A gaming sub free from the hype and oversaturation of current releases, catering to gamers who wait at least 12 months after release to play a game. Whether it's price, waiting for bugs/issues to be patched, DLC to be released, don't meet the system requirements, or just haven't had the time to keep up with the latest releases.
Dear patient lemmings, I am in need of your help. I'm searching for games that have some GOD DAAMN OSTs and come with a great story or/and gameplay.
Games that tick these requirements for me:
Neir Automata has an absolutely banging soundtrack. You need to "finish" the game I think 3 times to see the final ending. Push through the run as 9s it is worth it. The ending has all the feels and the ending song is with it is phenomenal.
To The Moon has a beautiful soundtrack and a story which made me cry. It's not a long game, I highly recommend it.
Syonara Wild Hearts is a video game music album. It's really simple mechanically but the songs are great and it's a proper Zen game.
Journey has a wonderful sound track, just get to like level 3 where your doing the big slide downhill and tell me that's not magical.
Similar to Journey (but not quite as good) is Gris.
Bastion has some excellent songs and is a short experience.
Terraria has a brilliant soundtrack and great gameplay, very little story though. Great in multiplayer so find a friend.
Death Stranding has some great songs, a bit to spread out though. The story is Kojimas usual eclectic madness but I enjoyed it.
+1 for Sayonara Wild Hearts!
How has nobody said Hotline Miami yet?
Hotline Miami
Hotline Miami
Hotline Miami
Nier: Automata
Disco Elysium
Outer Wilds
These came right into my head when I read great OSTs
Risk of Rain 2
How in the fuck is Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance not mentioned yet?
A+++ OST, A+ gameplay, and a surprisingly good story for a Platinum game.
Hopefully not too many repeats from what others said.
Homeworld
Halo 2, 3, and ODST
Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 and 2
Age of Empires II
Midnight Club II and 3: Dub Edition
Katamari Damacy
The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask
Kingdom Hearts
Doom
Grim Fandango: Remastered
Shadow of the Colossus
Chrono Trigger
Star Fox 64
Hades, Hades, and Hades. I listen to that OST all the time it's just so good. Also DOOM 2016
Somehow, nobody's mentioned Cyberpunk 2077 yet. Every track in this game goes so incredibly hard. The in-game radio stations are all full of absolute bangers, and even the ambient world music is fantastic and sets the mood for every scene. It's one of the few games whose soundtracks I listen to on its own.
I suspect patient gamers have held off on this one given its relatively high system requirements, need for patches to improve performance, and super recent expansion. I'm sure you're right, but speaking for myself, it's not on my to-play list for at least another year. (Only mentioning it since you seem surprised)
Outer Wilds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPa8bPqQfmo
Disco Elysium https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCmKXZZCBgQ
I can also recommend FTL, Risk of Rain and Risk of Rain 2. Really good OSTs, I'm listening to all of them regularly. They've also got great gameplay! But they're rogue-likes so basically no story in case that bothers you.
I'm back with more.
Some older games:
Breath of Fire III
Castlevania Symphony of the Night
Ys VI ark of napishtim
Donkey Kong country
Final Fantasy VI
DKC2 has one of the most beautifully-melancholic soundtracks of all time imo. I was enamored by it as a child, and as a young adult, realized how influential it was for me during the time in my life I made music myself. David Wise really is something else.
Secondly anyone who said FURI - that game is a masterpiece and the OST is so well tied into the fights it's hard to separate them. Seriously, they gave the artists details on the bosses and their arena, fighting style and other notes and said make a song that fits
Super Mario Galaxy. Full orchestral music, and the game is cracking too.
I'll add more if I think of them. Most of the others I can think of have already been mentioned.
ETA:
The Sims 2.
The nostalgia, oh man. Sims 2 and 3 was something different. Sad to see that Sims 4 became a lackluster game.
There are lots of mods you can get to improve TS4, but you're right, it's missing something fundamental. Even things like genetics are so dumbed-down as to be almost pointless
Pokemon for the OSTs. Always so good, from the first games to the most recent ones.
Hollow Knight (Great metroidvania, even better soundtrack), Journey (It’s just good. I struggle to describe it any other way), Project: Wingman (Neat game about blowing things up in planes. Has a fun, dramatic soundtrack.), Cassette Beasts (An open world monster catching rpg like Pokémon. The soundtrack is good, although some people aren’t fans of the lyrics.), Cloudpunk (A cyberpunk open-world exploration game. Really great ost to match the theme. Also, the game has exceptional story, especially the City of Ghosts expansion.)
Edit: Add explanations
I mean, I still think World of Warcraft has one of the most atmospheric sound tracks out there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM_RlI5qVXI
Sunset Overdrive is great if you like punk music. Saint's Row, all of them.
Doom Eternal. It fits the game perfectly. I also liked cyberpunk 2077 in all aspects.
Wait the suggestion of Jet Set Radio made me think
Now those are some classics, time to break out the PS2
Loop Hero
Library of Ruina went nuts with its osts
One time they even patched the game just to buff a boss's music, not even the boss itself
Caveats with hollow Knight story: you won't know a lot about the story until you watch mossbag videos after getting to one of the endings.
Caveats with genshin gameplay: only the exploration and some quests are good. All other gameplay should be ignored (or doused with fire). The exploration is actually one of the best open world exploration I've played, and I've played Witcher 3, botw, AC: black flag, arkham series, and more.
Caveats with genshin story (context: currently on version 4.0+):
I feel like I'm a little old school in this thread compared to most other replies, but idgaf:
Castlevania: Symphony of the night has the best soundtrack ever, or maybe on par with the first three Silent Hills and its just an awesome game
Also Alundra. Great story, great soundtrack, great everything.
The Surviving Mars OST is spectacular, though the gameplay is just good.
Real glad to see Life is Strange. Still can't listen to obstacles without crying and it's been probably 7 years
I really enjoy the OST for the Hotline Miami games. If it's your thing it goes pretty hard.
Final Fantasy XIV has a diverse soundtrack and a terrific story, but it is a huge time commitment. The story starts off pretty slow and takes a long time to build up.
A few boss fight themes as examples:
Earthbound and Mother 3 could be exactly what you're looking for. There's just nothing quite like them OST, story, and gameplay wise.
Little Nightmares and Little Nightmares 2 also have excellent music that perfectly complement their soul-squeezing visuals and gameplay.
Portal 2 has very little music but it is GOOD, and perfectly timed to key moments in the story. Also top notch unique gameplay, obvs.
Skyrim music is iconic for a reason.
OFF's music is similarly iconic and its story and visuals so unique and engaging you'll likely forgive it for being unapologetically RPG-maker. The latest English translation (3.0) is considered the most faithful to the original French.
FRACT OSC is a "musical exploration game" where you directly influence the soundtrack by interacting with a beautiful, surreal puzzle landscape with Tron-like visuals.
Sea of Stars had some really catchy tunes.