Welcome to Soundtrack Sunday, where a member of the PC Gamer team takes a look at a soundtrack from one of their favourite games—or a broader look at videogame music as a whole—offering their thoughts or asking for yours!
I am, what scientists and scholars might call, a big fat crybaby. I’ll cry at just about anything if you pair it with a mildly sad-sounding violin. Hell, even then I might not need that much convincing. Being moved by just about anything in life is an incredibly blursed lifestyle.
Nothing quite gets me bawling like a good videogame, though. Crying alongside protagonists, crying for them. Sobbing for side characters, nameless NPCs, maybe even a creature minding its own business before being mercilessly mowed down by me/an enemy/some omnipotent god. Heck, I’ll even cry out of pure joy or excitement for something that’s about to happen. And almost every single time, it’s thanks to the music that accompanies those moments.
I’ll never forget the first time I played Final Fantasy 10 and witnessed Tidus and Yuna’s scene in Lake Macalania together in all its genuinely mind-blowing 2001 CGI glory. The water reflecting off their faces while Yuna weeps before the first notes of Suteki Da Ne start to trickle in. The delicate vocals of Rikki as the two kiss, descending under the water while holding each other. I remember watching with the biggest, cheesiest smile on my face as tears cascaded down my cheeks. It’s downright beautiful, and the music is half of what makes that scene so powerful.
(Okay, I had to go and watch it again. And did I cry? Maybe just a tiny bit. It still gets me, alright?!)
Of course, that’s not the only time I’ve cried at a videogame. Kingdom Hearts’ Dearly Beloved makes me shed a couple tears of nostalgia whenever I get the itch to boot the game back up. All the pent-up anticipation leading up to one particular trial (spoilers in that link!) in Final Fantasy 14’s Endwalker expansion started leaking out of my tear ducts when its theme song started playing, partly I was practically vibrating with giddiness at that point.
But what about you? Has a videogame song or soundtrack ever made you choke up, blubber, or full-on wail because all of the emotions were just too dang strong—come on, surely you have, don’t leave me as the only one who’s done this.
So which soundtracks cause you to get a lump in your throat when you hear them? Let us know in the comments and be sure to tell us why.
