Gaming

I'm surprised not to see any of the Monster Hunter games yet! Maybe that's because most MH soundtracks are more a collection of individual themes than a unified soundtrack for a world, but a lot of those tracks are pretty great.

I don't know whether it is considered polite to link to youtube recordings of tracks here. My particular favorites from World are all zone themes: "Rulers of the Wildspire", "Dancer in the Coral Highlands", "Roars across the Hinterlands". You hear these tunes a lot - whenever you're fighting something in that zone that doesn't have its own theme - so they'd better be good. Fortunately almost all of them live up to that standard!

Having finally finished Horizon Forbidden West last night, I've got to choose that. Instant favourite for me. Nostalgic moments when the theme kicked in in one of its altered versions, and the credits just completely floored me. Stuck around for the whole 30+ mins. Wonderful.

Away from that, Mass Effect always needs a mention!

Beyond Good & Evil

Interstate '76

Transistor

The sea shanties from Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire

Ace Combat, mainly Ace Combat 5 but all of them are well known for their soundtracks.

More recently WARNO has excellent music so far, even though most of it was licensed by Eugen from third parties so it doesn't really count as a soundtrack specific to the game.

• Nier (both games)
• World Ends With You
• Jet Set Radio
• Platoon
• Chrono Trigger

For my second place Flubber Mountain from Mario RPG is a banger! https://youtu.be/FaAc87l3o3o

Anything from the first four Sega Sonic mainline games. Also, Bastion and Transistor.

Probably GTA SA. Blew my tiny mind to find out Tommy "The Nightmare" Smith, singer of Crystal Ship was voiced by Axl Rose.

You're on The Dust

Then again, VC had some absolute bangers too and I think is the only GTA that had me listening to the pop channel as much as the rock channel.

The Dig, FFVII, Indiana Jones and the fate of atlantis, Morrowind, Quake.

Lots more, especially classic midi tracks but those are my top 5 (subject to change of mood and season).

Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus

I have played 4 Warhammer games and never touched the tabletop. Don't know how I got into this game but once I did, it didn't leave my head. I have one shuffle list I listen to and this sits there very comfortably.

Infamous for introducing me to one of my now all time favorite musicians. Amon Tobin.

And a lot earlier Quake that planted the first seeds for my love of NIN.

Amon Tobins Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory soundtrack is a solid ambient/electronic album that I keep returning to.

Madden 10 has an unusally stacked soundtrack list. it is honestly absurd the sheer amount of legendary bands in that game

mlb 2k6 also has a great soundtrack, has interpol, pavement, fall of troy, pretty girls make graves, cornelius

Recently I completed Crossing Souls. It's a game overloaded with 80s nostalgia. The soundtrack is from two composers. The first has 80s synth tracks while the other providers John Williams / Amblin like scores as the story of a group of young friends and feels like a movie from that time.

I love Flatout soundtrack - wreck cars and listen to Symphony of destruction and other songs.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKlbTXjy-F6q9qbt1hM78aD9dvXTMOMDG

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKlbTXjy-F6qz1HCLkVOMjQS2XnxYEIGO

Double Dragon Neon has an absolutely banging soundtrack. I wish I could get it on Spotify, but it's only on Bandcamp. Mango Tango is amazing.

I really lime the Dark Souls 3 soundtrack. Elden Ring's is okay, but there's just something about it that isn't as cool.

Sekiro's is good in an entirely different reason. It's a different style so I wanted to mention it separately.

I also like what they did with Pokemon Black and White I and II. Driftveil City theme lives rent free in my mind.

Civilisation IVs Baba Yetu. Still gives me chills. I’ve seen it performed by a small choir and is just as good. https://youtu.be/IJiHDmyhE1A

It's a very small soundtrack, but Demon Truck has absolute banger music. Definitely one of my favorites.

Dr. Wily's Castle from Mega Man 2.

Deus Ex Human Revolution, Mass Effect 1, Diablo 2.

Assuming visual novels count as "games", probably one of the best soundtracks I've ever run across is the one for Everlasting Summer. Both Silent Owl (Sergey Eybog) and Between August and December did amazing work on it.

Not OST but I really vibed with Fallout 3 radio. It was cool to learn about old songs from that game.

I can't believe no one has said Halo/Halo 2

My favorite would probably be Super Mario Galaxy 2 OST. That game had really good music, so good I think it got nominated for an award or something. The music is nice and riveting.

So many! Where even to start?

• Assassin's Creed II (really the whole Ezio trilogy slaps)
• VA11 HALL-A is from a phenomenal cyberpunk bartending game
• PPPPPP - The VVVVVV Soundtrack is a more chiptune-oriented album from one of my favorite games
• The most recent God of War: Ragnarök soundtrack is pretty darn good
• The Monstercat x Rocket League playlists go pretty hard if you're in an EDM mood

Super Mario Galaxy (1+2). Orchestrated music should be a must for main Nintendo games at this point, outside of Zelda (and the Pokémon anime, although that one's not strictly Nintendo or used in actual games, sadly).