Nick
Mikko Tarmia – Soma
It’s spooky season - time for games that make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Probably no genre benefits more from quality sound design than horror. Whether it’s subtle ambient sound effects to in-your-face music swells, a horror game with well-done audio can get your heart racing in a way that visuals and gameplay alone can’t quite seem to achieve.
Though it came out about a decade ago now, SOMA is still one of my favorite horror titles ever. I’ve played it on multiple platforms over the years, and even though I know what’s coming - the game still manages to create tension through its sound effects and the impressive OST composed by Mikko Tarmia. Probably best known for his work on the Amnesia and Penubra games, Mikko Tarmia also founded his own independent label called The Sound of Fiction (which is an awesome name in my opinion).
While many of his other works are better recognized, I believe SOMA is probably the best of his soundtracks that I have experienced. The game itself is a creepy science fiction game that relies on atmosphere and tension over random jump scares. Songs such as Ark (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk1eidg3Pzw) and Going down really help to create the thick sense of tension in the air as you explore. Even the opening and credit themes that bookend the experience are memorable well after I had put down the game.
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Susie
Viacheslav Pakalin - Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened
Like several of my colleagues, I don’t really play horror games. The closest I tend to get to the genre are investigative focussed games like Call of Cthulhu (which I only got so far before I was too creeped out) and Sherlock Holmes - which isn’t really a horror game per se. Needless to say, Sherlock Holmes is going to be my entry for this month’s memorable music because I absolutely loved this game, despite a few scenes where I was a little disturbed.
As a game, it felt a little bit pulled back from Chapter One which had an interesting gameplay method and one mechanic that just never worked for me. The Awakened was a little more focussed on what it was meant to be, and I was thrilled with the game. Especially when you consider that the music composed by Viacheslav Pakalin was brilliantly done. As the main composer for a couple of Frogwares games, it stands to reason that he earned his stripes. Each track in The Awakened is creepily simple with some haunting reverbs and a grand piano to add the atmosphere in an already tense and bloodied world. Take a listen to Warehouse 12 (https://open.spotify.com/track/3cjLWDA4PmnPt7GUtfzG84?si=a4b7e7314ad942ac) which slowly crescendos ones imagination into overdrive. Considering that the whole game is creepy enough as it is with the concept, the atmosphere, as well as the addition of this music, it is definitely a memorable soundtrack and game in my eyes.
And yes, I know, it’s not strictly a horror game. I don’t do horror games, so this is the best you get.
Richard
Dumavita/Vinicius Braga/Michel Cardosa - Enigma of Fear
I don’t play many horror games, and the ones that I do pretty much only have an ambient soundtrack instead of full music tracks. As such, I’d like to toss in Enigma of Fear. While it’s not exactly a traditional horror game, being more a mystery/supernatural/adventure type game akin to an isometric Resident Evil, it is definitely a spooky setting.
When I first started playing Enigma of Fear I was initially taken by the art style and voice acting, both of which really clicked right off the bat. As you investigate the mysterious disappearances surrounding a supernatural hotspot centered around the house of an insane family, you’ll delve into the mystery of what’s going on. What better way to set the tone than with the soundtrack? Instilling a sense of dread and foreboding, the music from Enigma of Fear really made an impact on me, both from a gameplay perspective and from a musical sense.
Dumativa, the developer of Enigma of Fear, is an amazing Brazilian game studio that really nailed the tone and the atmosphere here, in addition to producing an amazing game. Definitely a soundtrack that I found really memorable.
