In 2026, videogame soundtracks are an ecosystem where hundreds, if not thousands of titles can be released per month. Sure, maybe there are slow months, but in comparison to math rock, prog, and whatever else we’d normally cover, the figures for OST’s are genuinely astronomical.
On one hand, we sure love a challenge, but on the other it’s not a straightforward task. There’s no unified marketplace or landing page for soundtracks, so you’ll see different kind of embeds below depending on what’s available. Beyond that, we know there’s much to consider – we’ve been learning a lot about game development through books like Press Reset by Jason Schreier and Doom Guy: Life in First Person by John Romero, and in some ways we have more questions now than we started with. But these quandaries have also emboldened us to somehow, someway, find our place.
We love doing those stupid features about finding math rock in OST’s, and we love talking to composers and developers about their craft. However, those things are easy compared to making lists like this. Maybe we’ll do them more often, or somehow do them better. We’re still figuring it out. In an age of artificial content creation and rapid fire viral media, written, shareable, dare we say actionable lists like this are harder to come by than we thought. We’re still going to do the easy stuff, but the most quantifiable thing we can do to actually support people in the videogame space is making sure their soundtracks and OST’s get love in every format. It’s a double-whammy – if you like the OST, there’s a high chance you’ll actually enjoy the game, and if that’s the case everybody wins, so below enjoy a round of newly released sounds from Romeo Is A Dead Man, High on Life 2, Reanimal, Relooted, and several more.
High on Life 2: Vol. One OST by TOBACCO
This exceptionally spacey sea of sounds accentuates High on Life’s visual flair with a heavy emphasis on high-gloss, futuristic synths. They’re a perfect match for the game, but what we find most interesting despite the amazing array of squelches, squeaks, and frequency sweeps on display is the drum work. They’re so stark and minimal compared to everything else you hear but they’re always perfectly placed, lending an uncanny sense of pep to the soundtrack. It’s like a drunk jam between Oneohtrix Point Never and Flying Lotus, and we’d pay good money for that so we’ll be keeping our eyes out for the vinyl once it’s out via Limited Run Games.
“Liar” for Romeo Is A Dead Man OST by Luby Sparks
Given that the latest from Suda51 forges an unholy alliance between sci-fi, psychological horror, metaphysical mystery, and so much more, it’s truly impressive that the music manages to glue such a disparate experience together. Much like the game itself the OST takes bits of industrial, DnB, nu-metal, garage rock, and shred to coalesce in a singular, if dizzying identity, and even when we don’t understand it, we’re humbled by the overall scope. Though the whole thing isn’t officially out, word on the street is that it’ll see official release soon.
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Styx: Blades of Greed OST by H-pi
Listen, the composer literally has pi in his name, so even if we didn’t have anything more to say, that should be enough for math rock sticklers. Thankfully, we do, because not only is Styx: Blades of Greed an interesting throwback to the glory days of mythological third-person stealth, it’s also an absolutely killer OST. More than something orchestrally bombastic, there’s more of an intimate arrangement on display more akin to a quartet or chamber assembly that almost reminds us of the Dishonored series, which adds a palpable degree of tension to the high-stakes gameplay.
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Mario Tennis Fever OST by Motoi Sakuraba
The latest installment in the Mario Tennis franchise has an absolutely adrenaline-fueled OST that has us thinking of some of Nintendo’s all-time greats. There’s some surprisingly chunky bass lines, frenetic beats, and as always, delicious gobs of shred guitar buried just beneath the mix, so after a few tracks, we knew we were all in. You might not be a tennis fan, or even a Mario fan, but honestly the Fever OST just might convince you.
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BlazBlue Entropy Effect X OST by Xiang Yanlin and Wang Daxian / 91Act
While anime inspired action roguelites find themselves naturally paired with high-energy music, every so often an OST will come out of the woodworks with so much aura that it threatens to become its own thing. It happened with Neon White, it happened with Hotline Miami, it almost happened with Neon Abyss, and if it hasn’t happened already with BlazBlue Entropy Effect X, it probably will soon. It hits all the beats in all the right places, but it’s also surprisingly complex in the way it combines and compounds ideas across the space of a single track.
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Crisol: Theater of Idols OST by Xavi Qués
When we first saw the preview of this through YouTube’s goth gamer nation hero Grim Beard, we could understand how the vaguely vampiric Spanish Catholic imagery instantly appealed to him. What we didn’t predict is how into it we would be, and the game’s OST is a big part of it. Even if you don’t get a tingle in your dingle watching the main character prick their hands for blood and ammo, you’ll still be thrilled by Celica Soldream’s evocative vocals and suitably dramatic soundtrack.
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Relooted OST by Nicholas Horsten and Dustin Van Wik
Relooted is a fast-paced heist game where you’re tasked with reclaiming real-life artifacts from museums around the world. Obviously, this requires both precise planning and perfect-as-possible execution, and our favorite part about the soundtrack is that it leans into all of the above with distinct cultural respect. There’s no mistaking that the instruments, ideas, and inspirations all come from Africa, but you can also detect that distinct flair for espionage, and in the end it makes for something striking and original.
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Reanimal OST by Christian Vasselbring, Jacob Carlsson Stefan Almqvist
While we’re still waiting on the official release, we did happen to catch this behind-the-scenes video that showed off just how they created the game’s most uncanny audio moments, and from what we can tell, there are dozens lying in wait. This is one of those endlessly creative soundtracks where they really blurred composition and musical ideas with sound design and post-production enhancement, so if you’re into more textured ASMR-type stuff, you’ll find yourself more than satisfied.
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Mewgenics OST by Ridiculon
You might think that making a soundtrack for a game about eugenic cat strategies would be… well, difficult to create, let alone comprehend. But Ridicuon, the band behind the music, make things feel all but natural here with dark, smoky Western guitar and jazz noir passages that’d be at home just about anywhere on the last few Between the Buried and Me records. It’s classy, dark, and will probably give you toxoplasmosis through your ear canals, but still – we love it all the same.
Nioh 3 OST by Akihiro Manabe
Souls-like games that manage to hold out attention are far and few between, but we were floored by Nioh 3’s vivid environmental designs and a combat system that lets you switch between Samurai and Ninja styles. In some ways we expected the soundtrack to follow suit and throw in some changeups as far as genre goes, but the OST is surprisingly grounded. Occasionally you’ll hear some Western influence in there, particularly in some of the battle themes, but there’s no breakbeat drums, guitar, or over the top performances – just the perfect amount of Japanese orchestral majesty.
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Cairn OST by Martin Stig Andersen, Gildaa, and The Toxic Avenger
There’s a very particular sense of vertigo that you get sometimes after scaling something huge and looking back at all the progress you’ve made, and by all accounts, Cairn nails delivering that to it’s players. We wouldn’t know because the second we get halfway up a mountain and look back we’ll get that “falling into sleep” feeling and pop into an anxious pocket dimension. That being said, the staggeringly spacious soundtrack sure makes us want to try – even if we fold up into nothingness, we’ll have a beautiful soundtrack to go out to.
MIO: Memories in Orbit OST by Nicolas Gueguen
This slowly sizzling cinematic take on vapor-wave has way more soul than we anticipated for a game centered around a tiny robot. It feels retro enough that it’s suitable for a metroidvania game, but it’s also subtle enough to keep us on our toes thanks to clever production. Echos and reverbs simulate distance and depth, icy synths and keys keep players focused on the forefront, and when you dive into the more cryptic aspects the tones really push into alien territory.
Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined OST by Koichi Sugiyama
The Dragon Quest series seems to finally be catching on in the West, but we’ve been lifelong fans since we played Dragon Warrior Monsters on the Gameboy Color. We’ll let you do the math on how long ago that actually was, but for now it’s nice to see the work of the late, great Koichi Sugiyama reupholstered a bit. That being said, thanks to the transposition and overall sonic facelift, there’s an oddly high percentage certain newcomers are going to hear tracks like “Intermezzo” and think to themselves, “is this It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia?” We still love it.
The Axis Unseen OST by Clifford Meyer
The post-metal fever dream that comes to us from one of Skyrim‘s most talented developers finally got a console release earlier this year, and it’s a marvel to play. We knew the game was going to be kickass early on, and we knew SOME of the soundtrack was coming from former ISIS songwriter Clifford Meyer, but not all of it. Frankly, it feels like Clifford’s work is at its most transportive in Axis Unseen, and we say that as fans of most of his discography. We can’t recommend this one enough.
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