Play Doom 1 or 2 in combination with cuddly song by the Carpenters, that's just ace!

Every Shallala BANG! Every ouououo KABOOOM still shi.. RATATATATAT ARGH

It is and it's easily the best thing about the entire game. Heck, it's honestly one of the best game soundtracks I've ever heard. It's masterfully produced and a rare case of a modern game soundtrack where the composer wasn't afraid at all of putting some actual goddamn melodies in there (and also didn't just create a million arrangements of the same melody).

I have trouble processing that Astarte didn't make your list, though, lol. That stuff gave me goose bumps and probably made that bossfight the most memorable part of the entire game.

I don't think I could ever remember HALO as fondly as I do now without its soundtracks. In my opinion, music in games play a role in further immersing you in their world, or in some action sequences, help make you feel more pumped up. That being said, a wise judgement on when to include and not include music in various parts of the game is always a much more important thing to consider as there are moments within a game that work best without any accompanying music in the background. The most common example of this is in horror games.

I've said this before, but I feel something is off with the Halo music (I've finished the first two Halo games, on PC).

It is just... that when I hear the Halo title music, I envision a group of Irish step dancers dancing in the background. It just has that step dancing vibe in it, IMHO. And that kinda kills the atmosphere for Halo with is supposed to be so bad ass futuristic military game.

Then it's pretty much subjective lol. One question, does that image still appear for you when listening to the second Halo's title music? As I recall the second one took a more metal approach than the first one. It'd be rather funny imagining Irish step dancers dancing to a rock song lol.

If I had listed more than 3, it would. It's probably a #4 or 5 to me.

I just love the violin in theme/credits and Dredge Works just does it for me. From the start, it keeps increasing in intensity until the finale, the vocals are just godly and with a good subwoofer, the drums are something else.

If you like this soundtrack so much, you can listen to anything else Gareth Coker has written, everything he has done is incredible. He is well know for his work on Ori and the Blind Forest and ARK: Survival Evolved, which have excellent soundtracks, by the way, but his work on lesser-known games is as good.

For example, here are some tracks he composed for The Mean Greens:

The Mean Greens - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTmN3BBgPc8
Kitchen Run - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hsw542NSnqI
Operation Birthday - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEttjsLg2S8

The tracks that follow are from big budget games, so I contradict myself a little, but they really slap!

Here's a track of him that I can't get out of my head, which he originally wrote for one of the ARK II trailers:

Ark II Main Theme - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP0JhslTriw

Any of the Immortals Fenyx Rising soundtracks, composed by him as well, are amazing.
Here are a few tracks I love, but really, any other track could have been part of this list, they are all excellent:

Heart of the Hero - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0SC94yxCMo
The Corrupted Heroes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0o4lhPgtH0
A Showcase of Power - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmnQSkLwHUE
Zeus's Trial of Blessing - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBSj7oFyCx8

Reviving with a video I stumbled upon in my Youtube suggestions:

Serious Sam Orchestra Cover - Croatian National Television
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3XARo7wTp8

Definitely put a smile on my face as Serious Sam is among my most favorite franchises. 3 tracks in the video, two from Serious Sam 4 and one from Serious Sam 3.

Vatican Peace (SS4)
Vatican Fight (SS4)
Boss Fight Strings (SS3)

Links to the originals for comparison:
Vatican - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FX6_gzso48
Boss Fight Strings - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn2-IEEFz6s

As I revived the thread again, let's try and keep it relevant for a bit again.

Some picks from games I played recently

Dark Envoy:
The entire soundtrack is quite nice and I really like the overall, somewhat heavy, melancholic/depressive vibe of it but if I were to pick my top 4:

Dark Stronghold - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICR6O6QM3hA
Citadel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTnMEIoZgCU
Dark Forest Grove - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lr09pCWN9c
War Council - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6U5TD_1RDE0

Cyclones:
Played after it appeared on GOG and was surprised by the bangers in the soundtrack:

CD Track 10 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqiUbjJYDFo
CD Track 17 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJwHTx1mN8g

I'm all in for a thread about my favourite art in games! :)

Coincidentally I was hearing the full OST of Kingdom Hearts for pure nostalgia these days and I got some picks too.
(also studying 'Tango Nuevo' by Piazolla, yeah, compleltely different, I know, lol.). About The 13th Struggle specifically, there are two versions of the song in which the Piano arrangement changes.
Not so many people notices that because they are little differences through the piece.

Here's the new orchestrated version which uses the second arrangement: Obviously the audio quality is also superior because the first version is 14+ years old, while this new version (with the new arrangement) is from the Kingdom Hearts Collection (PS3) which was re-utilized in the PC Kingdom Hearts Collection, if I'm not mistaken.

Another one which I also love from the Kingdom Hearts series: About this song, there's a full page on Fandom because it has (at least) 3 versions. Interesting read if you're into translation in games because the japanese version is different from the american/us release of the song (albeit it's the same singer I think).

https://kingdomhearts.fandom.com/wiki/Sanctuary

Although I'm more of a Rock/Metal / Classical / Tango / Remix guy, I enjoy so much those emotional tracks because they tend to try to express the story of the game through the songs, which I found beautifully amazing.

Been replaying Dragon Quest 9, and there's one music track, in particular, that has a tendency to make me cry. It first plays very early in the game, as well as anytime you return to the area in which it plays.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiFr2kShh9Y

(There's a couple other neat tracks in the game, like the fugue that's based on the Dragon Quest Overture, and the final battle theme that incorporates both along with the final dungeon theme. I could also mention the grotto theme, but this isn't the first DQ game in which it appeared, and it might get old if you're one of the players who can sink hundreds of hours into this game's postgame.)

Just finished Spellforce 2 + Dragon Storm. The soundtrack is honestly one of the best parts of the game. Very orchestral, very much to my liking and a veritable treasure trove to any fan of orchestral music in general.

Plain in Freedom:
Probably the track you are going to be hearing the most throughout Spellforce 2. If you play and finish the game, this track and the game will become one. The part from 5 minutes to the end is just *chef's kiss*:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3RiQiOXr3A

Dun Mora:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03zupUgtRNY

Plain in Desolation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOH697ioi5c

Lullaby of Death:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYAk35ZG9qs