Death Stranding PS4 PlayStation 4 Best Music October 2019

Another new month brings with another slate of titles, and with that, more music. This month we had an absolute goldmine, including some best of the year frontrunners both big and small, as well as a few other pretty fantastic scores. What are you waiting for? Let’s dive in.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

The music of a galaxy far, far away has always been truly special. John Williams has crafted an innumerable amount of iconic moments for this saga, and many of the tie-in games have made sure to make the most of that. Jed: Fallen Order is no exception, though it may be surprising to hear, that the score stands tallest when it’s doing its own thing. Respawn’s composer, Stephen Barton, delivers a score that sounds distinctly Star Wars without just feeling like mere mimicry.

Death Stranding

No matter how you feel about Hideo Kojima’s new, weird walking simulator-esque experience, it’s hard to not like the soundtrack. Ludvig Forssell’s soundtrack is a synth fan’s dream, offering immaculate soundscapes to slink your way across. Throw in some timely licensed music like the Timefall EP and what feels like half of Low Roar’s discography, and the end result is what is almost assuredly going to be number one on the list of best soundtracks.

Golem

Martin O’Donnell is one of the greatest composers the industry has ever known. The soundtracks for the Bungie Halo titles are so iconic that they deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as series’ like Zelda and Mario, so it should be a surprise to no one that O’Donnell’s newest score, for VR title Golem, is a masterpiece. The tinkling piano, the leitmotif built around the dreamers: it all sounds distinctly like O’Donnell, and every note is a revelation.

Gris

The gorgeous side-scrolling indie from Nomada Studios has a lot going for it. Beautiful presentation, fantastic art direction, and perhaps most importantly, an incredible soundtrack. The music comes courtesy of band Berlinist, and the results are immaculate. Combining sombre pianos and vocals much of the way through, the score carries an emotional punch that is rarely pulled off so well.


And there we have it. The final monthly recap before our end of year recap. One of the strongest months of the year musically by far. Definitely keep your eyes out for multiple entries from this list making their way to the year’s end list as well.