Alan Wake 2’s captured the creativeness of the gaming public for lots of causes—it is downright attractive, nevertheless it additionally has Treatment’s penchant for mixing genres, deftly mixing comedy and horror. This behavior hits a high-point with Herald of Darkness, an in-game monitor so in style it was carried out reside at The Sport Awards this yr. Spoilers for Alan Wake 2 and Remaining Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn observe.
It is even acquired a nod of approval from Masayoshi Soken, the composer of Remaining Fantasy 14’s soundtrack (and FF16’s OST, as effectively). In case you are not acquainted, FF14’s music is so beloved by the gamers that the studio has a dev band that Soken’s part of, one which takes to the stage throughout fanfests annually to play the hits. Music is a large a part of the sport’s identification.
In a current round-up of composer’s favorite soundtracks of the yr by VGC, Soken gave Alan Wake 2’s Herald of Darkness a shout-out as certainly one of his favourites:
“I’d select the scene the place ‘Herald of Darkness’ performs in Alan Wake 2. It’s on the market to have a gun go off whereas the music video begins taking part in throughout out of nowhere in the course of the gameplay, and I discovered that fascinating. And on high of that, the [music video] is made interactive. Nothing to say apart from, rattling—that’s cool!”
This tracks for 2 causes. Cause one: Herald of Darkness is an absolute banger. Cause two: abruptly swapping up the style of a sport’s soundtrack is one thing Soken’s very accustomed to—actually, it marked a significant turning level within the evolution of FF14’s soundtrack again in 2014, one which made its means into subsequent patches and expansions.
As Soken mentions, Herald of Darkness comes proper out of nowhere. Alan Wake’s sections are all a bit of weird, beginning off as live-action movies that transition into ranges correct. Initiation 4: We Sing turns right into a weird meander by means of a stage set whereas the Poets of the Fall/Outdated Gods of Asgard rock out on blown-up LED screens. You already know, traditional horror sport stuff.
In Patch 2.4 of Remaining Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn, Soken pulls the same trick. The sport had been flirting with departures from its fantasy stylings for some time—Titan, for instance, has a heart-pounding boss theme known as Beneath The Weight that would not be misplaced in a mosh pit. Nevertheless it’s nonetheless all arguably on-theme—a bit of alien, however you are preventing primals summoned by ideas fueled with magic crystals, so it really works.
The battle with Shiva within the Akh Afah Amphitheatre takes this one step additional—coincidentally, it is when she really steps on you. Her battle music is the standard ‘epic boss battle’ stuff, proper up till her section transition the place she casts Diamond Mud: The whiplash hits like an orbital strike, veering from orchestral chants to edgy emo rock that is completely shameless. This is a clip courtesy of YouTube channel dudewhereismyspoon.
This’d mark a flip in FF14’s soundtrack. These days, the sport’s lots much less shy about mixing issues up. Shadowbringers and Endwalker are flooded with guitar solos and glassy membership tunes that kick in at heightened moments, pairing properly with the extra orchestral stuff. All this to say—in fact the second Alan Wake 2 switches issues up is the one which caught Soken’s consideration. It is one thing he is very good at.
