RPGFan Music

RPGFan Music of the Year 2024 Editors’ Favorites: Patrick Gann

Music of the Year 2024 Header

Wow… 2024 has come and gone. The sheer quantity of game music released continues to grow with each passing year. But I’m not just looking for quantity, I’m looking for the highest quality! Here are my top five (combined OST and arrange) I found in the last year!

5. Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord OST

Bringing a refreshing sound that both honors the past work of Kentaro Haneda and steps forward in its own right, Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord composer Winifred Phillips put her all into this fitting soundtrack, one highlighting the remake of one of the first PC RPGs ever made. Two fun facts! First, you can download this album, lossless, free of charge via Bandcamp. Second, Winifred Phillips won a Grammy with this score! Congratulations to her! Read more in my album review!

Highlighted Track: “Lord of the Castle”


4. Slay the Princess: The Pristine Cut OST

We’ve got another award winner! Last year, Brandon Boone won a World Soundtrack Award for his work on Slay the Princess. Thanks to The Pristine Cut, the completely free expansion/upgrade version to Black Tabby Games’ breakout hit, Boone was given the task of writing an hour’s worth of additional music. I think he nailed it (read more in my review). There are some beautiful tracks here for the new Vessels (the name of the forms the Princess takes).

Highlighted Track: “The Princess and The Dragon”


3. Prescription for Sleep: Heavenly Avatar

I cannot get enough of the GENTLE LOVE duo (Norihiko Hibino on sax, AYAKI on keys). Their latest Prescription for Sleep album is a tender tribute to Yuzo Koshiro’s classic ActRaiser score. Throughout 2024, this album has gotten me through some tough nights. I remain especially transfixed by their killer arrangement of “North Wall.” Everyone knows snowy area BGM is the best. And yes, once again, read more about Heavenly Avatar in my album review.

Highlighted Track: “North Wall”


2. Piano Cover Collection from SQUARE ENIX MUSIC Channel

It might seem silly, publishing an audio CD of recorded video performances from your YouTube channel. But when the audio quality is this good? It makes total sense. Square Enix Music has been dropping incredible instrumental covers from their massive music library over the past few years, and on this album (which I also reviewed), we have 15 tracks covering the Final Fantasy series, as well as some Chrono, SaGa, Mana, NieR, Xenogears, and even LIVE A LIVE. The virtuosity cannot be denied. These performances rival and even exceed the most challenging arrangements from some Piano Collections albums.

Highlighted Track: “Piano Cover: Meridian Dance”


1. Pokémon Scarlet・Violet + The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero Super Music Collection

At the end of 2022, I loudly complained that Nintendo was slacking on their music publication, particularly in the Pokémon department. In February 2024, Nintendo righted their wrong by publishing three separate Pokémon soundtracks. The favorite among these three, for me, was Pokémon Scarlet & Violet (guess who reviewed it?). The full soundtrack, including all of the DLC content, came in as a six CD set. There is so much to love here. If nothing else, you’ve got to love Toby Fox’s contributions to this massive achievement of a soundtrack.

Highlighted Track: “Area Zero”


Honorable Mentions: SaGa releases!

Kenji Ito, Noriyuki Kamikura, and others were working overtime in 2024. In the past year we got the SaGa Emerald Beyond soundtrack, the remake OST for Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven, and the third (final?) volume of music for Romancing SaGa Re;univerSe. I intentionally excluded these from my top five because I recognize my near-obsessive bias with the SaGa franchise. So I’m giving them a separate shout-out right here!

Patrick Gann

Therapist by day and gamer by night, Patrick has been offering semi-coherent ramblings about game music to RPGFan since its beginnings. From symphonic arrangements to rock bands to old-school synth OSTs, Patrick keeps the VGM pumping in his home, to the amusement and/or annoyance of his large family of humans and guinea pigs.