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RPGFan Music
RPGFan Music of the Year 2023 Editors’ Favorites: Matt Wardell
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In 2023, I was hardly a twinkle in RPGFan’s eye, but I’ve since ridden my time machine back to share the soundtracks that jumped out at me. As always, Square Enix was killing it across their official soundtracks and arranged albums, but I won’t harp on what my fellow writers have already talked about there. As for non-RPGs, I did a lot of listening to soundtracks for games like Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Pizza Tower, Street Fighter 6, and the incredible music of the underrated gem of a platformer, Disney Illusion Island. There have been a lot of giant, impressively produced scores in the RPG space, but my daily life is mostly filled with the softer side of VGM—here’s what was on my mind and on my playlists.
Forspoken
Of all the complaints people may have had about this game, the lush presentation was never one of them. Forspoken’s soundtrack comes from Bear McCreary, who you’ve probably either heard in his high-profile TV soundtracks (the 2000s Battlestar Galactica, The Walking Dead, and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power to name a few) or through his incredible scores for 2018’s God of War and its followup, God of War Ragnarok. In Forspoken, that Hollywood-esque style shines through via big string swells, rolling drums, deep brass sections, and a focus on melody in the vein of major film composers Howard Shore and James Horner. If you, by some miraculous coincidence, like the music of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings, there’s a lot to love here.
There are a lot of booming high fantasy sounds, done very well, of course, but the moments in Forspoken’s music that stand out to me are when the “real world” elements of its isekai premise bleed into the fantastical, like with the trap/hip-hop elements and vocalizations in “Frey’s Theme,” though these moments are sadly few and far between. Still, this is one of the most lavish productions of a fantasy soundtrack done in games, TV, films, or anywhere, and not to be missed.
Highlighted Track: “Main Theme / Frey’s Theme”
Video Game Guitar Covers, Vol. 5
Lullabies for thirty- and forty-year-olds? Uh, yes, please! Guitarist John Oeth has carved out a decently large audience with his prolific string of albums relating to games, especially the Final Fantasy series, beginning with 2020’s Final Fantasy Guitar Collection. His relaxed, solo-acoustic renditions of many RPG-adjacent tracks are perfect for watching a sunset to, or for playing while you sleep, as I’ve done many a night. Vol. 5 is no different, with some RPGFan favourites like “Lazy Afternoons” (Kingdom Hearts II) and “Into the Wilderness” (Wild ARMs), alongside plenty more choice selections from games like Bravely Default, Trials of Mana, Xenogears, and Octopath Traveler, as well as a handful of non-RPGs via The Last of Us, Celeste, and Animal Crossing: New Leaf. It’ll tickle the nostalgia of most gamers, and is sure to set at ease the hearts of even those uninitiated in the RPG cult.
Highlighted Track: “Alone in the World” (Wild ARMs)
Baldur’s Gate 3
Call me Matt Foley, motivational speaker, because I’m about to take you back down by the river. Dungeons & Dragons has become such a feel-good, goofy phenomenon over the past few years of streaming and podcasts that it’s easy to forget how dark the dark fantasy of the Forgotten Realms can get. Borislav Slavov’s Baldur’s Gate 3 score is intense, heavy, authentic (it’s easy to imagine the tracks in followup album, 2024’s Streets and Taverns, playing in a “real” fantasy bar), and immersive thanks to the absolutely rich production value. The pounding, booming drums and guttural male choirs mixed with the thickly dragged out string sections on many battle themes feels downright barbaric, and its balance wonderfully by the melodic area and story themes often led by solo female vocals.
If I had one minor complaint (an observation, really), it’s that for a game with such a strong sense of characterization in its incredible cast, there are no real “character themes,” nor any real environmental themes loyal to a specific area. This is not an operatic JRPG, where melodic themes blast themselves into your brain via repetition—rather, Slavov creates a fluid and multifaceted sonic impression of the Sword Coast that is nonetheless tonally cohesive for all its gory battles, swashbuckling adventures, and silly problem-solving.
Highlighted Track: “Who Are You”
Cassette Beasts
While it’d be easy to discredit (or adore) Cassette Beasts for its obvious Pokémon-like premise and visuals, it has a surprising amount of depth and heart all its own. Thank goodness that a game about recording wild monsters with a cassette tape you can then use to transform into said beasts has good music. Great music, even, that evokes the pop-rock vocal themes of Sayonara Wild Hearts’ fantastic soundtrack alongside an assortment of more ambient, guitar-led area themes pulling heavily from Midwest Emo. Alongside those vocal themes (sung by musician Shelby Harvey), composer Joel Baylis’ score is quite unique from what you may expect from a Poké-like, or an RPG. The moody, dissonant guitar noodling would be at home in a walking sim or narrative-heavy game like Life is Strange or Gone Home, yet its oddity and sheer size (nearly three hours!) lends Cassette Beasts an added merit and demarcation from that Pocket Monster game that shall no longer be named. One last detail I like is that each area theme has a shifting day and night version, and “Heartfelt” versions follow character themes for more emotional scenes.
Highlighted Track: “Autumn Hill”
