Music’s impact in games is nothing new, from the chip tunes of early Mario games through to the soaring epic theme tune for Skyrim and the poignant musical motifs of The Last of Us, to name but a few. But while popular media and services like Spotify have brought game soundtracks and their composers into the limelight, BAFTA (the British Academy of Film & TV) has been surprisingly forward-thinking and has acknowledged and celebrated game music as far back as 2006; arguably a time when gaming wasn't as mainstream and ubiquitous as it now is.
While music will always provoke some form of response in games, it can sometimes be superseded by a poignant story, brutal action, deep systems, or vast open worlds. Yet it’s arguably just as important an element in adding color and emotion to some of the biggest games of all time, and those of a smaller scale but no less significant.
