Personally, I’m a huge fan of Hollow Knight, Ori and the (Blind Forest/Will of the Wisps), and Kingdom Hearts. Orchestral soundtracks are just something else…
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Legend of Dragoon soundtrack composed by Dennis Martin.
Bajo Kazooie soundtracks by Grant Kirkhope.
Donkey Kong soundtracks by David Wise.
Sly Cooper soundtrack (first game) by Ashif Hakik.
Ratchet and Clank soundtrack (first game) by David Bergeaud
Metroid soundtracks by Kenji Yamamoto.
All made insanely long lasting impressions where I could hear just a bit from one of the songs and instantly know what it is. Having played lots of video games, these seem to be the ones that have created the most lasting memory. They also absolutely slap as well.
The Legend of Zelda games BOTW and TOTK get mention here as well, though I don’t find it as memorable. the sound design in these games is just top notch though.
Tetris definitely deserves a shoutout.
LA Noire by Simon Hale is fantastic though it’s mostly just riffing off of Chinatown’s soundtrack and I wouldn’t say it really implants itself in the memory like the ones mentioned above.
Other honorable mentions
Vice City
Jet Set Radio – Hideki Naganuma
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater
Minecraft and Terraria, oh yeah also Hollow Knight
I don’t think I’ve ever heard a megaman track I don’t like
Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross will always bring me to tears. 💙 Also Robo’s Theme is a banger!
I used to fall asleep to a Morrowind OST CD.
Doom 2016
There’s this french MMO i played as a kid called Dofus and that soundtrack still hits hard when I listen. I think part of it is nostalgia but also its just so beautiful
It’s weird how MMO have some of the best OST in the whole gaming world. For me it’s the Dragon ball Global online OST, played it as a kid with my older brother. It’s OST brings back one of my most cherished memories. Here’s the link if anyone’s interested
I have so many favorites, Ori soundtracks are amazing, Kingdom Hearts, Genshin Impact, Minecraft
For more lighthearted yet genius silliness though: Part Time UFO
Not really a game but a visual Novel everyone needs to read and listen to: Umineko
Undertale is my #1. Bully is my #2.
For me it’s Stellaris, hands down, but also the Hammock album that was made for Far Cry 5 (Hammock being one of my favorite bands).
I’ve been listening to some choice tracks from Final Fantasy XIV, mostly from the big epic finales. I probably should be excited for XVI, but I just reaaally don’t trust the action JRPG setup.
However, an even better soundtrack to me is Ori and the Blind Forest, as you mentioned - it has some epic bangers to it, but it’s also an incredible soundtrack even for the calm, peaceful tracks playing while exploring.
Credit to Nier Automata for what it’s worth…there’s some tracks I really like in there on their own, but…I honestly feel like those really good tracks just don’t often fit the gameplay. They have some hard-hitting vocal tracks playing while 2B is wandering the city or standing around, and it really warps the feel of the pacing. I mention it because it’s just an interesting example to me of “good music” not actually fitting as a soundtrack.
Second FFXIV
Limsa is now playing in your head
FFVIII or FFX
Totally agree. Edea’s theme still gives me goosebumps
For me, FFVII wins But only because I payed through the rename recently and rediscovered how much I love it and then played the original again.
To Zanarkand is still one of my all time favourites
BLOODBORNE
nobody has mentioned disco elysium? legendary soudtrack immo
It’s undertale for me. What a magical soundtrack that is.
Indie games in general have great OSTs, MGS:R and Persona (and SMT in general) are obvious popular picks.
The World Ends With You is less mainstream (with one of the few gripes being the lack of boss-specific themes, at least in the DS original I played - but it makes up with the diverse overworld and normal battle themes), as is Etrian Odyssey.
I think orchestra is mixed, it’s either the best fucking tracks ever (often when mixed with electric guitar or other modern instruments, but not necessarily), or they kind of blend with other orchestral tracks I know and don’t end up being unique enough to remember.
TWEWY is grossly underrated in general, but when it comes to the OST, that’s doubly true.
Make’s me wonder what they were thinking when they made the anime that was so sparse, even void at times, of all this amazing music they had to work with.
Eh, on one hand it’s overrated when people keep saying “it’s a better Persona, those fans just don’t play anything except Persona 5”, I think that’s stupid. TWEWY genuinely has a lot of flaws. A slightly too fast endgame, the second screen, etc.
But for me the gameplay is just so goddamn fun and well designed (making your own set of attacks, combining input methods, all the risk vs reward difficulty systems), and it has a few really good ideas that make me want to recommend it to anyone. I imagine you can beat the game in like, 10 hours on Easy without optional fights too, so, it’s not a big time investment. (Though actually getting the game is difficult. Switch I heard sucks at controls, phone version doesn’t seem to work on new ones, emulating the DS probably sucks too)
In fact, I thought the OST would be the overrated thing, since its style might not be for everyone. Especially Twister, I think it took some time getting used to.
