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Results
1. Final Fantasy VII Remake - 316 points, 34 votes
Composers: Nobuo Uematsu, Masashi Hamauzu, Mitsuto Suzuki, Shotaro Shima, Yoshitaka Suzuki, Yoshinori Nakamura, Tadayoshi Makino, Yasunori Nishiki, Keiki Kobayashi, Takafumi Imamura, Daiki Ishikawa, Tsuyoshi Sekito, Ayumu Murai, Nozomi Toki
The Airbuster
Hollow Skies
The Valkyrie
2. Hades - 155 points, 21 votes
Composer: Darren Korb
Out of Tartarus
God of the Dead
Good Riddance (feat. Ashley Barrett)
3. Ori and the Will of the Wisps - 135 points, 17 votes
Composer: Gareth Coker
Mora the Spider
Luma Pools
In Wonderment of Winter
4. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - 108 points, 15 votes
Composers: Hitoshi Sakimoto, Mitsuhiro Kaneda, Yoshimi Kudo, Rikako Watanabe, Yukinori Kikuchi, Kazuki Higashihara, Azusa Chiba
-(ISOLEUCINE)-
-[DEOXYRIBOSE]-
Seaside Vacation
5. Persona 5 Royal - 107 points, 14 votes
Composer: Shōji Meguro
I Believe
Take Over
Throw Away Your Mask
6. Ghost of Tsushima - 75 points, 11 votes
Composers: Ilan Eshkeri, Shigeru Umebayashi
The Way of the Ghost
Sacrifice of Tradition
Jin Sakai
7. Streets of Rage 4 - 72 points, 10 votes
Composers: Yuzo Koshiro, Olivier Deriviere, Groundislava, XL Middleton, Keiji Yamagishi, Harumi Fujita, Motohiro Kawashima, Yoko Shimomura, Scattle, Das Mörtal
Main Theme
Call the Cops
Rising Up
8. Paper Mario: The Origami King - 67 points, 8 votes
Composers: Yoshito Sekigawa, Shoh Murakami, Yoshiaki Kimura, Hiroki Morishita, Fumihiro Isobe
Autumn Mountain
Exploring the Great Sea
Origami Castle
9. The Last of Us Part II - 60 points, 8 votes
Composers: Gustavo Santaolalla, Mac Quayle
Beyond Desolation
Unbroken
The Last of Us Part II
10. Animal Crossing: New Horizons - 59 points, 10 votes
Composers: Yasuaki Iwata, Yumi Takahashi, Shinobu Nagata, Sayako Doi, Masato Ohashi
Welcome Horizons
6 A.M.
5 P.M.
11. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity - 53 points, 7 votes
Composers: Kumi Tanioka, Reo Uratani, Ryotaro Yagi, Haruki Yamada
Main Theme
The Champion Mipha
The Champion Revali
12. Yakuza: Like a Dragon - 49 points, 7 votes
Composers: Hidenori Shoji, Yuri Fukuda, Chihiro Aoki, Saori Yoshida
Cold-Blooded
Yokohama Battle Theme
Receive and Turn You
13. Genshin Impact - 45 points, 6 votes
Composer: Yu-Peng Chen
Symphony of Boreal Wind
His Resolution
Rapid as Wildfires
14. Astro's Playroom - 44 points, 8 votes
Composer: Kenneth C M Young
GPU Jungle
SSD Speedway
CPU Plaza
15. Sackboy: A Big Adventure - 44 points, 6 votes
Composers: Joe Thwaites, Jay Waters, Nick Foster, Lena Raine, George King, Glen Brown, Brian D'Oliveira, Winifred Phillips, Jim Fowler, OPIUO, 2 Mello, Si Begg, Tokyo Machine
Stitches of Steel
The Gardens
The Final Showdown
16 (Tie). Demon's Souls - 43 points, 7 votes
Composer: Shunsuke Kida
Flamelurker
One Who Craves Souls
Tower Knight
16 (Tie). Spider Man: Miles Morales - 43 points, 7 votes
Composer: John Paesano
I'm Ready
The Underground
Main Theme
18. Spiritfarer - 40 points, 7 votes
Composer: Maxime Lacoste Lebuis
Spiritfarer
What Will You Leave Behind (End Titles)
Last Voyage
19. Paradise Killer - 37 points, 4 votes
Composer: Barry Topping
Paradise (Stay Forever)
Knife & Crystal
Breeze With U
20. Nioh 2 - 34 points, 5 votes
Composers: Yugo Kanno, Akihiro Manabe
William
Tokichiro
Enenra
Results
1. Final Fantasy VII Remake - 316 points, 34 votes
Composers: Nobuo Uematsu, Masashi Hamauzu, Mitsuto Suzuki, Shotaro Shima, Yoshitaka Suzuki, Yoshinori Nakamura, Tadayoshi Makino, Yasunori Nishiki, Keiki Kobayashi, Takafumi Imamura, Daiki Ishikawa, Tsuyoshi Sekito, Ayumu Murai, Nozomi Toki
The Airbuster
Hollow Skies
The Valkyrie
I can't get over how good this soundtrack is. Its soaring heartfelt energy, its joyful variety, its delightful enhancement of every scene, every familiar area, every astonishing boss fight. It's hard not to dissolve into a stream of hyperbolic praise, because this music is such a powerful example of how to take the emotional palette of a classic game that is embedded in the collective psyche of a generation of players and bring it back to vivid life, better than ever before.
Not only does FF7R's soundtrack reprise major themes from the original in a way that perfectly captures their essence while heightening their nostalgic potency, but it's full of bold creative remixes and new additions that absolutely slap. This music makes the scenes and settings pop with personality and tap into the full array of feelings from the original game. It makes you fall in love with the characters and the story all over again. And don't even get me started on the spectacular boss themes, which are easily the best in the medium since Metal Gear Rising.
What the composers achieved here is nothing short of extraordinary. They didn't merely remake the FFVII soundtrack for the modern ear. They used players' memories of the original to add little wisps of suggestion, hinting at the events to come. The music is peppered with subtle references to character arcs and origin stories, places and times we haven't seen in the Remake, yet we know well from the classic game. It's a remarkable thread of purposeful design that confirms this brilliant soundtrack was tailor made by and for passionate fans of Final Fantasy VII.
2. Hades - 155 points, 21 votes
Composer: Darren Korb
Out of Tartarus
God of the Dead
Good Riddance (feat. Ashley Barrett)
On top of audio design, singing, voice direction, and voice acting, Darren Korb composed yet another incredible score for Supergiant Games with Hades. In comparison to Korb's previous works, Hades has a heavy metal feel to many of the tracks used in combat, and it is this, along with a thrilling combination of electric guitar, Mediterranean instruments, and folk influences that give the soundtrack of Hades a unique tone. Ashley Barrett once again lends her voice to certain tracks, and her performance is as strong as ever. Even after eighty-nine escape attempts from the Underworld, the music of Hades is a delight, and my breath still catches every time the final boss music goes into its second phase.
3. Ori and the Will of the Wisps - 135 points, 17 votes
Composer: Gareth Coker
Mora the Spider
Luma Pools
In Wonderment of Winter
An absolutely beautiful soundtrack that propels every single action in the game. The way the boss fight tracks escalate from oppressive to triumphant as the battles press on made them some of my favorite moments this year.
4. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - 108 points, 15 votes
Composers: Hitoshi Sakimoto, Mitsuhiro Kaneda, Yoshimi Kudo, Rikako Watanabe, Yukinori Kikuchi, Kazuki Higashihara, Azusa Chiba
-(ISOLEUCINE)-
-[DEOXYRIBOSE]-
Seaside Vacation
That title music is so good and Its amazing how much the music added to the tone and different sections of the game. The battles, while I enjoyed the gameplay a lot during them, felt at the core a bit simplistic when you have your upgrades going but its great credit to the music that those sections have a lot of epic atmosphere to them that had me enjoy them more. In the Doldrums is a brilliant track that hits you from the start of the game and does a great job accurately accompanying that beautiful art in conveying the feeling and tone of those story chapters. Overall more than enough incredible music that plays a pivotal role in conveying the world and story throughout 13 sentinels.
5. Persona 5 Royal - 107 points, 14 votes
Composer: Shōji Meguro
I Believe
Take Over
Throw Away Your Mask
Persona 5 has one of my favorite OSTs of all time, and Royal's new tracks are right there with it.
6. Ghost of Tsushima - 75 points, 11 votes
Composers: Ilan Eshkeri, Shigeru Umebayashi
The Way of the Ghost
Sacrifice of Tradition
Jin Sakai
Exceptionally moving and at times exhilarating. Impeccably produced.
7. Streets of Rage 4 - 72 points, 10 votes
Composers: Yuzo Koshiro, Olivier Deriviere, Groundislava, XL Middleton, Keiji Yamagishi, Harumi Fujita, Motohiro Kawashima, Yoko Shimomura, Scattle, Das Mörtal
Main Theme
Call the Cops
Rising Up
A remarkable OST created by several people that not only lives up to the high praise of it's predecessors but actually comes close to matching them. Truly special.
8. Paper Mario: The Origami King - 67 points, 8 votes
Composers: Yoshito Sekigawa, Shoh Murakami, Yoshiaki Kimura, Hiroki Morishita, Fumihiro Isobe
Autumn Mountain
Exploring the Great Sea
Origami Castle
Yet another Paper Mario game with a fantastic OST. Origami King has a dazzling quality and variety of music to match the game's immense range of locales, action, and mood. Keeping pace with the game's madcap action and emotional story moments is a tall order, but managing that across a variety of musical genres and packing in some really impressive dynamic compositions (such as the "thinking" combat theme variations that seamlessly fade in and out every single turn) just feels like showing off. Origami King is an easy choice for my favorite soundtrack in 2020.
9. The Last of Us Part II - 60 points, 8 votes
Composers: Gustavo Santaolalla, Mac Quayle
Beyond Desolation
Unbroken
The Last of Us Part II
Haunting and sparse, like the game itself, and drawing upon themes of the first game only when needed, I thought this was a very good soundtrack if not a bit more in the background than the first game. Great use of licensed music throughout as well.
10. Animal Crossing: New Horizons - 59 points, 10 votes
Composers: Yasuaki Iwata, Yumi Takahashi, Shinobu Nagata, Sayako Doi, Masato Ohashi
Welcome Horizons
6 A.M.
5 P.M.
Animal Crossing thrives on chill, laid back music, not least that produced in game by wandering musician K.K. Slider. While most of the game's OST can be sourced to previous entries, there's a lot of new stuff to love. Of course, the bulk of this comes from the hourly music, which is consistently chill, if not overly impressive. My favourites are 8AM, 5PM, and the always lovely 2PM, which I will never tire of. My favourite piece in the game is the Fishing Tournament music, which is jazzy in all the right ways, and has the best insertion of the omnipresent main theme. I always love that the incremental content updates drip feed us with new music, even if they are often arrangements of older tracks. The goofy take on Haloween is almost perfect.
11. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity - 53 points, 7 votes
Composers: Kumi Tanioka, Reo Uratani, Ryotaro Yagi, Haruki Yamada
Main Theme
The Champion Mipha
The Champion Revali
12. Yakuza: Like a Dragon - 49 points, 7 votes
Composers: Hidenori Shoji, Yuri Fukuda, Chihiro Aoki, Saori Yoshida
Cold-Blooded
Yokohama Battle Theme
Receive and Turn You
13. Genshin Impact - 45 points, 6 votes
Composer: Yu-Peng Chen
Symphony of Boreal Wind
His Resolution
Rapid as Wildfires
14. Astro's Playroom - 44 points, 8 votes
Composer: Kenneth C M Young
GPU Jungle
SSD Speedway
CPU Plaza
15. Sackboy: A Big Adventure - 44 points, 6 votes
Composers: Joe Thwaites, Jay Waters, Nick Foster, Lena Raine, George King, Glen Brown, Brian D'Oliveira, Winifred Phillips, Jim Fowler, OPIUO, 2 Mello, Si Begg, Tokyo Machine
Stitches of Steel
The Gardens
The Final Showdown
16 (Tie). Demon's Souls - 43 points, 7 votes
Composer: Shunsuke Kida
Flamelurker
One Who Craves Souls
Tower Knight
16 (Tie). Spider Man: Miles Morales - 43 points, 7 votes
Composer: John Paesano
I'm Ready
The Underground
Main Theme
18. Spiritfarer - 40 points, 7 votes
Composer: Maxime Lacoste Lebuis
Spiritfarer
What Will You Leave Behind (End Titles)
Last Voyage
19. Paradise Killer - 37 points, 4 votes
Composer: Barry Topping
Paradise (Stay Forever)
Knife & Crystal
Breeze With U
20. Nioh 2 - 34 points, 5 votes
Composers: Yugo Kanno, Akihiro Manabe
William
Tokichiro
Enenra