Too hard to pick just 3 but can I just say all of Darren Korb's work on SuperGiant games?

FTL for its creepy, mysterious and intense tracks that fit the game so well.

Spelunky HD for much the same reasons, and because I just couldn’t stop humming along.

World of Warcraft (vanilla) for its epic tracks. Discovering a new area of the map and listening to the area’s music for the first time was exhilarating.

Hotline Miami for the hard beats and adrenaline inducing bangers.

The halo sound tracks are all on my list.
Halo 2
Halo ce
Halo 3

The greatest appeal of Hollow Knight, to me, is the evocative world and exploration, and the soundtrack does a big proportion of the heavy lifting in that respect. Greenpath is my favorite video game location of all time, and I think its music is largely responsible for that.

I love music in video games as a world-building tool, and I think Breath of the Wild is another one that does a great job at that. I guess now I’d count Tears of the Kingdom in there as well, since it’s basically the same soundtrack with some additions. Great example of how to use a lighter touch effectively in soundtracking, but the more traditional location-based tracks are all fantastic too. My favorite is probably Zora’s Domain, but it’s a close competition.

It might not actually be my third favorite, but it’s still worth mentioning, so for a wildcard pick, I’m going to say Freddi Fish and Luther’s Maze Madness which, by a wonderful coincidence, happens to be the work of Jeremy Soule, the composer of Skyrim’s OST. Mostly this one is just a great nostalgia blast for me. Best track has got to be Custom Level Designer; feels like an exemplary proto-vaporwave track to me.

Honorable mention: Minecraft, Zelda OoT, and Super Metroid

That's tough. I usually stick to artists instead of ost's.

Star Ocean 2 - a remake just came out of this, with a rearranged ost and the option to play good quality versions of the PS1 music. The PS1 music, imo, has a more interesting mix/instrumentation going on. It is a mix of a sort of Star Trek sci fi with distinctly jrpg storytelling conventions, and the music really makes it feel unique. "The Venerable Forest" and "Moderate" are good examples of how ethereal and contemplative it can be. Then along come others like "Heraldic Emblem" which push it in a more sinister, eerie direction. There's also a lot of prog rock in there because it's Sakuraba's thing. The prog is, on a scale of 1-10, quite widdly. You'll either love it or hate it, probably. And if you've played a lot of Tales games, it might just sound like, well, all of them lol. "Feel Refreshed" is a cool piano track that plays with the theme a bit.

Armored Core VI - as much as I enjoy the older music, VI's OST felt the most cohesive to me. Early on folks complained about it being more bland and generic, and I can kinda see it, but the more I listened the more I heard the sort of raw/unconventional character that Kota Hoshino's music tends to have. Unexpected samples, odd rhythms, wild changes in progression. "Steel Haze (Rusted Pride)" is probably the fan favorite, and for good reason. But I also really enjoyed "Rough and Decent", "Stargazer", and "Contact with You". "The Man Who Passed the Torch" achieves a kind of "dark blade runner" feeling I especially enjoyed. It's nice to get that much that leans on stuff like theming and leitmotif, after Elden Ring's endless sludge of ambient field music and choral barking. I like some of er's music, don't get me wrong, but as an album its ost is nigh unlistenable to me.

Doom 2016 - I struggle to come up with an album that goes quite as hard as this. That it's Doom also makes it pretty special - the original game ripped a bunch of riffs from metal acts for its OST, so having a game come out with an original composition aiming at the same feeling is pretty sick. "BFG Division" is the obvious pick there. It expresses endless, escalating fury, perfect shit if you're already big into metal.

In no particular order, my top three would be:

• Journey - The game is a work of art, and the amazing soundtrack further catapults it into a perfect gaming experience for me. I Was Born for This still gets me. Just like the Lord of the Rings soundtrack can take me back to scenes from the movies, Journey’s takes me back to very specific moments from the game.
• Minecraft (at least its original C418 album which has since been removed from the game or something?)- Its soundtrack is so melancholic and peaceful. Mice on Venus, Sweden, and so many others are just so iconic. I would say Minecraft somehow perfectly captures the emotion of nostalgia, because I felt the same way when I first listened to it as I do now.
• Skyrim - Like Minecraft, I have spent so much time listening to this purely because of the number of hours spent in the game. Unlike Minecraft, I have listened to this one so much more outside of the game. The music is full of ambiance, which makes it very easy to listen to.

I regret not putting FTL on the list. It was seriously vying for a spot, but I couldn't fit it on there. FTL has been my go to "nap" music for at least 5 years now. I put it on and am immediately put to sleep. It has this amazing ability to somehow force me to be relaxed. And, yes, that's even with the more "upbeat" tracks.

Funnily enough Ben Prunty (composer of the FTL soundtrack) made another (non-videogame) album called Color Sky and that has replaced FTL as my new "nap" music. It is fantastic. If you liked FTL's soundtrack give Color Sky a listen.

Other honorable mentions include:

• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
• The Last of Us
• The Witcher 3
• Super Mario Galaxy
• Ori and the Blind Forest
• Hollow Knight
• Ghost of Tsushima
• God of War: Ragnarok
• Elden Ring
• Tunic
• Risk of Rain 2
• Pyre
• Doom (2016)
• Halo (All of them)

Edit: minor grammar and realized I put Mario Odyssey instead of Galaxy

I already wrote a whole bunch in the thread cfabbro linked (from two months ago), but I can always remember different ones. I know I later mentioned in a different thread I regretted not including (na na na na na na na na na) Katamari Damacy in that post, because it is of course one of the best soundtracks of all time, this isn't even controversial.

I didn't list it back then because it had already been mentioned, but I have to say, it's hard to top Transistor.

And I'll always have a special place in my heart for Final Fantasy VII. Those melodies have lived rent-free in my brain for more than twenty years and they're not going anywhere.

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2

The one pick I'm truly surprised isn't here already. Frank Klepacki is a legend for his work on basically every C&C game there is, but Red Alert 2 is probably my personal favorite. Blend of 90s industrial/metal influences. If Hell March 2 doesn't make you want to bulldoze NYC with an army of bomb-slinging zeppelins, giant squids, and tank-eating spider robots, I don't know what will.

Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyDwuwwlXcQ&list=OLAK5uy_nRH8CYS0mDE4YtWCb2ZUeG0EpOny9jliw

Ace Combat Zero

Plenty of good choices for good Ace Combat OSTs, but Zero stands out for me. This pick is spurred by one song primarily, as the flamenco guitar driven title track "Zero" is just out of this world.

Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlSLCnbXMIE&list=PLL8LTXpdPwE732d5p_1MQRTwclaSIrexR

Hard Truck Apocalypse

This one plays on repeat in my head way more than it should. Admittedly, because the game itself was a very mixed bag (best described as a "buggy, janky, open world, truck-based mechwarrior RPG"). But even after getting bored and quitting the game halfway through, I still made damn sure to listen to every single song I missed afterwords.

Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz2BjXQdIyE&list=PL0y-6R7MTMROs8QVv2KbGqmKEBZGvf0FO

• Total Annihilation
• SoulBlazer (SNES)
• Shovel Knight

There's a lot more game soundtracks I love, but these stand out as the top contenders.

Total Annihilation was one of the first games to have a full orchestral soundtrack IIRC, and you really feel the weight of the conflict between the warring parties in tracks like "The March Unto Death".

SoulBlazer has the best SNES soundtrack in my mind (even though A Link to the Past or Chrono Trigger could lay claim to that top spot too), though that may be because it is also one of my favorite games. It's hard to pin a label on it to describe to someone who hasn't heard it, and maybe it only works in tandem with the game's simple but beautiful story, but there you go.

Shovel Knight has a Retro-Soundtrack that is just so catchy and full of energy. I haven't even played the game, but when I heard the soundtrack, I bought that immediately.

Deus Ex Human Revolution and Mankind Divided - they are amazing tunes to listen to when on a motorbike.

Doom 2016. Because it makes you want to put armour and absolutely rip and tear. Eternal gets no votes because of Bethesda's shambolic treatment of Lord Mick Gordon of Guitar.

NEOTOKYO°
GSDF disc and NSF disc

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Undercover Cops

Related topic that may interest you:
https://tildes.net/~music/1a20/what_are_your_favorite_soundtracks_for_films_and_video_games

Metal Gear Rising Revengeance

Transistor

Assassin's Creed Syndicate

For electro-swing, The Sexy Brutale has you covered.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y1tXjmOg0A

Maybe cheating a bit, for a game designed around its music, but Crypt of the Necrodancer is amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZU6F0srCl0&list=PLhFC8pd7oZvwJYhjmpZVyaKG7CUNoVvae

And finally, of course, Bastion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLA0vB9LCTM

Final Fantasy VIII: The video game that most impacted me as a child. Me, my mother and sister where into the game like crazy when I was young so the the soundtrack was always playing the the background so it was like the theme tune to my house.

Ridge Racer Type 4: Another game from my childhood that still goes hard today. I love that the track switch from the most serene chilled Sunday drive music to music that raises the tension and make you feel like you're a lap away from being the biggest hero in the motorsport world.

Disco Elysium: One of the few game that I consider a piece of art first and then a video game. Everything about the world of Disco Elysium is perfect and the sound track enhances that vibe.

Shout out to Halo:CE when me and my mum would load up that game to play some sweet multiplayer I would always listen to that beautiful menu theme.

The top 2 are easily OMORI and Undertale (plus AU Deltarune). My personal favorite tracks from each OST are Sinking for OMORI and Undertale for Undertale. OMORI is so good because it's really good at conveying the emotions of the characters or their memories and setting the mood for the player across a very wide variety of moods (This is also from the same soundtrack). Undertale is so good for similar reasons although more in the context of bringing their lore and the story to life.

Third is harder for me, among the games I'm familiar with, I'd say Minecraft, VVVVVV, Sonic Generations and Pizza Tower are all contenders and, honestly, nearly all of them are good for the same reasons. I think if I have to pick one of these, it'll be Pizza Tower, because it's also accompanied by really good sound effect design in the game.

1. Zelda Ocarina of Time. Best soundtrack of any game ever. I know every note of every song and they will randomly pop up in my head at random times (thanks ADHD). The simplicity of the music and the way they were able to leverage it in gameplay is just perfect (and unmatched).
2. Warcraft 2. Great work by Glenn Stafford. With the limited technology of the time he was still able to make iconic and epic sounding music. The music is easily the best aspect of the entire game.
3. Starcraft. Also great work by Glenn Stafford.

Outer wilds.
Bastion.
Mechanicus.

I'd hate to add this so late in the game but I can tell I'm older than some and have a few other suggestions. Maybe I'll do this chronologically.

Mega man 2 - the first game touched on the soundtrack but the second game perfected it. This is both house before it was house, and gaming music before games were really known for that. Even the remixes are great.

Monkey Island 1&2. These games had a variety of calypso that I think only comes from this series. I never really appreciated the style before but I had to record it from an external tape player because I love the tunes.

Final Fantasy 2&3 (4 & 6 in Japan) these were some of the first real games to get a soundtrack that didn't just come with the game (and sold really well). Touching, classic, and (semi) original.

Fallout 1-3. I never liked or appreciated my grandparents music until these games sat me down with some classics. Because of these games, I am MUCH more open to all styles and eras and made me much more accepting to give a song a chance rather than just walk away. I would say f3 did much more for that because I actively tried to listen to those stations rather than just hear the odd track like in 1&2.

I am partial to the various classic FPS soundtracks from Doom, Unreal Tournament and Quake III. Though that is probably hugely fueled by nostalgia. Add StarCraft as well.

• Darren Korbs work on Transistor and Hades
• Planetary Annhialtions orchestral soundtrack
• All of Amplitude studios games, but especially Endless Legend.

Wow, recently I did a list of top 5, but narrowing this down seems so hard!!

1. Stellaris is by far my favorite, it's breathtakingly gorgeous.
2. I think I have to say Splice - it's nothing fancy, and only 30 minutes of music across 2 volumes, but my playcount on this is over 1500. It's very Philip Glass-y and just so nice to have on. One of the only pieces of music I can listen to when I have a migraine.
3. Sayonara Wild Hearts. This is basically an original pop album and it's so goddamn good.

It hurts to leave out Spiritfarer, Tales of Zestiria, Final Fantasy X, even Machinarium. And I'm not including League of Legends cos that's not exactly an OST but omg Riot makes good music. Also the anniversary recording of Supergiant Games music is fantastic.

Shovel Knight - Kaufman is a god. The entire soundtrack bristles with personality

Spyro: Year of the Dragon - This OST lives forever in my head. Nothing but good memories playing this game for hours and hours growing up

Persona 4 Golden - Do I really need to say much? Almost every track in this game gets me moving and/or crying

• Project DIVA
• Final Fantasy XIV
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Honorable mention: Dance Dance Revolution. I never played it much myself, but the soundtrack featured lots of nice J-Pop and Eurobeat from the late 90s and early 2000s.

This is an impossible question to answer, but I'll give you my best.

Chrono Cross

Yasunori Mitsuda's music is magical, but Chrono Cross deserves the mention here because it makes the best impression when listened together as an album. He doesn't do entire soundtracks himself anymore as he's the big boss of a music production company and he has other composers to do the work for him - and it's a shame, honestly because they aren't anywhere as good as he is (except for arranger Mariam Abounnasr). There is also a live concert album of this music that is pretty good, and a ton of arranged albums as well.

If you like this kind of music, I'd also strongly recommend Cried, an arranged album of the music from Xenogears which is unabashedly one of my favorites of all time, and Moonlit Shadow, A jazz album made as a soundtrack to semi-infamous stinker 1000 Bullets which he composed Miki Higashino, another legendary composer. Both of them are real rollercoasters in their own way. If you want something more soundtrack-like, get an cinniùint, which is the soundtrack to the sadly forgotten Tsugunai.

Valkyre Profile

To be perfectly honest, I don't like Valkyrie Profile or any of the games out there like it. It's got a lot to love, but I didn't like how the package was put together. But Motoi Sakuraba needs to be on this list somewhere, and Valkyrie Profile is perhaps his most iconic soundtrack. It's one of the few games he has gone back to to make new arrangements for, and all of them are fantastic - certainly the way I'd recommend listening to them.

These days I consider Motoi Sakuraba to be three or four artists rolled up into one person because his work has that many signature sounds to them. His earlier FM compositions are great, but I think I prefer his output on the Playstation because it generally has the perfect lo-fi sound to my ears. His more modern work tries to be more symphonic, and while it's not bad it's not what I love him for (though if that is your bag, Star Ocean 4 is where I'd be looking). The place where he sparkles the most, though, is his arranged albums and the few original albums he has released.

Shining Force II

My top two are based on the musicians, but I wanted something a bit different for this one. The soundtrack for Shining Force II was written by Motoaki Takeuchi, and while he had stopped being prolific around the end of the last century, the stuff he composed was pretty fantastic, even if it won't necessarily be to everyone's tastes. There are many composers who had metaphorically "found the whammy bar" for the sound hardware they worked on during this era, but Takeuchi's compositions have a very different flavor to them that makes them stand out. And even more spectacularly, he managed to do it on at least three different kinds of sound hardware: the Megadrive's FM synth, the PSG on the Game Gear, and the SCSP on the Saturn. He's kind of like a Japanese Jeff Folin.

I chose Shining Force II because in addition to being a terrific showcase of skill, it's one that has a lot of emotional importance to me. The orchestra-like sounds really opened me up to liking classical music, but it's also full of stylish marches that have a barely-perceptible progressive rock influence at times. There is an arranged album with a mix of sampled and real instruments, but I would strongly recommend listening to the original FM version because it's the thing that actually impresses me the most. Where else can you hear an entire marching band realistically recreated with modulated sine waves?

If you want to hear Takeuchi's most impressive soundtrack, you should listen to his work on Shining Wisdom. There is also an arranged album released for it, and it's really impressive how much it sounds just like the Saturn's live-synthesized versions. It's also probably his most controversial soundtracks, since it sounds completely different from anything else in the series of games it was written for. This is one you'll want to grab the arranged soundtrack album release, though, since it has some added effects, some songs are arranged so they blend into the next track, and it has one of the most epic (or hilarious, depending on your viewpoint) vocal opening track you will ever hear.

Alternatively, this is my absolute favorite song of his.

Bonus: Olivier Derivier

I don't only listen to older game music, of course, but it's hard to find modern games that aren't retro-styled with notable soundtracks. There is one composer, however, who has consistantly impressed me: Olivier Derivier.

I first heard his music playing a cult classic horror game called Obscure (and like a true hipster, I liked it before it was cool). And while I liked both it and it's sequel's soundtrack, the one I like the most came after them, when he composed the soundtrack to the infamous flop Alone in the Dark reboot. I bought and played through that entire game just for the music in it. It was frustrating but oh so worth it. If you want to do the same, I'd recommend getting the PS3 version because it has a bunch of fixes not in the other versions of the game (not even the PC version, IIRC).

The thing about the Alone in the Dark soundtrack - in addition to just about every Derivier soundtrack - is that you'll never really find a full soundtrack release for them. Derivier almost exclusively makes dynamic music tracks that are designed to change depending on the situation, so there isn't really a way to give you a "full" soundtrack because you won't get the full experience. But for the impatient, there is an album release with arrangements from Alone in the Dark, and it's very much worth listening to.

1. Deus Ex - The original just has a masterful soundtrack that fits the vibes, aesthetics, and atmosphere of it's universe perfectly.

2. Sonic The Hedgehog 2 - Just a fun melodic solid soundtrack that perfectly compliments the visuals and gameplay of this 16bit classic.

3. Comix Zone - as far as I understand this soundtrack was composed with live instruments but then redone for the Genesis sound chip. The synthesized alternative rock sound just hits a sweet spot for me.

It's very hard to narrow it down to just three, but off the top of my head it would be:

1. Xenogears
2. Nier: Automata
3. Transistor

I could easily replace some of these items with numerous other Squaresoft RPG OSTs to this list too.

FTL
Final Fantasy Tactics (seems to be slept on in this thread)
Metal Gear Solid

Project Wingman deserves to take all three slots. Listen to it! You can feel the action! Now THIS is final boss music! It hits so damn right when you're flying ten miles up with your waifu WSO behind you trash talking AWACS Galaxy, god I love that game

But if I had to pick two others, they're Shadow of the Colossus and Hollow Knight. Both games stand up entirely well even without the music, which makes their absolutely incredible soundtracks even better. But not as good as Project Wingman.

I don't know about top 3, but one of my favorites is Hitman 3. In particular the song for Club Holle.

Also a shoutout to megalovania.

Mm, thinking about it, it'd be weird to try and just pick a top-3 given the many ways you could go about it, so instead I did my top 1 from each 'category':

• Very 'video game-y': Castlevania Symphony of the Night
• Modern/Relevant to the game: Transistor (also my favorite soundtrack ever)
• Literal music soundtrack: MVP Baseball 2005, which did a lot to influence my music tastes in middle school.

• Star Ocean: The Second Story

Motoi Sakuraba was an excellent fit for the classic tri-Ace games. This might be the best. Agree with the SO and Valkyrie Profile mentions above.

• Soul Blazer

Also mentioned above. All the SNES Quintet titles have great soundtracks to match their gameplay.

• Lords of Thunder

Not yet mentioned! Thundering heavy metal making great use of the Duo's red book capabilities. The previous title Gate of Thunder is good too.

I'll make a distinction here and separate scores from soundtracks. Even with that, it is very tough to narrow it down to only three of each.

Soundtracks:

• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004)
  Every radio station was stacked with classic tracks. But it was Radio-X, K-DST and Radio Los Santos in particular which have had an incredible influence on my music tastes still to this day.
• Tony Hawk's Underground (2003)
  Very tricky to pick just one from the THPS series. While the original remains the most iconic, I gotta go with the most expansive entry here. And, as a young metalhead, this is the one that delivered the goods best of all for me.
• The Beatles: Rock Band (2009)
  Is this a cheat answer? Fuck no.

Scores:

• Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2001)
  Hard to pick between this and Snake Eater. In any case, more than 20 years later and that main theme still manages to raise neck hairs.
• Final Fantasy VII (1997)
  Nobuo Uematsu remains one of my favourite composers and I adore all of his work. Narrowing it down, I had to go with the one that got me obsessed with his work in the first place and really made me start to pay attention to music in videogames.
• Hollow Knight (2017)
  This score just oozes atmosphere and does such a wonderful job in evoking the awed melancholy of a lost civilisation.

The Inbetweener

• Doom (2016)
  In-game, the music cues never fail to deliver pitch perfect intensity to elevate the action, while the soundtrack re-arrangements are bona-fide rippers front-to-back. Plus some serious ingenuity on composer Mick Gordon's part went into it too; I highly recommend his GDC talk from a few years back.

Limbo is my #1 for sure. I love ambient and atmospheric stuff and it's a huge part of why I love that game so much. I can't really think of too many others so I'll go with Machinarium and FFXIII as #2 and #3 since those are the only other game soundtracks I liked enough I had to buy them.

1. Fastfall [Dustforce OST] (PC) by Lifeformed
   https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBB4108C5CB4E1DD6
2. F-Zero (SNES) by Yumiko Kanki & Naoto Ishida
   https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4fZ-kST2ONghyN7PDu_Dtb1G4SXG0VJ8
3. Solstice (NES) by Tim Follin
   https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL359EEF6EAF867283

Three is too limiting!

Maplestory is my all-time top soundtrack, perfect music for adventuring through a variety of different locales, from fairy forests to urban jungles to a city made entirely of lego. Also the sound of my childhood so incredibly biased here.

The other two might not be my absolute top picks but definitely left enough of an impact that I can wholeheartedly recommend them.

Frostpunk has an OST that perfectly captures that incredibly niche feeling of being a Victorian-era British citizen desperately trying to keep yourself and everyone else alive in miserable working conditions and brutally unforgiving cold. The city must survive.

Payday 2 just goes incredibly hard. Simon Viklund really outdid himself here, there's just so much energy and momentum in his tracks, especially when the assault phase starts and things really start heating up. Makes for great workout and bank robbing music.

Kirby's Dreamland

Katamari Damacy

Morrowind

Kirby's Dreamland is my favorite game of all time, both for nostalgia and it's just the perfect 20-30 minute game to crank out on a chill evening.l, and the music is full, fun, and memorable.

Katamari Damacy works as an album, tbh. That opening song is an absolute banger and the rest just doesn't miss.

Morrowind is just an iconic soundtrack. The grand pieces that play as you traverse the world shouldn't work in that context, but it's pretty great. As a side note Inon Zur seemed to take some queues from it for Starfield by throwing large compositions in the overworld music in Starfield, which worked similarly, and I think is great. I'd similarly compare Starfield's soundtrack to Morrowind's because of the use of major motifs in non-action/story music, and memorability of many pieces.

I feel modern game soundtracks are just boring goop a lot of the time. They can just put full tracks directly in the game, composed from every instrument. Personally video game soundtracks peaked when they had to work with limitations

Super Mario RPG, Donkey Kong Country 2, LoZ Oot.

If we go into more modern stuff, FF10, Red alert 2, Guitar Hero 2. Honorable mention to Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2.

R4 for PS1

Might just be nostalgia but Power Stone.

Edit: Oops didn't see you said 3.

I thought The Messenger was very cool with it's Past and Future soundtracks.

and I'll throw in Risk of Rain 2 for #3 (Playlist link).

It seems to have been forgotten by many but the Age of Conan soundtrack was awesome and IIRC won a music industry award.

An oldie but only video game soundtrack I've ever bought was Austin Wintory's Journey soundtrack: https://austinwintory.bandcamp.com/album/journey

For me has to be the Fifa series, particularly 04-18. My favorites are 06, 13 and 17.

Lots of great choices in this thread. Most of my favorites have been picked already, so I'll throw in some different ones.

I'm going to add Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal. They're not typical in being one of few games with metal soundtracks. Both soundtracks are some of the best metal I've ever listened to. But beyond the amazing quality of the music, the way it flows with the gameplay is pretty astonishing. The way the music changes with cues in the gameplay makes for such an intense and high octane experience. The only other game I've played, which has music cues, this comprehensive is Halo 3, which I would say is the best soundtrack of all time.

Another of the greatest, in my opinion, is Minecraft. It almost feels like a cop-out answer but has been (and continues to be with added songs) the best ambient soundtrack. Maybe it's a bit of nostalgia, but the second almost any song starts playing, a strange wave of eery, soothing, calmness always comes with it. It feels like my safe-space for both gaming and music.

This may be controversial, but I also absolutely love the Cyberpunk 2077 soundtrack. Something about it really clicks for me. A lot of people were really unhappy with the game, but I loved it from the start, and the music elevated everything. It felt like it carried an immense amount of weight, like you could really feel the presence of the imposing, heartless city and seemingly hopeless circumstances through the music.

I'm surprised that nobody mentioned the Diablo II soundtrack by Matt Uelmen. It's the best one I know by far: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iN4pcODdma8 The Diablo I one is also quite cool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcTAVQYMZv0

Then there are the Torchlight ones also by Matt Uelmen:

• Torchlight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVnRj3mxlKA
• Torchlight II: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3dJn5cij9I
• Torchlight III: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDwRpYXI74Q

Can't name 3 that aren't already on some other list. The one that isn't though would be-
This is the Police

which has a bunch of great jazz/blues style stuff, with a personal favorite being This Train.

Really surprised not to see anyone mention anything in the Need for Speed series or really anything much in the racing genre. Granted these are really just a mix CD to match the game but I don't think it's been done quite as well as these three:

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2
Need for Speed: Underground
Test Drive: Off Road

Super Mario Odyssey - Wooded Kingdom

Need for Speed Underground 2 - Get Low

Sword & Sworcery

GTA Vice city
Tony Hawks pro skater 2
Ghost runner

Lots of great suggestions here. Putting in my obligatory vote for Bloodborne :)

Especially the DLC tracks (which are criminally not on Spotify!) go hard. Specfically, Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower and (of course) Ludwig, the Holy Blade are my two favorites!

• The Neverhood
• Splinter Cell Chaos Theory
• Minecraft

The Neverhood is a truly unique entry in the history of video game soundtracks. It really matched the oddball tone of the game itself which was entirely claymation. Still one I love listening to these days.

DOOM (2016) - It's bonkers how hard this goes. Rip & Tear, Hellwalker, BFG Division, Damnation... play it through the best audio device you have as loud as you can bear.

Final Fantasy (Nobuo Uematsu): Hard to pick a favorite here. Dude is a legend.

Brave Fencer Musashi: another Squaresoft entry and an absolute nostalgia trip for me. Perfect fantasy adventure music.

Honorable mention to Deep Rock Galactic, also an excellent soundtrack. Really sets the mood and distinguishes moments of action from downtime.

Mirror's Edge (2008) had some absolute bangers in its soundtrack.

i still listen to "Introduction" by Solar Fields and "Still Alive" by Lisa Miskovski

Not in any order, because I don't play a lot of games. The "ooh this is a GOOD soundtrack" ones it is then!

• Sandship (Android)
• Alto's Odyssey (Android)
• Monument Valley 2 (Android)

Notable mentions:
One Dreamer, Mindustry

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Mega Man 2
Super Street Fighter II Turbo

No one remembers this game, probably. Outcast (from 1999)

The score is incredible, and I believe was performed by the Moscow Symphony.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkhv-sMTeI0

Final Fantasy VI
Chrono Trigger
Risk of Rain 1 / Returns

Some of my favorites aren't in here yet so I'll add them:
Descent II had a nice industrial metal sound track.

Botanicula is one of the most interesting sonic productions I've heard in my years. The band that did it is quite interesting, dva sing in their own made up language for most (if not all) of their albums.