Metal Gear Rising Revengence Need for Speed Most Wanted Hi-Fi Rush

No game will ever have a better soundtrack than Halo 3

I’ve started recognizing when a section of a game feels baller, but it’s 99% because of the soundtrack. They can have the most generic basis for an emotional scene, and then as long as the music nails the mood it could be just blocks on a screen.

Final Fantasy XIV has had awe-inspiring tracks for the finales of each expansion since Shadowbringers; pretty much starting at the final zone through the final dungeon and trial.

Ace Attorney always gets it with its confrontation tracks; it could just be two people arguing in a hallway and it turns the battle of words into the most epic thing.

I’ll also give a shout out to Ori and the Blind Forest / Will of the Wisps. For both of those, it’s not just a few banger tracks for the exciting moments; even the downtime tracks are so memorable.

I listen to Stellaris OST a lot these days. Turns out that good music to plan galactic domination is also good music to design and build software.

Don’t really play the game much anymore though. That was one of my main pandemic games.

Civ 3 had some killer modern music.

The old Deus Ex and Endless Space are the ones I listen to the most.

• Rome Total War
• Anno 1602
• Stronghold

I suspect I'm driven by nostalgia and by literally hundreds of hours of repeat exposure.

Pokemon USUM. If there was a looped version of the tracks, I‘d probably listen to it every day lol, it just boosts my mood. Sadly, the soundtrack (that I have) has them at 1-2 minutes.

Dance Dance Revolution Extreme 2, OBVIOUSLY.

Nier Automata, Cyberpunk, System Shock 2, GTA Vice City, Doom 2016 (I cannot listen to Eternals soundtrack knowing how Mick Gordon got ripped off there)