I know it's been a little bit difficult for Ghaleon and Nert this year, but I'd like to thank them for their work, it's nice to have threads like these. Timetokill also had a rough year when he took over the GOTY thread, it'll go smoothly in 2012/2013, I'm sure !
1. Rayman Origins
Michel Ancel's anticipated return was also Christophe Heral's comeback, so I was excited about this one. I love Heral's work, particularly the first Rayman soundtrack, which was
a beautiful assortiment of short, creative tracks, and Beyond Good and Evil OST, which gave a
little more soul to a charming game.
What I like with Heral's work is that he has a recognizable style, yet he produces extremely eclectic and experimental tracks that blend themselves into the gameplay experience. He has exactly the same approach to music that Ancel has to game design. It's just really cool these guys have found each other.
I had a great time playing Rayman Origins. After some time, I noticed me and my friends (we played coop) sang along with the game, and even
danced a little sometimes. So yeah, it was most probably ridiculous to watch, but what's important here is that the music had put a spell on us : we were just really happy to play this together.
Faery Glouglou
Kazoo
Tibet
2. Bastion
I like the strong musical identity of Bastion, which completes the strong world design. It has an
Old West vibe with the guitar, yet the percussions bring a more modern and dynamic side, and on top of that,
some more exotic instruments add a little more fantasy to the mix.
To me, the highlight of the soundtrack were the songs. First, they are REALLY good, it's important to repeat because it's not a AAA project here. It shows how much Supergiant cared about the mood of their game. Second, they come at important moments of the game, important scenes in the story, their lyrics reflect that fact and they're well integrated into the gameplay. Zia's song particularly shines with the singer's voice slowly kicking in as you come closer to her. Third, they managed to somehow mix the two main songs into one beautiful ending credits track. I'm not a musician, but I imagine it's something rather hard to make, so big respect to Darren Korb for his work.
Build that wall
Mother, I'm Here
Ending Theme
3. To the Moon
To the Moon OST is maybe not as creative as Rayman or Bastion soundtracks, but it was one of the most emotional scores I heard these past months in gaming. I respect the fact that Kan Gao is both game designer and composer, it surely brings to his game a particular alchemy between the scenes we play and the music. Laura Shigihara was a great asset to bring a little more character with her voice. Lately, we see more and more studios using voiced tracks and I quite like the trend. Nier, Portal, Red Dead Redemption, Bastion and To the Moon are great examples of the big difference songs can make in our involvement in a world/story/character.
Once upon a memory
For River
Everything's Alright
Had a hard time chosing three OSTs. I'll do the same thing as last year and pick a hundred honorable mentions I guess.
Honorable Mentions
Catherine : Meguro can't produce a bad soundtrack. It was great to discover his remixes of classical symphonies, and he still managed to include some killer tracks of his own.
It's a Golden Show
Lamb Game between ♂ and ♀
Rapunzel - Name Entry
Child of Eden : Don't need drugs as long as Mizuguchi is around.
Journey
Deus Ex Human Revolution : more of an ambient soundtrack, but damn if it ain't cool when you explore the world. Icarus is a masterpiece.
Icarus
Sarif
Adam's Apartment
Ghost Trick : perfect soundtrack for this kind of game, energetic and light hearted.
Theme
Epilogue
Informing about the parting
Ilomilo : also mentioned last year, so it's cheating, but it's such a charming soundtrack...
March of the ilomilos
Sunny Days
Safkas Song
Portal 2 : would havebeen in a top 5 I think. Valve is also great to chose great tracks. "Want you gone" is a perfect successor to "Still ALive", and I love Exile Vilify. There are also a lot of ambient tracks less interesting to listen to without context, but which gave Aperture a wonderful atmosphere.
Want you gone
Exile Vilify
Cara Mia
Radiant Historia : melancholic soundtrack, a little like Stocke, the hero. Liked the mood of this game.
Where the Wind and Feathers Return
The Garden Where the Celestite Lies
Historia
Shadows of the Damned : another Yamaoka masterpiece. The complete soundtrack is a 130 or something tracks-beast with rock songs, ambient wonders and silly things like "Sushi" down there.
Sushi
Last Darkness Kiss
Main Theme
Xenoblade : Love this soundtrack. I've not played the game yet, and usually I wait until I've beaten a game to listen to its OST, but this one is so majestic.
Reminiscence
Mystery
Theme
