Steam: The Slept-On Frontier for Video Game Soundtracks
Steam is one of the Internet’s hidden gems, when it comes to buying video game soundtracks. What makes Steam stand out is the ability to buy soundtracks for games that are currently unreleased on PC. What makes Steam stand out even more is that some games, including Guilty Gear Isuka, Guilty Gear XX #Reload and Guilty Gear XX Accent Core +R, have the original soundtracks included with the game’s purchase.
Kerry Brunskill of PCGamer wrote about their favorite soundtracks that are hosted on Steam. They wrote, “The great thing about the soundtrack category on Steam is that it’s more than just a dumping ground for terabytes of preexisting audio. It’s a fertile and frequently updated landscape filled with generous freebies, phenomenal collections that traditional physical media would struggle to hold, and albums so obscure that even in this welcoming online space it’s a minor miracle they exist at all.”
Awesome! Which Steam Games Can I Check Out?
Most games have their soundtracks as DLC, such as Skullgirls 2nd Encore, Brigador, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and the original Devil May Cry. Other games with soundtracks as DLC include Hades and Hades II (composed by Darren Korb); Cult of the Lamb (composed by River Boy); A Hat in Time (composed by Pascal Michael Stiefel); Celeste (composed by Lena Raine) and Absolum (composed by Mick Gordon, Yuka Kitamura, Motoi Sakurabi and Rachel Hardy).
Exceptional games with even more exceptional soundtracks stand the test of time. A game is often as good as its soundtrack, and these games understood the assignment. They are ranked in no particular order.
Bastion – Composed by Darren Korb
Bastion is Supergiant Games’s first game, released in 2011. Bastion’s soundtrack, composed by Darren Korb with vocals accompanied by Ashley Barrett and an interlude hummed by narrator Logan Cunningham. The soundtrack combines the trippy, exotic wilderness with rustic, Western storytelling.
Celeste – Composed by Lena Raine
Celeste, released in 2017, is one of the most colorful and introspective indie platformers available. Composed by Lena Raine, the game’s music emphasizes the struggles protagonist Madeline goes through as she climbs Celeste Mountain.
Raine, in an interview with Original Sound Version, explained to Ryan Paquet about the directions she took with the music. She said, “The soundtrack in general plays a lot with dynamic mixing and track progression which let us take parts away or build up a track over the course of a chapter. By doing this, we can play with leitmotifs and thematic instruments in a way that just writing a through-composed piece can’t do on its own.”
A Hat in Time – Composed by Pascal Michael Stiefel
A Hat in Time, a 3D platformer released in 2017, has a soundtrack akin to other 3D collect-a-thons such as Super Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie and Spyro the Dragon. A Hat in Time’s soundtrack is full of whimsy and wonder that transcends nostalgia.
Absolum – Primarily Composed by Gareth Coker
Absolum is a rougelike beat ‘em up with music by Gareth Coker (Ori and the Blind Forest, ARK: Survival Evolved, Halo Infinite), Mick Gordon (DOOM 2016, DOOM: Eternal, Wolfenstein: The New Order), Yuka Kitamura (Elden Ring, Dark Souls II, Dark Souls III), Motoi Sakuraba (Mario Golf & Star Ocean) and Rachel Hardy (Stray Gods and Eternal Strands). One song from Absolum, titled “The Underking,” composed by Mick Gordon, combines Saturday morning cartoons with that feeling that one has discovered anime for the first time.
Which games have the best soundtracks? They may not have millions of views on YouTube or have many remixed versions on Overclocked Remix, but are the ones that stay with you long after the staff credits roll and you’re returned to the main menu. Steam is a great place to find music new and old, so don’t sleep on this treasure trove of both nostalgia and novelty.
