Best Video Game Soundtracks: Music That Lives Rent-Free in Your Head

As a game studio, we think about music constantly. The right soundtrack transforms a good game into an unforgettable one. The wrong soundtrack makes you reach for the mute button. We've studied game music for our own projects — analyzing what makes certain tracks stick in your memory for decades while others vanish the moment you close the game. Here's what we consider the best of all time.

The undisputed tier

These soundtracks are so universally beloved that arguing against them is pointless.

Undertale / Deltarune (Toby Fox) — Megalovania. Hopes and Dreams. Bonetrousle. His Theme. Toby Fox composed the entire Undertale soundtrack alone, and multiple tracks became cultural phenomena beyond gaming. The music does something few game soundtracks attempt — it makes you feel the emotional weight of your gameplay choices. Genocide route music sounds different from Pacifist route music because it should. The games like Undertale post has more on the game itself.

Persona 5 Royal (Shoji Meguro) — acid jazz in a JRPG. Last Surprise, Rivers in the Desert, Beneath the Mask. Meguro's Persona 5 soundtrack is the reason people who've never played the game can hum its battle theme. The genre choice (jazz fusion) was a risk that paid off spectacularly. The games like Persona post has more.

NieR: Automata (Keiichi Okabe) — Weight of the World in three languages. Amusement Park. City Ruins. The soundtrack shifts between operatic choral arrangements and intimate vocals with a cohesion that shouldn't work but does. Okabe's music carries the game's philosophical themes as much as the writing does.

The Legend of Zelda series (Koji Kondo and team) — Zelda's Lullaby. Gerudo Valley. Song of Storms. The Zelda franchise has been producing iconic compositions for 40 years. Breath of the Wild's minimalist piano approach was controversial but the sparse notes that play while exploring Hyrule are genuinely beautiful.

Final Fantasy (Nobuo Uematsu) — To Zanarkand (FFX). Aerith's Theme (FFVII). One-Winged Angel (FFVII). Uematsu's compositions are performed by symphony orchestras worldwide. Final Fantasy music transcended gaming decades ago — it's concert hall music that happens to originate from a video game.

The modern masterworks

Hades (Darren Korb) — Good Riddance. In the Blood. The Unseen Ones. Korb's Hades soundtrack blends rock, folk, and Greek-inspired instrumentation into something that sounds like nothing else. The hades best builds post covers the game.

Celeste (Lena Raine) — Resurrections. Reach for the Summit. First Steps. The music mirrors Madeline's emotional journey so precisely that the soundtrack is a standalone emotional experience. Raine's work on Celeste is the gold standard for how music can reinforce a game's themes.

Hollow Knight (Christopher Larkin) — City of Tears. Sealed Vessel. Greenpath. Larkin composed atmospheric orchestral music for a $15 indie game that sounds like it belongs in a $200 million film. The City of Tears theme playing over rain-soaked streets is one of gaming's most atmospheric moments.

Doom Eternal (Mick Gordon) — BFG Division. The Only Thing They Fear Is You. Industrial metal that makes you feel invincible. Gordon's approach — processing heavy metal through synthesizers until it sounds alien — is the most innovative action game soundtrack in years.

Stardew Valley (ConcernedApe) — Spring (It's a Big World Outside). Dance of the Moonlight Jellies. Eric Barone composed the entire soundtrack himself along with designing, programming, and creating all art for the game. The music is warm, seasonal, and perfectly matched to the farming sim pace. The stardew valley tips post has more.

The atmospheric soundtracks

These soundtracks work because they create a world:

Dark Souls (Motoi Sakuraba) — Gwyn, Lord of Cinder is a quiet piano piece for the final boss of a brutal action game. That contrast — delicate music during the hardest fight — is one of gaming's most memorable design choices.

Outer Wilds (Andrew Prahlow) — banjo and acoustic guitar in a space exploration game. Shouldn't work. Absolutely works. The campfire theme that plays at the end is devastating.

Journey (Austin Wintory) — Grammy-nominated. The first game soundtrack to achieve that distinction. Wintory's score builds from a single cello to full orchestra across the game's two-hour runtime.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Gareth Coker) — orchestral platformer music with emotional precision. The Ori soundtracks are consistently ranked among the best in gaming.

Red Dead Redemption 2 (Woody Jackson) — the moment "That's the Way It Is" plays during the ride to the final mission is one of gaming's most emotionally devastating scenes. The rdr2 tips post has more.

The retro legends

Chrono Trigger (Yasunori Mitsuda) — Wind Scene. Corridors of Time. Frog's Theme. Mitsuda was hospitalized from overwork composing this soundtrack and still produced one of gaming's finest scores.

Super Mario Bros (Koji Kondo) — the most recognizable melody in gaming history. Eight notes that every human on earth can hum.

Mega Man 2 (Takashi Tateishi) — Wily Stage 1. NES sound chip pushed to its absolute limits. Still gets remixed constantly.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Michiru Yamane) — Dracula's Castle. Lost Painting. Gothic prog-rock on the PlayStation.

Donkey Kong Country 2 (David Wise) — Stickerbrush Symphony. A SNES track that sounds like it was composed for a meditation app 25 years early.

The overlooked gems

Transistor (Darren Korb) — the same composer as Hades. We Come Apart. Paper Boats. Electronic-vocal fusion that's criminally underappreciated.

Katana ZERO (LudoWic / Bill Kiley) — synthwave action soundtrack. Hit the Floor. Full Confession.

Disco Elysium (Sea Power) — alternative rock that perfectly captures the game's melancholic detective atmosphere.

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (Basiscape) — orchestral sci-fi that's as complex as the game's thirteen interlocking narratives.

What we've learned about game music

As developers working on our own soundtracks for Granny's Rampage and the Pappus project, we've studied what makes game music work. The consistent pattern across every great soundtrack on this list: the music serves the experience, not the other way around. Doom Eternal's metal serves the power fantasy. Celeste's piano serves the emotional journey. Stardew's gentle acoustic serves the cozy pace. The best game composers don't just write good music — they write music that makes the game better.

For more gaming culture content, the most influential video games, best video game villains, and best indie games of all time posts have more.

The shortest version

For emotional devastation: Undertale, Celeste, NieR Automata, Outer Wilds.

For energy: Doom Eternal, Persona 5, Hades.

For atmosphere: Hollow Knight, Dark Souls, Red Dead Redemption 2.

For nostalgia: Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy, Zelda.

The golden rule: The best game soundtracks don't just sound good — they make you feel what the game wants you to feel.