Games

VVVVVV

The Dead Cells soundtrack. Especially:

• Prisoner's Awakening (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzK3z8MLSpA&list=PLombWqRALIZDwEsPJuGvD6soVFA46I7f2&index=3)
• Clocktower (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ1Pk8HBYJU&list=PLombWqRALIZDwEsPJuGvD6soVFA46I7f2&index=21)
• Temple (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fg0R4w7LvG4&list=PLombWqRALIZDwEsPJuGvD6soVFA46I7f2&index=20)
• Lighthouse (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fqHBOTFgcI&list=PLombWqRALIZDwEsPJuGvD6soVFA46I7f2&index=41)

Doesn't look like anyone listed the Ori soundtracks by Gareth Coker yet, they're amazing. Also can't go wrong with WoW if you're looking for more classic fantasy style.

Any of Marty O'Donnell's Halo soundtracks

Everything by Jeremy Soule. Especially Guild Wars 2 and Skyrim.

Crysis 2

Overwatch

A Hat In Time

Minecraft

Shadow of the Colossus OST https://youtu.be/57jIlw6HmCE?si=Lf3pXvLo7vT1DAeB

Lots of Elder Scrolls and Elder Scrolls Online

Lots of Metal Gear stuff

Kingdoms of Amalur

Shadow of the Colossus

Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon (badass 80s music)

Assassins Creed 3

Psychonauts 2. Peter McConnell only got better as the years went by.

Not a game, but you can't go wrong with most of the Ocean's Eleven-Thirteen soundtracks, if you like funky jazzy stuff.

ATM I love the soundtracks of:

• Civilization 6
• Genshin Impact
• Persona 3
• Rimworld (+ P-music mod)

The persona series has some great songs

Total Annihilation

How is there not a Single mention of celeste? It is one of the few things that can keep me focussed for hours.

• Risk of Rain 2
• Hollow Knight
• Earthbound

Non-game instrumental artists:

• GoGo Penguin
• Floating Points (especially "Promises")
• Kiasmos
• Max Cooper
• Boards of Canada
• Reid Willis
• C418

starfield the game is divisive to say the least, but i cant imagine anyone would talk bad about the soundtrack. inon zur's best work so far, and the death metal songs in there are fucking awesome too

Need for Speed 3 -- the original hot pursuit has an amazing techno and rock soundtrack.

GTA V has an awesome soundtrack (listen to the original score, not the music they licensed)

The very first Hitman and Hitman Contracts had some killer techno/electronic soundtracks.

Any of these are great to play in the background while you work.

My favorite soundtrack ever, of course, is that of The Secret of Monkey Island (MT-32) by Michael Land. A lot of nostalgia there.

I also very much like the soundtrack to Dune by Stephane Picq. There's an edition that combines the Adlib, Adlib Gold, and MT-32 versions which is "chef's kiss". Alternatively, I can recommend the Space Opera edition.

Strike Commander by Nenad Vugrinec on MT-32 is also great.

For chiptunes, I really liked Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3 by Alex Mauer.

Or, for a real classic, Earthbound by Keiichi Suzuki and Hirokazu Tanaka.

Yes, I have a bit of a thing for retro sounds. 😁

Civilization Beyond Earth and Battletech have marvelous soundtracks

XCOM 2 Legacy Soundtrack. Some darned good beats on there.

Thomas was alone OST is superb.

Offworld Trading Company. Haven't played the game but it's a great sci-fi soundtrack by Christopher Tin of Civ IV fame.

Child of light

I would suggest "quake 2", it's rock /metal and put me in a good mood when I work. Now if you like instrumental metal, it's no game music, but I would suggest Aephenemer (their official instrumental playlist is on YouTube).

Ultrakill has some bangers, didn't even play the game Injust stumbled on the OST.

The Witcher 3, I love BANANA TIGER.

Red Dead Redemption 1 and 2.

No Man's Sky

Lost Ember

Gris

Deep Rock Galactic

Route 96

Cyberpunk 2077

So so so many more

Tropico 3

Subnautica has a long and beautiful OST. It's been a long-time favorite of mine, and just a great instrumental jam to fuel my creativity lately. Stardew has my other favorite game soundtrack!

Portal / Portal 2

"Science Is Fun" is a great track, as are the end songs "Still Alive" and "I Want You Gone".

Overall, Surviving Mars might be my favorite work soundtrack. Assorted tracks from Stellaris plus the Age of Wonders and Civilization series are also good. Something about the soundtracks in 4X games and games like them always puts me in a productive mood while not making me emotional and thus distracted like RPG soundtracks can sometimes.

Since you like FF, I'd suggest looking into Uematsu's other works as well, especially Lost Odyssey. For similar ones in the genre, there's also Yasunori Mitsuda's work in the Chrono and Xeno series.

Can't go wrong with pretty much any pre-Skyward Sword Zelda. SS itself also has Ballad of the Goddess, which was good, but I can't remember any other tunes from it or BOTW that aren't just reprises of tracks from previous games.

@MacedWindow Diablo 2 for sure

Rise of Nations soundtrack is fantastic sandis the only "video game music" that I semi-regularly listen to.

Especially check out "High Strung" that would always play in multiplayer whenever a player dropped a nuke on another player.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL829D6AF91A5C465E&si=yvPeVG9kuDx71mZb

Stellaris. Absolutely fantastic.

I liked the music in La-Mulana 1&2.

Commenting here because I tend to enjoy game soundtracks and want to look these up.

I prefer Sci-fi background noise so Surviving Mars is my favorite. Mass Effect is ok but I find it gets a little too cinematic and bombastic at times. FTL and Into The Breach, or really anything by Ben Prunty is good too