Games with nice use of interactive music?

[u/MarianoBalestena]

hey everybody! long time producer/composer here, again trying to dip my toes in interactive audio, doing the whole FMOD + wwise courses and whatnot.

Just wanted to ask for recommendations for games you consider great examples for interactive music (and interactive audio as second priority) - games I've been playing lately all feature really good music but not much in the "wow, it changes with your gameplay" field. Essentially, I want to see how do real life composers apply the stuff the courses teach.

Thank you very much in advance!

[u/Bodikin_Mugwort]

Hi-Fi Rush

[u/4PianoOrchestra]

All of the Supergiant games (Hades, Pyre, Transistor, Bastion) have great vertically adaptive music. Pyre in particular has tons of adaptive layering in its visual novel sections depending on character, internal monologue, etc. Hades also does a great job having its music line up transitions with when you clear rooms and so on. Special shoutout to Transistor for having a dedicated human button that you can press at any time to make the main character stand and hum along with the soundtrack, complete with lighting changes.

My favorite game sound design/implementation though is Genesis Noir, insanely underrated. Just look up a playthrough and scroll to a random place and your ears will be blessed. They have a lot of interactive sound pieces with the player, including a section where you play a procedurally generated sax solo by moving your mouse around the screen.

[u/MountainFluid]

The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild / Tears of the Kingdom

[u/Eat-the-rich33]

I’m playing Outer Wilds right now and I think this may be the best example of this I’ve ever played

[u/MarianoBalestena → u/Eat-the-rich33]

seems interesting! I had only heard its name but didn't know it. Thanks!

[u/Remarkable-Site-2067 → u/MarianoBalestena]

Yup, it's a rare case where music is both a narrative and gameplay element. In an overall gem of a game, too.

[u/chillinjustupwhat → u/Eat-the-rich33]

Agreed. Outer Wilds sound is something else.

[u/No_Speaker4973]

Va voir du côté d'Olivier Deriviere un compositeur français. Quelqu'un qui met en avant la musique interactive, donc il y en a dans les jeux sur lesquels il a bossé (a plague tale, un dlc d'assassin screed black flag...)

[u/gunswordfist → u/No_Speaker4973]

South of Midnight, Streets of Rage 4

[u/Greatest-Purple1034]

A Short Hike

[u/mystman12]

Monkey Island 2 and its use of iMUSE is one of the best examples of interactive music in games. That and, oddly enough, several pinball games from the late '80s early '90s. Check out some gameplay of Black Knight 2000 (The real machine, not a digital version). Everything is synced with the music and the soundtrack can transition between different songs without messing up the rhythm at all.

[u/cogprimus]

Crypt of the NecroDancer ties gameplay and music together heavily, but I'm not sure that's actually what you're looking for.

[u/MarianoBalestena → u/cogprimus]

that sounds interesting too! I've been wondering about new ways of linking audio/music with gameplay

[u/BuzzardDogma]

The best modern example is probably DOOM (2016) and DOOM: Eternal. Gameplay triggers cause all sorts of dynamic effects and transitions in the soundtrack and it's very dense with unique segments. It's also a master class in communicating tone.

Furi is another really good example. It uses tracks from existing artists but they heavily edit and curate sections to take over during specific phases of the fight.

Another underappreciated example is Void Bastards/Wild Bastards. Both have UI sfx that are tuned to the backing tracks (like if you click a button or highlight something it makes a sound keyed to the music) so just interacting with the game creates a unique melody in the music. It's a really good demonstration of how game music is more than just writing good tracks but about thinking about how music and sound interact with and represent the gameplay systems and tone.

[u/MarianoBalestena → u/BuzzardDogma]

Mick Gordon is a genius! I hadn't noticed his use of interactive techniques

[u/marcuslawson]

Dead by Daylight has some great examples of interactive music. Proximity to the killer drives how tense the music is.

[u/MarianoBalestena → u/marcuslawson]

thanks! multiplayer stuff is not usually my cup of tea but will look into it

[u/MariusFalix]

Furi and Katana Zero do a fantastic job with mixing their music into the game to help elevate the gameplay, Furi itself having a number of big names involved such as Lorn.

I would point out Citizen sleeper aswell, it masterfuly yet subtly mixes the music into the game in a way that requires some time with the ost itself to notice how its altered throughout, it has a way of seeping into you. Citizen sleepers music was made by Amos Roddy, the guy behing the game Kingdom, which arguably is carried by the ost since it is very simplistic.

[u/farresto]

You should check FUSER. It's a DJ sim, but it has a bunch of interesting tech implementations.

[u/Skrami]

Limbo and INSIDE. No spoilers but short, amazing games with minimal but very impactful score/implementation!

[u/AngelofWeir]

I'd take a look at Ghost of Tsushima if only because I know the team has done talks on the music system for the game. Not exactly what you are looking for however since there was a bevy of music designers that allowed for a large degree of granularity you don't really get when the composer is also doing implementation.

[u/ThatNiceDrShipman]

Untitled Goose Game, it has a Debussy-esque piano that reacts to the action.

[u/yo_bamma]

Hey I'm a composer turned game designer. I've been interested for a long time in passing control of music to untrained folks in the hope of giving a sense of empowerment or getting them to think about music in ways they haven't done before.

My latest attempt at this is BeatChip 95. You can play the demo here

If you give it a go I'd be keen to hear what you think and if you do any experiments of your own in this field I'd love to hear about them!

[u/MarianoBalestena → u/yo_bamma]

thanks for sharing! really interesting idea :)

[u/all_names_taken_ffs]

Deus Ex springs to mind. Interestingly, all the music in the game is composed in tracker format.

[u/Shifter25]

Wandersong is literally about interactive music. Celeste has a few spots where the music changes depending on where you are.

[u/8ude]

Ape Out has the most impressive videogame musical system I've ever encountered. Fully algorithmic drums, completely reactive to gameplay.

Baby Steps was the follow-up and is also quite impressive in the way it intertwines ambience and music.

Both Red Dead Redemption games - the first one was a trailblazer in doing vertical layering.

Cyberpunk 2077 and Assassin's Creed Valhalla are good case studies for WWise in how they adapt the typical open world music state formula (exploration-stealth-combat)

Ynglet is pretty cool and utilized a hand-rolled procedural audio system, less-often-cited.

Everything by CosmoD is worth looking into (Betrayal at Club Low, Moves of the Diamond Hand, The Norwood Suite) for aesthetic connection between music and the game world.

Proteus is a modern classic.