Dreams (1:42:30 - 1:45:30)
• Last Goodbye (2:01:33 - 2:03:48)
• MEGALOVANIA (2:07:30 - 2:10:06)

I could say MGSV had a great soundtrack as well but I personally only consider original sound tracks when thinking about this category.

EDIT: MGSV's OST is the original pieces made just for the game. Whoops. Will have to give that a listen!

Bloodborne had some fantastic, unique stuff. Some of that boss music elevated those fights to another level.

The Cleric Beast theme might be my favorite track of the year. Took an introductory boss and made it feel like a final fight. And out of context, it does an incredible job building up this extremely sinister vibe.

And the Ebrietas fight felt like I was fighting for the god damn universe.

My vote goes to Life is Strange. A superb mix of indie rock and pop that fits remarkably well with the tone of the game.

I love MGS5's soundtrack, both original and licensed. Quiet's Theme, man... I am in love with that song. Also gained a new appreciation for Man Who Sold The World, a song I never thought too much of before. Well, Midge Ure's cover, anyway. (nothing at all against Bowie, just prefer Ure's version)

Ori, Bloodborne and The Order all have incredible music, and what I've heard of Halo 5's seems to be something special.

I also liked a bunch of the music in Splatoon, although it loops a ton and gets kinda annoying during extended sessions.

Ori had a great soundtrack

Also, what I've heard of Halo 5 sounds pretty great. Especially the Trials track

Yup. The Hunter & The First Hunter themes are some of my favourite 'Souls' themes.

While most of it is licensed, Tales from The Borderlands uses music to fantastic effect too with the title card scenes.

There might be something else that is slipping my mind, but I really liked The Witcher 3's soundtrack, and is the one that stands out most in my mind. It's so rare to find an open world RPG these days with more than just subtle atmospheric music. Skellige is a pretty small section of the game, by comparison, but I kinda wish I could have spent more time there just to soak in the music. And of course the music used in the cutscenes was appropriately epic or moving.

I sometimes listen to the MGS5 OST at work, that's some quality music. Really 'movie like', though.

The Witcher 3 has some great music as well, very original and fitting the game perfectly. Whenever you get in combat and the woman starts to sing over it it gets that epic feeling.

I thought olli olli 2 had a cool soundtrack.

Aside from Undertale, Circa Infinity and Snakebird have some pretty cool music...

Crypt of the Necrodancer came out of early access this year. Does that count?

Other than I really liked the soundtrack bloodborne, Axiom Verge, and the MGSV score/licensed stuff.

I've been listening to single tracks from the Undertale OST on loop for whole days of work, which I have never done before. Kinda scary for such a simple soundtrack. That and the Crypt of the Necrodancer OST are my favourite so far.

@rongalaxy said:

Fuckin' A right it did.

Regardless of what you thought of the game itself, I think Everybody's Gone to the Rapture has to be considered.

Hotline 2

My vote goes to Crypt of the Necrodancer. That game was super fun and I loved all of it's music. Also singing shopkeeper

Runner up Hotline Miami 2

The Read Only Memories soundtrack is really good. It's probably my favourite original soundtrack this year. Also if ROM doesn't get at least nominated for Best Styyyyyyyyyyle then someone fucked up.

Rebel Galaxy

FFXIV Heavensward takes the cake for me easily. I feel comfortable in saying that between it and the base game, it's the best Final Fantasy soundtrack ever. It's also the most Final Fantasy soundtrack ever,

Hotline Miami 2 has a phenomenal soundtrack. Everybody's Gone to the Rapture sells its few vital moments with its music. Axiom Verge also has some really cool and unexpected tracks. SOMA has really effective music but nothing I would ever want to experience outside of the game.

Oh wow, these are all sooo good. I'm going to be listening to A LOT of soundtracks until the rest of the year! 2015 was filled with some GREAT music guys.

I'm also curious as to how you guys judge these by; do you take into account how the music was used in game? How well it holds up stand-alone, outside of the game? How varied the collection of songs/pieces are? I like delving into the thought process of other duders.

I personally take all of those things into account, with variation being the lowest denominator. My biggest factor is how well it holds up outside of the game.

EDIT: Holy cow! I'm listening to Crypt of the Necrodancer OST and there are so many great songs in there. Almost each song really feels like it truly has its own style. Sorry Undertale, but you just got jumped.

Tales from the Borderlands has an awesome soundtrack especially the credits for episode 5^^

Crypt of the Necrodancer has the best soundtrack this year. One that I still listened to when away from the game. Definitely looking forward to playing Crypteque in Amplitude next year.

Honorable mentions:

• Rocket League
• Metal Gear Solid V
• Bloodbourne
• Tales from the Borderlands

The Witcher 3 had a lovely soundtrack and I've been listening to a lot of the stuff from MGS V on my free time as well. However I do think that the music both in Ori and the Blind Forest and Hotline Miami 2 surpass everything this year. Like others have said, Halo 5 sounds really promising though.

This is definitely the best music I've heard in any game this year, though I don't know if picking a rhythm game is cheating.

MGS5 because Sins of the Father

Does Rebel Galaxy with custom soundtrack on using FTL OST count? I think giving FTL OST's the award it rightfully deserved back in '12 is the right thing to do..... No? fine then!? *cries*

FFXIV I guess.

Yep

Best musical score of 2015 in a videogame: Those of us who played Bloodborne in the dark with headphones and were swept away by a terrifying monster with a bag swung over its shoulder know the answer.

Best licensed music 2015 in a videogame: It's cheating to pick a music game or one with old tunes from 2008, but what other than MGSVTPP is a candidate?

Mest originally created music of 2015 in a videogame: ?

Winner: Ori - There are a lot of split opinions on Ori's gameplay and pacing, but in terms of both music and artistic design, Ori was just on another level from everything else this year IMO. The soundtrack is used to convey that game's story far more than any of the actual text of the story does. Ori is often said to be a Ghibli movie in game form, and I felt a lot of Joe Hisaishi influence in that OST, albeit more Western than Eastern in tone. That soundtrack is a mere $10 on iTunes or Amazon, and I can't recommend it more.

Without playing too much of Crypt of the Necrodancer, I think that's an incredibly strong runner-up. It's one hell of a jamming soundtrack in a game that is completely reliant on a strong OST.

Honorable Mentions: Undertale, MGS V, Life is Strange

Undertale, by far takes it for me. Before that game, I made the decision to buy the game based only on the quick look and listening to that soundtrack over and over while I waited to get home from a business trip. MGSV was pretty good too, but pretty much all of that for me was licensed music, which makes it kind of weird for me to say that game has the best soundtrack. I tend to view this category more as original music, but that's just me.

No contest.

Best original soundtrack of the year:Undertale.

Listen. Making music is hard. Making era-appropriate retro music is pretty hard. Making era-appropriate retro music that invokes the spirit of Earthbound/Mother while still being strong enough to actually listen to outside of the game context while working at your desk is a fucking damn-near killingly hard thing to do. The score is smart; there is a clear thru-line with the theme but the music isn't afraid to shuffle things up or explore different genres of music.

Some example songs that stand on their own without context:

• Snowy — A simple piano / string concerto that invokes a chilly sense of tranquility... and isolation.
• Home — A guitar / mandolin(?) duet that has this brilliant, lazy strum that feels sad and nostalgic.
• Waterfall — A piano and chimes song backed by strings for the chorus. This macabre requiem kind of reminds me of something out of Chronotrigger.

There's so much more to the Undertale soundtrack that I could go on forever. But I got to get back to work.

Runner-up: MGS 5. It has this original track "Phantom Pain" that you can buy on iTunes that's actually pretty damn good.

MGSV is the obvious choice. There are several pieces that alone would take home this title even if we completly ignore the licensed music (which we should do ofc.).

I mean the music from the previous games thats also included in MGSV would be enough for this award.

Honestly I think this has been a kinda weak year for soundtracks. There are some good tunes here and there, but nothing that stands out to me, or an album that is fully enjoyable from beginning to end.

Tales of Borderlands has some pretty great use of music, especially the opening theme of each chapter.

But it is all licensed, so I don't know if it counts...

YES YES YES! Rocket League's soundtrack is fantastic. So many times I've let it sit idle at the menus to listen.

Splatoon also had some cool music.

Going to remind you about a game from earlier this year:

Robot Roller Derby Disco Dodgeball

Listen to the soundtrack here.

Favorite track: 8-bit Adventure

I saw this on UPF, thought the music was pretty great, found the soundtrack online, and eventually bought it. Whether you were interested in the game at all, give the soundtrack a shot. You can listen to the whole thing at the bandcamp link above (and it's on YouTube, I'm sure).

I love the Splatoon soundtrack, its so unique and catchy. Hotline Miami 2 would win though, but it kinda feels like cheating.

Good choices OP! Gotta give it to Undertale. The music in that game is amazing.

Was expecting to give it to MGSV, but unfortunately the music in that game was a bit of a let down. Harry Gergson-Williams mostly producing instead of composing probably plays a big part in that.

Hotline Miami 2, literally the only reason to play Hotline Miami 2

Hotline Miami 2 isn't an original soundtrack, but if it doesn't win some awards I'm quitting video games forever. That game will end up in my top 10 this year because of the soundtrack alone. I really liked the music in Ori and the Blind Forest as well.

Mario Maker.

Hit after hit, they just don't quit.

Undertale hands down.

Crypt of the Necrodancer is also really fucking good but I'm not as hot on it after hearing it SO MANY TIMES I guess.

Also shout out to You Must Build a Boat and Hotline Miami 2.

The remix on the 100 Mario Expert menu is legit.

Also, my lame contribution. The soundtrack to Hatred was, all things considered, pretty cool. As someone who likes the music from Quake 1 and the grim ambiance of the first two Fallout games, this kind of tickled my appreciation for that dark, industrial tinged electronic vibe. For what it's worth, I hear the guy(s?) who did the music for it also worked on the Witcher series.

https://soundcloud.com/musicimaginary/sets/hatred-original-soundtrack

• 0:00 - The Trail
• 2:51 - Geralt of Rivia
• 11:59 - Commanding the Fury
• 22:03 - Silver for Monsters...
• 27:02 - The Nightingale
• 35:58 - Kaer Morhen
• 43:24 - ...Steel for Humans
• 49:43 - Cloak and Dagger
• 52:31 - Forged in Fire
• 59:00 - Drink Up, There's More!
• 1:02:11 - Blood on the Cobblestones
• 1:09:25 - The Hunt is Coming
• 1:11:32 - The Fields of Ard Skellig
• 1:14:44 - Ladies of the Woods
• 1:19:48 - Hunt or Be Hunted

Those are some of my favourites. The game is full of amazing music that fits the setting whether you're knee deep in the swamps of Velen, roaming the streets of Novigrad or scaling the mountains of Skellige.

The combat music is also fucking incredible.

Hotline Miami 2 was the soundtrack I listened to most outside of the game this year. Mainly bc it featured tracks by Scattle and Perturbator that were fucking killer. it made for some pretty reckless night driving in my slow slow compact car. ("Bloodline" by Scattle and "Future Club" by Perturbator)

Two words. ROLLER MOBSTER.