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…
TUNIC, FEZ, Nier Automata, Outer Wilds.
I also have a soft spot for Paper Mario and TTYD, those soundtracks are full of bops
Ori and the Blind Forest’s ost is phenomenal.
I think all of the Supergiant Games have great soundtrack. Transistor was what got me into their games, and it was the soundtrack that caught my attention first.
NieR: Automata
The Weight of the World
Outer Wilds. Yeah it’s one of the greatest games ever made, but would it be so good without that soundtrack? Debatable.
I petitioned to play something from it at my actual wedding (sadly was overruled), and I know I’m not the only one.
I know! It’s such a good ost! I think one of my favorite songs for it, although not from the ost, is Andrew Prahlow’s Outer Wild - Reprise single. It’s got aspects of all different main themes and is just overall an amazing piece
I can barely make it 30 seconds into that one without tearing up and I’m not ashamed to admit it.
Was looking for someone to mention Outer Wilds. I love when games weave music into storytelling and its perfect here.
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, but not necessarily), or they kind of blend with other orchestral tracks I know and don’t end up being unique enough to remember.
I like OST that goes hard (bass heavy) and I didn’t see any here. My personal favorites are:
- Hotline Miami (1 & 2)
- Furi
- Katana Zero
- My Friend Pedro
- Haven
I have probably forgotten some games and I will be happy to discover others as it is quite niche.
Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal have amazing soundtracks!
Mass Effect 3 OST has seen it’s fair share of play time as well though that might be just as much because I love the game so much.
Oh! Cyberpunk 2077 is amazing as well. Especially the songs from the radio stations in the game.
The Nier Automata OST is perfection. Almost every single track is memorable and lovable, I often relisten the whole ost just for fun
All the soundtracks Darren Korb makes for Supergiant. Hades resonates more with me as it’s the one I’ve played the most, but I’m also a huge fan of Transistor’s.
Literally any Final Fantasy for me. Nobuo Uematsu is just an incredible composer.
Dragon Quest series too, although Koichi Sugiyama was a…not great person.
Monkey Island 2 holds a special place for me because it introduced iMUSE and dynamically altering the music with the environment which was years ahead of its time.
Persona 5 Royal. Close 2nd is Nier: Automata. Both amazing OSTs
For focused work:
- Shenzhen IO
- Exapunks
- Opus Magnum
- Into the Breach
- Firewatch
- IXION
Other:
- Blue Archive Symphony
- 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim Branched Remix
- Minecraft
- Stardew Valley
- Spelunky
- Undertale
- Hades
- Helltaker
- Kirby
Bastion and Hades have just cool soundtracks you can listen to anytime. When pure adrenaline is needed the DOOM soundtrack.
Oh gosh where do I even start. I have a massive list of VGM soundtracks that I listen to but if I had to pick some favs currently:
- Gran Turismo 5/6 - been playing these games recently through the PS3 emulator and the vibe and feel these games go for is so much more amplified with the soundtrack, lots of chill jazz and downtempo music mixed with other genres like Dance and Rock.
- Pokémon (really any of them) - I’ve always loved the Pokémon soundtrack in all the mainline games, my favourite games in the series are HGSS so probably that soundtrack if I had to pick one.
- A Hat in Time - Soundtrack is so fun and upbeat, really regret buying this game on 2 separate platforms and then not playing through either of them.
- Celeste - Trans girl climbs gay mountain simulator with Lena Raine’s simply amazing piano and synth soundtrack is so damn good I can’t give it enough praise <3 (also all her other work on games like Minecraft and Chicory is super good too!)