In a musical mood, we decided to round up the best video game soundtracks of all time.
Or… the best ones we’ve heard in our near 40 years of playing video games. This is a very subjective list, of course, and isn’t supposed to be definitive or anything. Sorry if we missed any you love! Yet, at the very least, we hope you discover some lovely new music to listen to and coo appreciatively.
The Best Game Music Ever (in our humble opinion)
Here we go then! A big old traditional list article with some excellent music in the mix. We’ve not put anything in any real specific order, it’s more this is a bunch of great music from very talented composers. Enjoy.
A Plague Tale: Requiem
The work of French composer Olivier Derivière, A Plague Tale: Requiem (2022) offers an often brilliant score. There are Medieval moments, folk, and a big orchestral sweep for dramatic moments. It’s not a classic game, but a good enough one, and yet we feel the score doesn’t get the recognition it deserves.
Shadow of the Colossus
Shadow of the Colossus is considered one of the best games ever. It launched on PS2 back in late 2005. The music was by Japanese composer Kow Otani who created an incredible landscape of dynamic, gallant pieces to create a sense of magnitude. And with Swift Horse as an example above, you can hear the grand scope of Otani’s vision. Pelting!
Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
It feels a bit weird now, but Witcher 3: Wild Hunt launched in 2015. It’s 11 years old! Two composers worked on the score: Marcin Przybyłowicz and Mikolai Stroinski.
The game is by Polish developer CD Projekt, so Old Slavic melodies drive the music along. Witcher 3 has a strong Medieval vibe and the result is always dramatic, but we particularly like some of the yearning melodic quieter numbers.
World of Warcraft
Our memories of WoW from 2009 involved us journeying around the MMORPG and getting lost in its glorious world. Composer Jason Hayes handled the soundtrack, which has impressive depth.
The game launched in 2004 at a time when game music was stepping things up several levels and WoW (enormously popular as it was back then) was a big contributor to what video game music could be.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Skyrim soundtrack is astonishing from start to finish, a phenomenal work of (frankly) regular genius by American composer Jeremy Soule.
The reason we haven’t done a full feature on the Skyrim score is because Soule was accused of sexual harassment in August 2019. He denied the claim, hasn’t been charged with anything, but has disappeared from public life. It’s unclear if he’ll ever work in music again.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The N64’s Ocarina of Time (1998) is legendary for so many reasons. The company’s composer, Koji Kondo, worked his wonders here for what’s been classed as leitmotif in reverse. Short pieces that introduce stationary environments as the player approaches them, rather than announcing an entering character (Mario game style).
It’s a landmark work in gaming and, alongside FFVII from the year before, helped define what a game soundtrack could be for the new era of 3D gaming.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
One of the best games of all time (if not the best), Breath of the Wild (2017) also includes an amazing soundtrack. The score was handled by Manaka Kataoka, Yasuaki Iwata, and Hajime Wakai to cover the extensive nature of it (there are dozens of pieces).
As you explore the vast world of Hyrule, these various pieces crop up to create a sense of awe and scale. It’s also often so uplifting, too, and brings Breath of the Wild to life.
Super Mario Galaxy
The Mario Galaxy soundtrack (2007) was composed by Mahito Yokota and Koji Kondo. The latter is Nintendo’s long-term resident composer, famous for all those Mario bleeps and boops!
Galaxy was different as the team approached an orchestral vision for the music, moving away from the traditional Mario level music. It worked so well and was so popular with the public this style has remained in place since. Good! It’s great.
The Curse of Monkey Island
The Monkey Island series has amazing music, but for us the best of the lot is from Curse of Monkey Island (1997). It’s the work of American composer Michael Land for the LucasArts developer.
He really channels Caribbean vibes alongside a great sense of fun, adventure, and mischief. It’s all rather glorious.
Spiritfarer
Max LL’s gorgeous Spiritfarer (2020) score is beautiful, inspired, and uplifting. The game is a kind of death management simulation, where you look after spirits before they’re ready to journey into the afterlife.
It’s a tricky subject to get right, but indie dev Thunder Lotus Games delivers everything with great care and compassion, driven along by the orchestral sweep of Max LL.
Deservedly, Spiritfarer got an in-concert Cadogan Hall special in late 2025 we attended. Every bit as good live as in recording, even if the composer wasn’t present (which was a shame).
Owlboy
Owlboy is a 10/10 game from us and Johnathan Geer’s Owlboy score carries the work impressively. It’s orchestral, sweet-natured, uplifting, and frequently beautiful.
It’s like engaging in a Studio Ghibli film, with Geer’s ability to somehow conjure up the right theme for every area of the game remaining a real treat.
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest
Our memories of Rare’s Donkey Kong Country 2 (1995) include playing through a fantastic 2D platformer, just also whilst in awe at the music.
The work of unassuming British composer David Wise, it’s arguably the best Super Nintendo score. Even with the technical limitations of the system, Wise used all his guile and skillset to craft this thing. A score of great emotional power that transform a goofy game with monkeys into something genuinely profound.
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
David Wise returned to the DK series in 2014 for Retro Studio’s Tropical Freeze outing for the Wii U. The game received a port to the Switch in 2019, too. The game is a masterpiece and the music complements that in classic Wise fashion.
It’s just brilliant. Previously, we’ve flagged the Grassland Groove level as our favourite. It’s flat out when of the best gaming levels in history! A total joy to play.
Secret of Mana
The Secret of Mana (1994) soundtrack was by young Japanese composer Hiroki Kukuta. He completed it in an intensive short period, locking himself in solitude to get the compositions down.
It was very important for Squaresoft as the game developer, too, as the music defined how they’d approach their future Final Fantasy series. And that resulted in the amazing FFVII score.
Final Fantasy VII
We covered the sprawling FFVII soundtrack (1997) recently as it received a 2020 overhaul for the Remake game. It’s an emotive work, driven by the main characters’ search for justice in a deeply unjust world.
Nobuo Uematsu was responsible for the 1997 original, with Masashi Hamauzu and Mitsuto Suzuki overhauling his pieces for the 2020 Remake. The results were all very spectacular.
Hollow Knight Silksong
Launching in late 2025, Hollow Knight Silksong brought with it an incredible score. The work of Australian composer Christopher Larkin, it’s a sprawling work of neoclassical excellence.
Samorost 3
The work of Czech genius Floex (aka Tomáš Dvořák), his body of work is vast at this point and it’s difficult to pinpoint his best piece. But the Samorost 3 (2016) soundtrack is something else, showing off his skills across electronic ambience, jazz, classical, and everything else.
Rayman Origins
The work of French composer Christophe Héral, the Rayman Origins soundtrack (2011) covers a huge breadth of genres with relentless inventiveness. He’s an energetic, quirky guy and it really shines through in his work.
It’s difficult to even define what genre the work falls into. It’s an uplifting mix of orchestral, jazz, world music, with whimsical melodies, Latin influences, and just whatever else Héral came up with. All of it mixed together in remarkable fashion that it lifts the game to the level of an all-time great.
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Last but not least is Gareth Coker’s Ori and the Will of the Wisps (2020) soundtrack, which we’d argue is very possibly the greatest game soundtrack of all time.
It’s a masterpiece with so many beautiful compositions it seems quite ridiculous one man can come up with it all. It has a melancholic, life-affirming quality where the main character Ori is constantly facing life-or-death struggles in a brutal world.
Through it all little Ori is able to rise above it and fight in with compassion and integrity. That’s what this music represents.
