What are some games with absolutely fantastic soundtracks?

Ape Out really only has the one song... but it is perfectly utilized to puncuate the gameplay experience.

skyrim might be THE greatest soundtrack of all time

fallout 1 and 2 (and new vegas as it reuses the soundtrack) are really cool and eerie. fallout 3 and 4 are good too

i quite enjoyed the soundtrack for south of midnight

also, this next one isnt an official soundtrack made for the game but a collection of good songs. but madden 10 has probably the most ludicrously stacked soundtrack ive ever heard for a sports game

i'm ngl most nintendo games really got banger music. i esp love mario kart 8's soundtrack, peak fusion

Rimworld
Starsector
Project Zomboid

Mirror's Edge, as well as Hardspace Shipbreaker

OTXO and what's even more impressive is that the developer of the game made the music himself! GhostRunner had a bangin' ass soundtrack too.

Quake 2

Guild Wars 1

Persona 3/4/5 are goated on their own ways in my opinion.

The Final Fantasy X soundtrack is great too

but rn my obsession soundtrack is Neon White, I love machine girl https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9X15iDR7z8

Hyperlight Drifter

Cobalt Core

They're in the same vein but it's some of the best chiptune-esque music I've ever heard. They're not these one note, one tempo, same vibe over and over again tracks. They have feeling and movement. Almost melancholic at times. Scary in the case of HLD. They remind me a lot of mid 2010s prog metal in some respects. Not the heaviness or the distorted guitars, but the melodies and creativity with sound that pushed music forward in those years. Like the last track of the Cobalt Core ost flows right into My Last Serenade by Killswitch Engage and it's a chefs kiss of greatness. They're both top 5 video game ost for me.

Katamari Damacy.

Na na, na na na na na, na na, na na na na na na...

Not sure if mentioned yet, but EVE Online has an amazing soundtrack. Their 10 Year Anniversary Symphony is just the cream on top.

A lot of great ones have already been mentioned: (Old School) Runescape, Bastion, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, Braid, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Celeste, Chrono Cross, Chrono Trigger, Crypt of the NecroDancer, Cyberpunk 2077, Deus Ex (2000), Donkey Kong Country 1 and 2, Doom 2016, Earthbound, F-Zero GX, FTL, Hades, Halo, Hi Fi Rush, Hotline Miami, Jet Set Radio and JSR Future, Kirby (any of them), Legend of Mana, Mother 3, Neotokyo, Nier: Automata, Pizza Tower, Quake, Ratchet & Clank (any of them), Risk of Rain 1 and 2, Shadow of the Colossus, Shantae (any of them), Shatter, Shovel Knight, SimCity 3000, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic CD (Japan), Sonic Mania, Sonic Rush, Stardew Valley, Tower of Heaven, Transistor, Trine, and VVVVVV

Here's some that haven't been mentioned yet:

Ape Escape

• PS1 game, soundtrack by icon of the 90s era Japanese House music scene, Soichi Terada. All of his tracks are bangers. I've seen the soundtrack described as House, Jungle, and DnB. Probably my favorite game soundtrack ever, but that's probably nostalgia talking.
• Soundtrack: Game Rip, Fan Remastered or Originape Soundtrack/Official Soundtrack CD (Note: Terada has released his own remastered tracks in the 2020s since the Originape CD, but they are split over multiple albums and I'm too lazy to track them down at the moment)
• Standout tracks: Peak Point Matrix/Galaxy Monkey, Primordial Ooze, Thick Jungle- Woods, Dark Ruins, Crumbling Castle, Specter's Factory- Outside, Time Station

Final Fantasy Legends III / SaGa 3 Jikū no Hasha: Shadow or Light

• Originally on Gameboy, Japan only remake on DS (fan translation patch exists). This is really a game in the SaGa series, but was released under the Final Fantasy name internationally for marketing purposes. Characters don't have levels, their stats change based on what they do. Enemies also drop meat and parts that you can apply to a character to change their class, with some unique mechanics for different types. Features a time traveling stealth bomber, THE TALON, that may possibly be the only airship in gaming with a working toilet. DS Remake is generally better, but it kills overworld exploration by turning it into "select an adjacent POI" instead of free roam.
• Soundtrack: Gameboy, unfortunately I can't find this version with track names. DS Remake
• Standout Tracks: Setting off into the future, Holy Ruins (a criminally underused track in game), Oasis (has some odd animal sfx added in the middle in this remake version), Stronghold (imo, one of the best dungeon themes in gaming), THE MOTHERFUCKING TALON THEME (this is the GB version, as the DS remake loses the countermelody which imo weakens the track)

Ghost Trick

• Originally for DS, has been remade for just about everything now. It's effectively a VN with fancy gameplay segments, and the music really helps carry the whole thing. Beautifully done sprite animation too.
• Soundtrack: DS, 2023 Remaster
• Standouts: Ghost Trick, Lynne- Red-Headed Target, Awakening, The Mystery Surges Ahead, Cabanela - Lanky and Loose Lawman, Jowd- Fated Jailbird

Gunpoint

• Old indie sidescrolling noir stealth game. The main gameplay revolves around puzzle solving by hacking buildings' electrical systems. Hook that lightswitch up to the secure door lock. Rig that motion sensor up to short out a power plug and take out a guard instead of it just turning on the lights. Delightful jazz soundtrack.
• Soundtrack
• Standouts: Security, Circuitry and You, Subterfuge Shuffle, Cold Halls and Footfalls, The Five-Floor Goodbye

Megaman ZX

• DS sequel to the Megaman Zero series for GBA, but now with a Metroidvania twist.
• Soundtrack: ZX Tunes- Official remix/rearrange soundtrack
• Standouts: Innocence- 90s style anime opening, Green Grass Gradation, Rockin' On, Brilliant Show Window, [Cinq Ville - C`est Notre Espoir](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9-Jauqlpjs), Gauntlet

And I've spent way too much time on this comment. Here's more not mentioned so far that I don't have time to do a writeup for: Skies of Arcadia, Super Meat Boy, Tomba 2: The Evil Swine Returns, Uplink, XCOM (Original), XCOM (Reboot), XCOM 2 (Reboot)

Unreal

The factorio space age dlc. Particularly track 06 from Fulgora.

Bastion. It's Bastion. Holy shit the answer to this question is Bastion.

I'm assuming you know that Hades' soundtrack is fucking amazing, but before that came Bastion (from the same developer), and it has possibly the most powerful soundtrack I've ever experienced. The way it's integrated into the story genuinely blows my mind. Every track is a banger, but then you'll start to get used to it, and then you'll hear a song that's so different, and it's because something unexpected and beautiful is about to happen.

Then you'll get to the end and you'll have a choice to make. Except it won't feel like a choice, because you'll feel compelled to do exactly what the game wants you to do, and then you're rewarded with one of the most beautiful sequences I've ever seen in a game, accompanied by a haunting song that I still sing fourteen years later.

I can't stress this enough: if you want a game where the music is an essential part of the experience and is just so fucking amazing on its own that you'll want to play it on repeat, the answer is Bastion.

I also really loved the soundtrack to Baldur's Gate 3.

Outer Wilds - The way this game uses music and ambient sound to foster a sense of wonder, dread, excitement, sorrow, and much more is nothing short of incredible. Probably the best game I have ever played.

Subnautica - Equally impressive use of music as Outer Wilds, many of the same feelings, but a much much different vibe and genre.

Return of the Obra Dinn - A grim game where the soundtrack with church bells and heavy string instruments really underscore the mood.

Going through the lists everyone has posted I realized I’m surprised I haven’t seen anything from the Medal of Honor franchise posted. I only ever played Medal of Honor: Frontline because a roommate had it, but it was scored by Michael Giacchino, who also composed the scores for the original Medal of Honor, Medal of Honor: Underground, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, and Medal of Honor: Airborne. Giacchino won awards for the first four soundtracks in the series and it was his video game work that caught J. J. Abrams’s attention and led to him scoring Alias and Lost, starting his TV and movie career.

Also, if you enjoy soundtracks, you might like StreamingSoundtracks.com. It’s been around since 2001 and features soundtracks from movies, tv shows, and video games. It’s a free streaming radio service with the playlist queued by listeners along with limits on how frequently any track can be played, so you won’t hear repeats very often. A manager at a past job played it most days. One year someone took advantage of the “No repeats” rules and played all the horror tracks throughout October so that on Halloween there were basically no horror tracks available, angering many when they realized what had happened. I found it one of the more impressively planned and executed pranks I’ve personally witnessed.

I would like to throw in Terranigma's OST. Specifically, the Hometown theme song.

Ape Escape. I think Cryptic Relics is my favorite track but they're all so good. They're all drum and bass bangers.

I’ve seen a lot of good mentions here already but haven’t seen Nier: Automata yet. I thought the game was overrated, but there are a lot of great audio tracks

Batman the Videogame on the NES, FFVII, the entire WipEout series, original soundtrack for Crazy Taxi, Sonic the Hedgehog 3/Sonic & Knuckles, X-Men on the Sega Genesis, WET, Omega Boost, Zone of the Enders, BurnOut 3: Takedown, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Lost War Chronicles, Roommania #203, Street Fighter Alpha 3, Mega Man 2 & 3, Doom, SSX Tricky, Xenogears.

Journey

The game is a piece of art and the soundtrack plays a big part of it.

Quake, by Nine Inch Nails https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1SsBMsauvE Industrial / Ambient

Refunct

axiom verge 1 and 2 - good in different ways. i liked to put first on for long coding sessions, and the second expanded in interesting directions
transistor & pyre & hades - all scored by Darren Korb, but different genres. from first moment, transistor has such vibe in big part thanks to it's soundtrack, and is among my all time top games
Nier automata - won awards for it's soundtrack, clear to hear why
crypt of the necrodancer - rhythm game should have a good soundtrack, and it does
witcher 3 - the battle themes - like "silver for monsters" are unique style of action-y folk, very rare to find anything else that scratches that itch.
dusk - awesome and dynamic metal
risk of rain 1&2 - first game itself didn't click with me, but, oh man, that solo in "Monsoon" get me every time, and "Coalescence" is poignantly melancholic in a similar way to "song of the ancients" from nier - which is (a very high praise and) much more expected from nier's type of game than a "risk of rain"'s. "face of the deep" from ror2 from second is head-spinning in a good way
no man's sky - it introduced me to 65dos, for which i'm very grateful. that soundtrack is still probably my favourite album of theirs noita - low-key psychedelic, very vibes
unreal tournament 99 - and i think it's not just nostalgia, because one of my favourites - "mechanism 8" - is from the map i almost never played
"Ultrakill" - good soundtrack, and yet cyber grind tracks from guest composers are still my favourites. "The cyber grind" in particular is just exhilarating

individual tracks i overheard from games i haven't played:

old "touhou project" games - their soundtrack is full of gems, even if it's not my genre of game
system shock 2's "Med Sci 1" and "Engineering" - very nice, i want more of that and can't find
"Clair Obscur: Expedition 33"'s "Lumière" - made me wishlist the game just for having it
"Final Fantasy IX"'s "You're not alone" - very nice melody i like to whistle sometimes. considering playing it just for having it
original "Castlevania"'s "Vampire killer" rocks

I liker Cyberpunk 2077's soundtrack so much I incorporated that specific style of music in my general listening habits because of it.

I'm honestly surprised no one has mentioned Chrono Trigger yet. Absolutely fantastic soundtrack.

Secret of mana 3 is also great. The track that comes to mind is "where angels fear to tread"

Recently,

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. I think the soundtrack was the best part of the game.

All time,

Anything Final Fantasy or Elder Scrolls is timeless.

Doom 2016

Portal 2

OST ones:

• Pizza tower
• Jet Set Radio/Future
• Doom 2016
• Psychonauts 1 and 2
• The Binding of Isaac Rebirth and DLC

With licensed music:

• Pretty much any GTA
• THPS series
• NFS Series from 2 SE up until Most Wanted 2005

Pillars of eternity 1 and 2, octopath traveler, Chrono trigger, streets of rage, sonic 1-3, and doom eternal were all pretty amazing

Surprised no one said Nier Automata yet. Great soundtrack and game

Surprised Halo wasn't mentioned yet.

Not seen mentioned yet, but Homeworld (1999).

The transition from the opening cutscene to the game proper scored to Agnus Dei (Adagio for Strings) by Samuel Barber really set the tone for the thing.

I don't remember much else about the soundtrack, but that one piece stuck with me.

Ragnarok Online. Really love “Desert” and “Dancimg Christmas in the 13th Month.” So many more, but those two really stand out.

Ori and the Blind Forest/ Will of the Wisps Still the only two games that I've sought out and added the music to my playlists, although Skyrim and LoZ songs tend to be covered by artists in my daily rotations

Bastion had a fantastic soundtrack. I still have songs from that game in rotation. There are a few perfectly timed music queues that made each song just hit hard.

Nobody has mentioned the Fallout games, but they always have a great radio station you can turn on for background music. Sometimes the soundtrack itself is pretty good too.

• Cave Story
• Chrono Trigger
• CrossCode
• Crypt of the Necrodancer
• F-Zero GX
• Guilty Gear
• Jet Set Radio
• Land Maker
• Lethal League
• Shatter
• Splatoon
• Them's Fightin' Herds
• Tower of Heaven
• Undertale/Deltarune
• VVVVVV
• The World Ends With You

Absolute nonsense for this post to have 61 comments and none of them have mentioned Outer Wilds yet. Echoes of the Eye could be its own separate answer to this as well. Take a listen to this track, it is the essence of adventure in audio form

Just comented this in another thread, but Amon Tobin's soundtrack for Splinter Cell Chaos Theory goes fucking hard.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nphWymI_0f4SxcEak39sDr0k0CxujIOws

1. All of the Zelda games
2. All of the Ori games
3. All of the Horizon games
4. All of the Mario Galaxy games

So good.

I really like the soundtrack to Suikoden. Maybe it's nostalgia, but it's one of the better ones for me.

And lunar silver star story is pretty good too.

Before games had full epic soundtracks, you still got quality "intro tracks", occasionally with a few other songs for whilst you're playing.

Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe intro music (youtube link)

From the same Atari ST/Amiga era: Chaos Engine, Frontier Elite 2, Xenon 2 Megablast, Syndicate Wars

For newer stuff with "full soundtracks", you can't beat Stellaris OST (youtube link)

• Eternal Sonata
• Jet Set Radio
• Hades
• Burnout Revenge

Neon White has a killer soundtrack by Machine Girl. Highly recommend it for anyone into DnB (the game also isn't bad).

Death Stranding

Alright i'll try to go with things that has not been submitted yet.

• Ace combat 7 has consistent bangers. Also project wingman in the same style, slightly less consistent, but the best tracks are absolutely amazing (showdown and redline are in my opinion)
• I did not play Mighty Switch Force and Mighty Switch Force 2, but this game has really good tracks
• ULTRAKILL is not really out yet, but its soundtrack is already amazing
• Turrican 2 has some pretty damn good chiptune tracks
• VA-11 HALL-A which also acts as an amazing background music to work
• Tekken tag 2 / Tekken 8
• Distance (this one is probably a bit personal though)

Aaand i'll stop there otherwise this will be a way too long post

So many good answers here. Not patient gaming, but Clair Obscur this year absolutely killed it with the soundtrack.

Patient games:

All Nobuo Ouematsu Final Fantasy games.

Fable

The Elder Scrolls Games

Doom 2016/eternal

Cyberpunk

Divinity Orginal Sin 2

Cuphead

Celest, little big planet