I’ve grown to love the tradition of creating these annual OST collections as one of my favorite posts to make. I love the process of notating down some new favorites throughout the year and then pumping this list up to 10 as I listen to some soundtracks I missed at the end.
While 2021 was a great year for gaming, I struggled more than any other playlist putting this one together. Most of the top games of the year in my opinion had soundtracks that just weren’t for me, which is what I used to rely on for filling in the gaps of the list. I don’t gravitate to soundtracks full of orchestral blandness (Hitman 3, It Takes Two, Ratchet & Clank, Psychonauts 2, Forgotten City, Tales of Arise), eeriness (Metroid Dread, Resident Evil Village, Death’s Door, Returnal, Inscryption), or lots of scattered noise (Kena, Shin Megami Tensei 5, Monster Hunter Rise). There were games with licensed music I didn’t want to use (Forza Horizon 5, Guardians of the Galaxy), and some of my favorite songs were from DLC and I wasn’t sure how to represent those in this list so I left them off. Regardless, I’m satisfied with the list.
#1.) Sailing – Valheim
https://youtu.be/YHWiPt-3O3A
#2.) Battle Against the Ones We Inevitably Confront – Bravely Default 2
https://youtu.be/0Wxn7X2Gek0
#3.) Elsewhere Forest – New Pokemon Snap
https://youtu.be/jUEPZWJvogg
#4.) Dinners, The Big City – Chicory
https://youtu.be/GBVVjJxojk4
#5.) Smell of the Game – Guilty Gear Strive
https://youtu.be/odNE7V8es0E
#6.) Turbine Town – Here Comes Niko
https://youtu.be/ECNKJ9JOOqY
#7.) Autumn Town (Day) – Garden Story
https://youtu.be/0yNrvF5-VK4
#8.) Rooftop Rumble – Nickelodeon All Star Brawl
https://youtu.be/mh7dkxeG-tU
#9.) Revenge of the Reaver King – Ruined King
https://youtu.be/7VF2gFkPfoQ
#10.) Sequence – Halo Infinite
https://youtu.be/IMEDmo-7evQ
Bonus:
#11.) Go! Daniel! – Eastward
https://youtu.be/CaJ-zfZ9yEg
#12.) Plessie’s Ride! – Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury
https://youtu.be/C8vumcp9NP4
Used in a previous list and is the BESTTTT new song of the year
Meadows – Valheim
https://youtu.be/WGLc_0mtQ7g
huesteus 