Personally, I’m a huge fan of Hollow Knight, Ori and the (Blind Forest/Will of the Wisps), and Kingdom Hearts. Orchestral soundtracks are just something else…
Legend of Dragoon soundtrack composed by Dennis Martin.
Bajo Kazooie soundtracks by Grant Kirkhope.
Donkey Kong soundtracks by David Wise.
Sly Cooper soundtrack (first game) by Ashif Hakik.
Ratchet and Clank soundtrack (first game) by David Bergeaud
Metroid soundtracks by Kenji Yamamoto.
All made insanely long lasting impressions where I could hear just a bit from one of the songs and instantly know what it is. Having played lots of video games, these seem to be the ones that have created the most lasting memory. They also absolutely slap as well.
The Legend of Zelda games BOTW and TOTK get mention here as well, though I don’t find it as memorable. the sound design in these games is just top notch though.
Tetris definitely deserves a shoutout.
LA Noire by Simon Hale is fantastic though it’s mostly just riffing off of Chinatown’s soundtrack and I wouldn’t say it really implants itself in the memory like the ones mentioned above.
Other honorable mentions
Vice City
Jet Set Radio – Hideki Naganuma
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater
Minecraft and Terraria, oh yeah also Hollow Knight
Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross will always bring me to tears. 💙 Also Robo’s Theme is a banger!
I used to fall asleep to a Morrowind OST CD.
Doom 2016
There’s this french MMO i played as a kid called Dofus and that soundtrack still hits hard when I listen. I think part of it is nostalgia but also its just so beautiful
It’s weird how MMO have some of the best OST in the whole gaming world. For me it’s the Dragon ball Global online OST, played it as a kid with my older brother. It’s OST brings back one of my most cherished memories. Here’s the link if anyone’s interested
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For me it’s Stellaris, hands down, but also the Hammock album that was made for Far Cry 5 (Hammock being one of my favorite bands).
I really vibe with Minecraft. The nostalgia just hits different when I listen to it.
TUNIC, FEZ, Nier Automata, Outer Wilds.
I also have a soft spot for Paper Mario and TTYD, those soundtracks are full of bops
I have so many favorites, Ori soundtracks are amazing, Kingdom Hearts, Genshin Impact, Minecraft
For more lighthearted yet genius silliness though: Part Time UFO
Not really a game but a visual Novel everyone needs to read and listen to: Umineko
Halo (of course), Deus Ex, Cyberpunk 2077, Doom, Elder Scrolls, the Sega Genesis Sonic games, Psychonauts, Super Mario, Mirror’s Edge, hell, I never really thought about it before but there is a lot of good stuff out there.
I see several people naturally mentioning the Minecraft OST, there are two resource packs I highly recommend if you want a more nostalgic experience.
- “Balanced Music” is a great pack on Modrinth that removed the biome specific criteria and re-balances everything so you do not keep hearing the same caves & cliffs song every 10 minutes.
- “C4Music” is another pack on Modrinth that removes the newer tracks (post Nether update if memory serves me right) and only has original music + some of the unreleased tracks.
To answer the question myself though, other than Minecraft of course I would have to say Terraria, OpenTTD, Ocarina of Time, RimWorld and Celeste among many other titles.
Primarily a mix of Old School RPGs (FFVI, Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger) and some current RPGs (Persona 5, NieR: Automata)
Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus
XENOBLADE CHRONICLES 2
Yes, let me list some of my favs! This is generally starting from my fav, but it’s not strictly ordered.
Counterattack
Driver VS
Monster Surprised You
Gormotti Forest
Battle!!
Exploration
Still, Move Forward
Battle In The Skies AboveI also adore the OST for Octopath Traveler (even if I didn’t like the game much)
Octopath Traveler Songs
Sunlands
Battle 1
Battle 2
Boss Battle 2
They Who Govern Reason
The One They Call The Witch