Top 10 Video Game Soundtracks of 2016
2. Virginia
The final two soundtracks on the list don’t just provide a compelling backing to their respective titles, but are rather a part of the experience themselves.
If you haven’t yet played Virginia – and I would certainly urge you to – it is a game with no voice-acting but incredibly heavy on story. Rather, it relies on visuals, symbolism and Lyndon Holland’s masterful soundtrack that expresses and tells a story through exquisite highs and sorrowful lows.
Standout tracks: Sojourner’s Truth, Departures, Flash Forward
1. Abzû
Composer Austin Wintory is undoubtedly one of the most recognisable names on this list – and for good reason. In fact, Wintory almost had two appearances on this very list, if I had to place it, his much more minimalist take for The Banner Saga 2 would have possibly come in eleventh place.
But as it stands, he still takes the top spot for his absolutely beautiful work on Abzû. Like Virginia, Wintory’s composition isn’t just in the background of the experience but part of it. Like Journey before it, Abzûrelies entirely on the mood and atmosphere created by the visuals and soundtrack. At times rousing and evocative, at others, faint and despairing.
Like the water that surrounds you constantly in Abzû, Wintory’s work shows the best of what a soundtrack can do; it will sweep you away in waves, punctuate the most emotional of moments and imbues everything around it with a stirring heart.
Standout tracks: all of it
