Music is often an under-appreciated hero in most forms of media. But the significance is prevalent in video games since players will spend multiple hours listening to these soundtracks. If a game has even a mediocre score, then not only will the emotional impact of the game be lost but the long hours of listening to these songs in the background will become unbearable.
This is especially true in horror games where the atmosphere and tone play a major role in how effective the game is. Luckily, many horror games have incredible soundtracks that can be listened to for hours even when players are not playing the game.
Siren
After Keiichirō Toyama created the original Silent Hill game, the game director left Konami and ed Japan Studio to create the more obscure Siren horror games. This franchise consists of survival horror stealth games where the player controls multiple characters that gain the ability to "sightjack" hostile zombie-like creatures called Shibito, which allows players to see what the Shibito are seeing.
As the player attempts to explore the haunting settings without being noticed by the Shibito located around every corner, the game's eerie and mysterious soundtrack adds to the desolate atmosphere and nerve-wracking tension. One major example of this is the track "New Revelation: Desolation" from Siren: Blood Curse. Created by composer Hitomi Shimizu who also worked on the soundtrack for the first game, Siren, the creepy high-pitched tones slowly dissolve into silence and create a spine-tingling chill that seeps into the player's bones.
Deadly Premonition
Inspired by the David Lynch TV series Twin Peaks, Deadly Premonition is a 2010 open-world survival horror mystery game that follows FBI Special Agent Francis York Morgan as he investigates a murder of a young woman in the fictional American town of Greenvale, Washington. While the strange plotline, characters, and gameplay mechanics have led to people being divisive on whether the game is good or not, the cult following around the game led to a 2020 sequel on the Nintendo Switch.
To emphasize the weird and surreal nature of the game, the soundtrack is filled with songs that are off-putting in tone, especially mixed with the incomprehensible dialogue and actually disturbing body horror. For example, the track "Life is Beautiful" is an upbeat and cheery song filled with whistling that feels like it should be in a comedy rather than a horror game.
Yume Nikki
Released in 2004 and created using RPG Maker 2003, Yume Nikki is a surreal adventure horror game where the main character controls a girl named Madotsuki as she explores her dreams and collects various effects that give her different abilities. The game inspired many similar fan games and led to the popularity of the RPG Maker horror genre.
As the player explores the dream worlds, the soundtrack contributes to the game's strange and sometimes horrifying landscapes. The main ending theme of the original game, "Requiem," is such a perfect mix of dreamlike whimsicality and loneliness that a piano remix of the track was also used for the secret ending in the sequel Yume Nikki - Dream Diary.
OFF
Created by the Belgian team Unproductive Fun Time, OFF is a 2008 RPG Maker horror game where players control a humanoid creature named the Batter who has received the "sacred mission" of "purifying" the in-game world. The player is tasked to help guide the Batter through the various Zones to help complete the mission, but not everything is as it originally seems.
While exploring the bizarre environments, meeting strange characters, and fighting creepy enemies, the background soundtrack created by Alias Conrad Coldwood mixes many different music styles together that reflect the fragmented world. During the semi-real-time battles, the battle theme, "Pepper Steak," combines electro, swing, industrial, and other conflicting beats and rhythms to create a mishmash of sounds that somehow work together to create a catchy song.
Oxenfree
Released in 2016, Oxenfree is an award-winning 2.5D supernatural mystery adventure horror game that revolves around using a handheld radio to solve puzzles. The player controls Alex, a teenage girl who is spending a weekend at a local island with a group of friends, as she accidentally releases a powerful supernatural force and now must travel across the island to find her friends and uncover various mysteries.
Since the game combines analog and digital technology, the soundtrack also combines clear modern recording techniques with old recording devices, which creates a mysterious electronic melody that feels both classic and new. "Beacon Beach," for example, manages to use electronic beats to create a surreal track that has a hint of dread within. Andrew Rohrmann, who is the composer and also known as "scntfc," is a popular music artist and will also compose the music for the sequel titled Oxenfree II: Lost Signals.
Rule of Rose
Inspired by the Silent Hill franchise and Brothers Grimm fairy tales, Rule of Rose is a 2006 PS2 survival horror game about a 19-year-old woman named Jennifer who ends up reliving her traumatic childhood memories of her time at the Rose Garden Orphanage. As she fights strange enemies and solves puzzles with the help of her dog sidekick, Brown, she has to deal with a cruel group of young girls called the Red Crayon Aristocrats.
Composed by Yutaka Minobe, the soundtrack was uniquely produced by studio musicians, which makes players feel as if there is a live orchestra playing in the background. This classical music style adds to the retrospective angle of the narrative and the setting of 1930s England. One of the most beloved tracks is "The Attic," which is carried by the solemn melodies of string instruments.
Fatal Frame
Set in 1980s Japan, the Fatal Frame franchise is a series of survival horror games where various characters investigate and defeat supernatural phenomena using objects known as Camera Obscura. The series started in 2001 and is known for having plenty of female protagonists.
While the series has had different composers over the years, the games all have similar musical themes to their soundtracks. The combination of traditional Japanese music, haunting sounds, and modern J-rock make the games have a creepy atmosphere that is infused with both old and modern Japan. A great example of a track that combines all of these themes is the main theme of Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly, which is titled "Chou" and sung by Amano Tsukiko.
Clock Tower
Clock Tower is an influential survival horror point-and-click adventure game series that consists of players mostly running and hiding from enemy pursuers. Although all the games have different characters and plots, most of the games have a reoccurring antagonist named Scissorman.
Since the very beginning, the series has had incredible soundtracks that convey feelings of dread, mystery, and panic. Even during the first game on the SNES, the music managed to immerse the player despite the limited sound capabilities of the console. The chase music track, titled "Don't Cry, Jennifer," feels like something that would be used in a slasher film.
Resident Evil
As the top best-selling horror video game series and one of the only older horror game franchises to still continue to this day, it is no surprise that the Resident Evil games have amazing soundtracks. This survival action shooter series focuses on biological weapons, viral infections, and lots of zombies.
Despite a large amount of body horror, violence, explosions, and other related things, this franchise has always had plenty of chilling soundtracks that are perfect to just vibe with. The most notable examples of this would be the multiple Safe Room tracks from most of the games, which typically play melancholic melodies that let the player know that they are safe from enemies.
Silent Hill
Any discussion about horror video soundtracks is incomplete without a mention of the early Silent Hill games and their main composer, Akira Yamaoka. The Silent Hill franchise is a psychological survival horror series that takes place in a fictional American town named "Silent Hill."
Along with the franchise's rusty and foggy imagery, the ominous industrial sounds and eerie melodies of Yamaoka's music have inspired many modern horror games. One track that has remained in horror enthusiasts' minds is "Promise Reprise" from Silent Hill 2, which has a haunting feeling that is difficult to forget.