Looks familiar, but different! Made by me in Paint
Listening to a Games Original Sound Track (OST) is great the first few times, the game musicians assigned to the game often does an amazing job, but I can only hear the same tune for so long before I get tired of hearing it and decide to turn off the games music in favor of my own tunes. I then task myself with finding genres of licensed music that fits in for each type of game I play! I wanted to share what type of music groups I have found that fit well with each category of game I frequently play.
Fighting Games
Tekken picture taken by me via Steam Screenshot
Fighting games are brutal to play AND watch, The moves that the characters pull off are meant to destroy and demolish the opponent until they stop moving and the players are vigorously mashing the controller buttons to work out a combo that helps their fighter achieve it. There is such an intensity that I find myself listening to 'Nu Metal'. The lyrics along with the fast-paced songs pair well with the hard punches and fast kicks that are flying on screen.
Actiion Role Playing Game (ARPG)
Picture taken by me via Steam Screenshot
ARPG progression gets to a point where the enemies are nigh-endless and the player is hitting all their cooldowns to try and eliminate them quickly before their character gets overrun. The meat grinder situation feels like it is never ending and the fierce battle to stay alive while killing every monster in sight is adrenaline pumping on its own sometimes. To speed the process along I listen to 'Heavy Metal'. The shredding guitars and beating drums constantly flow like the river of enemies that are trying to eliminate the player. Once the game and music start to flow together though, it opens up a whole new exciting feeling.
Action Hero Shooter
Picture taken by me via Steam Screenshot
Hero Shooters require the player to always be moving from the moment they spawn, (Unless they are defending the objective!), being still for even a few seconds makes the player an easy target for opportunistic foes. I find that 'Night Core' is a good genre to keep moving. The song tempos are tweaked to be faster and the beats along with the higher pitch of a song seems to add to the movement of the game. In a game where having sporadic movements is key to survival in combat, the sporadic nature of 'Night Core' fits well with almost any scenario.
Flight Simulators
Picture taken by me via Steam Screenshot
Finding a genre for Flight Simulators was definitely a task and a half, what can flow well with flying past objects at high speeds while doing aerial maneuvers? Well, I took a chapter from Ace Combat and found 'Electric Orchestral/symphonies' creates majestic tones that mesh well with the plane as it flies through a clear sky, twisting to avoid a missile or gun barrage. Critical moments feel like they have more impact with an orchestra playing, from the landings to the 'Fox 2s', it is epic.
Single Player
Picture taken by me via Steam Screenshot
Recently I have been playing 'Project Zomboid' and while it is a 'doom and gloom' scenario I think 'Dungeon Synth' can be used in 'Single Player/survival' elements, it adds a nice touch to every encounter and situation that I face during play. There is a good feeling if I do manage to survive afterward too!
------ In Conclusion -----
These are just my thoughts and findings on what games pair with which music, I just wanted to share, I try and keep my music and games in sync with each other as best I can, there's not many things worse than a huge tone shift from what is happening on the screen and what is being heard. In the end though it is always 'players Choice' on what songs they listen to while gaming and I can appreciate a player that finds a song or genre that resonates with them during play.
What songs do you find yourself listening to when playing a specific game? I am intrigued to find out what the participants of #Hivegaming listen to while they game.
Anyway, Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed!
Happy Gaming!