If I've learned anything from seeing my spotify history over the years, it's that video games have a lot of really talented music composers — Masayoshi Soken (FFXIV), Piotr Musiał (Frostpunk), and Danny Baranowsky (Crypt of the Necrodancer) to name a few.
One of the details I love in some of my favorite games is when the music dynamically responds to what I'm doing. For example, listen to the battle music in Skies of Arcadia from the early 2000s as the player enters and exits a crisis.
Other games also make sure that certain beats in boss fights have solid scores to accompany them. A couple years ago, when I was playing Honkai: Star Rail, the Cocolia fight had this moment before the boss's big attack that I really enjoyed.
I just finished this game a few weeks ago, and I'm still thinking about it.
And Lorien Testard with Sandfall Interactive absolutely nailed the music across the board. Boss fights, cutscenes, wandering around, whatever. It's so, so good.
The battle at the end of act 2 has one of my favorite pieces in the game. And of course the cutscene in Lumière at the beginning of the game is unforgettable.
The whole 8+ hour soundtrack is astounding. I hope it wins a million awards and I can't wait to see what else he composes in the future!