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Released exactly one year after the NieR Re[in]carnation servers were shut off, NieR Re[in]carnation Original Soundtrack: The People and the World contains all of the music for the third and final season of the mobile title. I have been methodically working my way through all of the NieR Re[in]carnation soundtracks over the past year as… Read More »

In reviewing the second volume of MONACA’s NieR Re[in]carnation OSTs, I continue my grieving process through reflection. Yes, I am referring to the live service mobile title in the NieR series that had its servers permanently shut down in April 2024. I have been grieving the loss of this surprisingly robust, story-heavy title. Yet, the… Read More »

Though its time has come and gone, NieR Re[in]carnation‘s soundtrack remains with us always. Yes, I am referring to the live service mobile title in the NieR series that had its servers permanently shut down in April 2024. I have been grieving the loss of this surprisingly robust, story-heavy title. Helping me through the grieving… Read More »

A soundtrack 27 years in the making: folks, I give you Infinity! Okay, that’s not quite the whole story. In truth, this soundtrack was nearly complete by 2001. In 2002, after the game was canceled, the team self-published a digital collection. Then, in 2016, Materia Collective worked with the team to publish an updated version… Read More »

An arranged album exclusively dedicated to the NieR series mobile game, NieR Re[in]carnation? Well, bust my buttons! I would not have expected this. Among Square Enix Music’s many arrangement series, the “Chill Out” series has had a fairly limited outing. First, they brought the Around 80’s Mix, featuring music from early NES and Game Boy… Read More »

We’ve reached our final stop: the end of Sean Schafianski’s full Final Fantasy VI remastered project! In my review of Disc 1, we looked into Schafianski’s scope and process in these upgraded arrangements. Reaching Disc 2, we identified key points in the FFVI OST that Schafianski handled in perhaps divisive ways—particularly the Opera sequence and… Read More »

When Incube8 Games finally published the long-awaited Infinity for Game Boy Color in 2026, they pulled out all the stops. You want a physical copy of a game for a handheld device that has been dead for decades? You got it! Original soundtrack? Heck yes! ARRANGED SOUNDTRACK? Well, why not? Having written about the game… Read More »

The middle child in Sean Schafianski‘s Remastered Soundtrack: Final Fantasy VI series, Disc 2 continues from where Disc 1 left off. Be sure to check out the linked review of Disc 1 for discussion about Sean’s general process for these Remasters. In this review, we’ll dive deeper into the musical content! The heart of Remastered… Read More »

At Unicorn Overlord’s release in 2024, I became unexpectedly absorbed into its strategic, brain-itching teambuilding and gorgeous aesthetics, and blasted through Alain and company’s world-sprawling campaign for liberty. RPGFan’s resident VGM wizard Patrick Gann called Unicorn Overlord’s OST a “strong contender for best soundtrack of 2024,” and I agreed in my end-of-the-year list. In 2025,… Read More »

Editor’s note: this album is the 2024 updated version of the Joypad Records release Final Fantasy VI Remastered Soundtrack: Disc One, originally released in 2013. Arranger Sean Schafianski completed his three-disc remaster project between 2024 and 2025, including this upgraded version of that 2013 Remaster project, which encompassed only the first of three discs. So,… Read More »

Normally, when someone tells me to “GET GOOD,” it’s because I’m complaining about difficulty in NES-hard games (or Souls-like games). In this case, however, I think they’re telling me to jam out to the second album from 8-bit & The Single Players. Not to be confused with the also-excellent 8-Bit Big Band, the artist in… Read More »

Not only did Final Fantasy VII finally bring the iconic series to a unified worldwide release staggered throughout the year 1997. It also, more importantly, brought JRPGs into the Western zeitgeist. Reviewing Nobuo Uematsu’s original score for FFVII is akin to reviewing the soundtrack to The Empire Strikes Back—these songs are so embedded in my… Read More »

2023’s Lies of P, a dark, Souls-like twist on Carlo Collodi’s classic 1883 novel The Adventures of Pinocchio, is all about exploring what it takes to turn a cold, mechanical heart into something human. Sure, some of that involves slaying giant, demented puppets and zombified beasts to an epic, dread-inducing score. But a bigger part… Read More »

As a teenager, I pilgrimaged to the Nintendo Store in New York City with my parents as part of a family vacation. My most distinctive memory of that visit is of “Terra’s Theme” blaring inside, and of my father, a gamer but certainly no RPGFan, whistling the iconic melody. That’s the compositional power of Nobuo… Read More »

In summer 2000, at the young age of 16, I wrote an embarrassingly terse review of the Final Fantasy V soundtrack. Granted, everything about this entry in the acclaimed series seemed novel at the time, given its lack of official localization until around the same time as Final Fantasy VIII. But there was, and is,… Read More »

Final Fantasy IV’s OST brings together the game’s 44 tracks across almost an hour of music. This is my first time hearing the soundtrack in full outside of playing the game, and I’ve found it a great listen both from a purely musical perspective and from its ability to trigger reminiscences of my time with… Read More »

In summer 2000, at the young age of 16, I wrote an embarrassingly terse review of the Final Fantasy III soundtrack. Granted, everything about this entry in the acclaimed series seemed novel at the time, given its lack of official localization (until the DS version release in 2006). But there was, and is, so much… Read More »

I’m sure we’d all like to wind back time to experience Hades for the first time. The airtight gameplay paired perfectly with its sharp art style, charming voice cast, and rocking soundtrack by Supergiant’s resident composer Darren Korb. Just when I’d thought I’d escaped the realm of Hades (with over a hundred successful runs, mind… Read More »

Editor’s Note: We are kicking off 2026 music reviews with six weeks of classic Final Fantasy! While our team had fun reviewing the recent Pixel Remaster versions of the first six games, our music team was keen to look back at the original versions of Final Fantasy through Final Fantasy VII. We hope you enjoy revisiting these iconic sounds as… Read More »

It is a daunting task to keep track of all the great indie visual novels published these days. Fortunately, a recent review from my colleague Audra pointed me to Detective Instinct: Farewell, My Beloved. Taking cues from franchises like Famicom Detective Club and Ace Attorney, this mystery-oriented title with classic pixel art visuals also sports… Read More »

Symphonic Fantasies was first performed and recorded in 2009 in Germany, featuring music from four popular Square Enix titles/series: Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, Kingdom Hearts, and Final Fantasy. The team would go on to do the two Final Symphony albums, both specific to the Final Fantasy series. Pianist Mischa Cheung takes the Symphonic Fantasies… Read More »

Stellar Blade has one of my favourite soundtracks of recent years (if you didn’t already know this, where have you been?! Check out my review of the full experience here). The PLUS bonus set of tracks was not quite as essential, but still contained some pretty great tunes that deserve your time. When I heard… Read More »

Breakout indie hit Wizard of Legend got a stellar soundtrack from composer Dale North. After the digital-only soundtrack was published in 2018, Scarlet Moon Records decided to beef up the soundtrack with some new arrangements and a limited-edition physical release. That’s right: an OST and piano collection CD box set arrived at my doorstep in… Read More »

Saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and VGM Renaissance man Sean Schafianski is back with the October 20 release of Jazz Arrange Version: Xenogears, and just in time for the 27th anniversary of the PSOne classic’s North American release. Those uninitiated into the complex psycho-religious mecha drama that is Xenogears (and the larger Xeno series) need not worry:… Read More »

Friends, have you spent any time in the Mount Holly mansion, centerpiece of the puzzle-adventure Blue Prince? If you haven’t, you really need to. If you have, you might have noticed some eerie, haunting music as you traversed the ever-changing halls and chambers. Without a doubt, the music fits the genre, the environment, the atmosphere,… Read More »