Gaming

Shadow of the Colossus and Undertale.

Chrono Trigger OST holds up well

Undertake and Persona 5 will remain my top two for a while, and in that order.

Sim City 4 is definitely in my top five - love the chilled out jazzy stuff. Also, this is kind of out there, but does anybody remember the Harry Potter RPGs on gameboy color? Those had some great magical 8-bit tunes!

These:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D0YwnEWK-Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tXuSsEnXJo

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

Steven Wilson’s soundtrack to The Last Day of June is absolutely spectacular.

The Hollow Knight soundtrack is great. A slightly more obscure favorite of mine is Jamestown, the music in that game goes incredibly well with the gameplay and gets me hyped.

KOTOR and KOTOR 2, Mass Effect (Vigil, Leaving Earth, An End Once and For All), Hogwarts Legacy (very reminiscent of the movie scores but its own thing)

Final Fantasy XIV. I'm so excited to hear what Masayoshi Soken will cook up next. Other ones to mention are Guilty Gear Strive, MegaMan X and Zero series, and The World Ends With You.

The Bomberman Hero soundtrack slaps.

+1 for Hollow Knight! I've actually been loving the music for Surviving Mars. maybe a bit niche, but really nice. Especially the "official mars radio" station.

idk if this counts as an "OST" but the New Vegas soundtrack like changed my life lol. the vibes set by those choice cuts of big band/swing from the era just added a level of immersion and comfort I didn't even know existed.

Visual Novels usually have pretty good OSTs, such as Danganronpa 2 and Umineko no Naku Koro ni

I’ve always been a fan of the Sim City soundtracks. Despite being a bummer of a game, the 2013 version is one of my favorite for just the music.

Age of Empires 2 The Conquerors

Star Control 2 The Talos Principle The Outer Wilds

I was completely obsessed with the Final Fantasy 6 sound track as a kid and even did a playthrough with a tape recorder to make my own sound track.

Chrono Trigger is a close second.

I want to throw out an honorable mention to Dust Force, the sound track may be some of the best "get into the zone" music I've ever heard.

Crypt of the Necrodancer and Cadence of Hyrule both require me to stand, so I can bounce in time to the music with my character.

For me, Shovel Knight and Chrono Trigger tie for first, followed by Ocarina of Time and Super Mario World.

Fun fact: nearly every single song in the Super Mario World soundtrack is a variation on one single melody, so its diversity even with that constraint really showcases how cleverly it was created.

BLOODBORNE

Heh, just a few on the go: Witcher 3 Cyberpunk 2077 Divinity: Original Sin 2 ("Sing for me" 🥰) Battlefield 1 and V Hi-Fi Rush

Mega Man X for SNES is one of my favorites. In the PSP remake, the re-recorded all the original 16-bit songs with live instruments. It's amazing.

Far Cry 5. It's probably the only game I've played that has the same songs written in totally distinct music styles. Each song, like "We Will Rise Again", is written as:

• A church hymnal (men and women's mixed chorus)

• A folk song (bluegrass inspired, fiddles, acoustic guitars, and steel harps)

• An ethereal rendition by Hammock that evokes the "bliss" part of the game world that the character Faith rules.

It's amazing that all three of these songs are the same in lyrics and meaning, but their execution is completely different and had very different emotional feels as a result.

• Ico
• Final Fantasy XIII
• Final Fantasy XIV
• Stellaris
• Warhammer 40k: Darktide
• Kingdom Hearts
• Mirror's Edge
• Modern Warfare 2
• Need for Speed: Most Wanted (OG)
• Ratchet & Clank
• Halo 3: ODST
• Persona 5

Decent 2, is the soundtrack I keep coming back to.

I never get tired of it. i just wish the tracks were longer. :)

Star Ocean 3, Yakuza: Like a Dragon

Final Fantasy XIV is my singular favorite, but given all its expansions that might be cheating a touch. ;) The Final Fantasy series in general tends to have great music.

Nier series, chrono trigger, Skyrim, and there are a lot of others I've liked as well, but I think that covers all my favorites. :)

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).