The Music of 2025

So, small confession, over the years, due to living in apartments and trying to be courteous to others, I developed a pretty bad habit of playing games with either low volume or with no sound while I listened to podcasts or Youtube playlists. I know, general heresy, but this was yet another bad habit I was determined to break this year. Making full use of the aux port included on the Xbox controller, this year I played games while wearing headphones, taking in the full array of audio design, including the music. To my delight, not only did a few games have amazing soundtracks in their own right, but the use of licensed music was also a treat to discover. So, in to celebrate this, here's a selection of music that has lived rent free in my mind this year.

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Dragon Age Inquisition: The Dawn Will Come

While I ultimately found this song, and how it's utilized in game, to be a tad cheesy, I can't deny the impact it had. Up until this point in the story, I had been enjoying the prospect of going out, doing quests and recruiting allies, and assumed that regardless of the events happening in the game, my home base, Haven, was a safe place. This all changed when Corypheus and his army of Templars decided I'd had it good for too long. While the mission to defend Haven wasn't exactly hard, it did fundamentally change the stakes and nature of the conflict. It's not often that the final boss is proactive and tries to eliminate the heroes in their home. After the fall of Haven, we must take what remains of our forces and retreat to lick our wounds. With no clear path forward, at least until Solas comes in clutch, this is easily the lowest point for our heroes in the story. Battered, beaten, and reeling from the assault, we get a scene where the members of the Inquisition come together to sing, showing that their spirits are far from broken. Cheesy and on the nose, it's an incredibly effective moment in game that actually managed to give me chills.

Tales of Graces f: Mamoritai (White Wishes)

Call me a weeb, but I am an absolute sucker for games with an anime opening theme. While a bit lost due to the advent of quick resume options that let you essentially pause the game when you power the system down, these intros always made it feel as though you were sitting down to enjoy a new episode each time you sat down to play. The song itself is fine, though I admit to finding the English vocals a bit hard to listen to often, it's really the animation and music that help to sell this effect. It's fun to see the characters you've been adventuring with come to life in this expressive style, and it's fun to revisit as you go to see scenes from the story recreated here.

Far Cry Primal: The Wolf (Fever Ray)

While I was well aware of Far Cry's use of licensed music in the mainline games, I didn't expect anything of the sort while playing Primal. For the most part, my expectations were met and while I did enjoy the ambient music in the game, there was never anything to make me think any modern music would show up. So, imagine my surprise when going to finish off the rival Izila tribe once and for all, Fever Ray's "The Wolf" starts playing. To set the scene, the Izila tribe worship the sun and sacrifice people so that the sun will continue to reappear. After stealing a ceremonial mask, we put it on and the song starts playing while members of the Izila tribe run in fear from us. It's an amazing sequence that allows us to feel feared and powerful before our final encounter with the tribe leader. The song, with its tribal chanting, is incredibly fitting and elevates the scene to new heights.

Alan Wake: War (Poets of the Fall)

One of a handful of songs by Poets of the Fall in the game, War is my pick for the most fitting and hype inducing. As we slowly begin to unravel the mysteries of the small town we're trapped in, Alan finds himself feeling overwhelmed and isolated as the madness closes in. After discovering his allies and starting to understand what's going on, this song comes comes on the radio with a humorous mention of how the band reminds the DJ of the local band, the Old Gods of Asgard, whose very plot essential song was performed by Poets of the Fall for the game. The song, which is amazing in its own right, serves as a rallying theme for the player, letting them and Alan know that, while you may not always see them, you have allies in this fight. It marks a pretty big turning point where the goal shifts from simply surviving to actively fighting against the forces of darkness.

To the Moon: Everything's Alright

Without going into major spoilers, this song comes basically out of nowhere. During a pivotal scene, which is beautifully illustrated, the song comes in to really drive home the emotional punch. While hauntingly beautiful in its own right, the song is absolutely devastating with context, and turns a relatively simple narrative twist into a knife that the game proceeds to twist. It's hard for me to not tear up a little simply thinking of To the Moon, and this song certainly serves as a catalyst that opens the flood gates.

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon: Theme Song and OST (Power Glove)

Among the many brilliant ideas presented in Blood Dragon, the decision to have Australian synthwave duo Power Glove create the soundtrack is by far the most inspired choice. While every single track is amazing, I find myself playing the theme song in my head the most often. It instantly sells the 80's aesthetic and vibe, and perfectly gets you pumped for some serious cyber commando ass kicking.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33: Gestral Merchant

In a game with a near perfect soundtrack, Gestral Merchant stands out to me as possibly the best battle theme in any video game. Kicking off with an amazing drum and piano combo, the vocals come in, both haunting and beautiful, falling into a nice rhythm before slowing down. When it picks back up, we get a wonderful new beat just before we're hit with the sick electric guitar riff. We get layers of vocals, with some beautiful a capella replacing the drum beat. It's such an amazing track that I could listen to on repeat for days.

Persona 4 Golden: Backside of the TV

Yet another amazing soundtrack, Backside of the TV stands out with it's focus on vocals, with the instrumentation mostly being used to emphasize the chorus. It's a great song that helps set the tone for our time in the other world, helping to establish that our group is on a mission.

Hi-Fi Rush: Whirring (The Joy Formidable)

It's no surprise that a game focused on rhythm and music is going to have an absolutely killer soundtrack, and Hi-Fi Rush certainly doesn't disappoint. While the game features some amazing songs from Nine Inch Nails and The Prodigy, these are generally reserved for boss fights where they work exceedingly well. "Whirring", by The Joy Formidable, instead plays during the penultimate level, which is more akin to a victory lap before the final showdown. Progressing through the level with our allies jumping around to help us proceed while this song plays effectively sells the sense of camaraderie and teamwork that's made the entire journey possible.

Date Everything: Scanalabra's Theme

Simply put, every character's theme is damn near perfect, helping to give an understanding of who they are and mixed with plenty of references. Scandalabra's theme, with it's classical influences, is already pretty good, but it's the little "Uh oh!" that truly elevates it. Without fail, the small vocal cue would play with absolute perfect timing, adding to the over the top hilarity that the character already has. It made talking with the character far more fun, as he's a bit much to handle.

Far Cry 3: Make it Bun Dem (Skrillex & Damian "Jr Gong" Marley)

If you had told me that Skrillex, best known for EDM and dubstep, had a song with heavy reggae influence that played as the player is tasked with burning a field of weed, I highly doubt I'd even know what that means, let alone how badly I needed. It makes an otherwise bland and forgettable mission one of the most memorable in the game.

The Darkness: Riverbank (Pelle Carlberg)

When I think of or just generally look at the promotional material for The Darkness, the only music I can imagine is some classic early 2000's butt rock. Maybe some "edgy" stuff like bad screamo or shitty grungecore. What I wasn't expecting was this song, that seems so out of place. Granted, it only plays on the in-game TVs, but as someone who will absolutely flip through every fake channel just to see what they put in there, the full music video for this song popping up caught me off guard. I actually like the song, and I could see a case for the lyrics fitting the them of the game, but I have a hard time believing that's why it was placed there.