PlayStation 4 Archives - The Greatest Game Music

Actraiser Renaissance Soundtrack

Actraiser Renaissance Soundtrack, Yuzo Koshiro, 2021

One of the most fondly remembered games of the first generation of SNES titles is Actraiser. Only the fourth SNES game to be released in Japan, Actraiser was developer Quartet’s first project. It was the beginning of an auspicious career that would see the company create some of the most memorable SNES projects. Actraiser was the rare game that offered something unique at the time – a combination of side-scrolling platforming action and city-building simulation. The whole concept was held together by Actraiser’s mythical narrative, pitting a protagonist with god-like powers against the forces of darkness. Unfortunately, 1993’s Actraiser 2 met with a less enthusiastic response, after it focused entirely on (punishingly difficult) platforming. And so, the franchise stopped dead in its tracks, seemingly forgotten by new rightsholder Square Enix – until out of nowhere, the company announced remake Actraiser Renaissance in September 2021.

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Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?! Soundtrack

Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?! Soundtrack, Jonathan Geer, 2020

What do you do if you have delivered two successful instalments of your cooking simulation franchise and are wondering where to take things next? If you are developer Vertigo Gaming, the answer is: don’t change your winning formula, but have some fun with the premise. In other words: the core loop of clicking on the right ingredients at the right time while juggling multiple food orders didn’t change much. Reviewers did point out issues with the game’s UI and occasionally punishing difficulty level, but by large and enjoyed Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?! (and its appetising art style). Where things took a left turn was with the game’s narrative. Set in a post-apocalyptic USA, your restaurant empire has been blown to pieces and now you’ve hit the road with a couple of helpful robots who’ve let you turn their van into a food truck.

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Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture Soundtrack

Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture Soundtrack, Jessica Curry, 2015

Coming off Dear Esther‘s critical and commercial success, British indie developer The Chinese Room began work on two projects: Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs and Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture. Out of the two games, the latter was no doubt the bigger undertaking, co-produced by industry giant Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. By and large, Rapture took the same gameplay approach as Dear Esther. Gamers are tasked with walking through a deserted village, trying to piece together what happened to those who once inhabited this piece of idyllic English countryside – no battles, perils or game over screens in sight. Not surprisingly, the limited interactivity within Rapture’s world wasn’t to the liking of everybody. All in all though, reviews were positive, with critics particularly pointing out the game’s strong narrative, placing Rapture on several year-end lists.

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Hob Soundtrack

Hob Soundtrack, Matt Uelmen, 2017

With their two Torchlight titles – particularly the excellent Torchlight II – developer Runic Games had established their credentials in the action RPG space, even managing to hold their ground against all-mighty rivals like Diablo III. Their next title was Hob, which shifted focus towards an open-world adventure that bore a clear debt to The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. The world of Hob is a giant machine made of myriads of levers, dials and pulleys that the title character must utilise to repair and cleanse the land, which a mysterious force has corrupted. Hob’s concept of its realm as a titanic mechanical contraption is appealing and the perfect set-up for many visual wonders and intriguing puzzles, although reviewers also pointed out the game’s more frustrating aspects, for example its combat.

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Knockout City Soundtrack

Knockout City Soundtrack, The Soundlings, 2021

Just about any sport in existence has been immortalised in at least one video game (well, maybe not synchronised swimming – yet). Still, some sports have arguably proven more popular than others once turned into interactive screen entertainment. One of the sports rarely encountered in video games is dodgeball. Maybe that’s because of its inherent simplicity and lack of strategy. However, the same features can also be a strength since they make it easy to transpose dodgeball into new settings and gameplay modes. Case in point: Velan Studios’ Knockout City, which sees teams of players chasing each other through the titular futuristic city, trying to knock each other out by hitting their opponents with a ball. Sure enough, when asked why they went with dodgeball as the game’s core gameplay component, Velan Studios CEO Karthik Bala responded that it was an “intuitive” sport whose concept everyone understands.

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Maglam Lord Soundtrack

Maglam Lord Soundtrack, Chiaki Fujita / Nobuo Kiyota / Kyouko Nakamura / Kiyoto Ohtani, 2021

For its most recent game, developer Felistella didn’t stray too from what worked for them in the past. Mixing elements of visual novels with strategy and action RPGs in their Summon Night and Hyperdimension Neptunia titles, Felistella delivered a similar experience with 2021’s Maglam Lord. In tune with those earlier games’ humorous tone, Maglam Lord follows Killrizark, an all-mighty demon lord sealed away after an epic battle. Every RPG fan worth their salt will be able to guess what happens next – at least up to a point. After many years, Killrizark awakens – weakened and ready to regain his strength by eating as many innocent souls as possible. That is, until he is told he’s been declared an endangered species by the government.

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Streets of Rage 4: Mr. X Nightmare Soundtrack

Streets of Rage 4: Mr. X Nightmare Soundtrack, Tee Lopes, 2021

The renaissance of 2d gaming, which kicked off in the 2010s, wasn’t just a boon for indie gaming. Enterprising developers successfully revived classic franchises that had lain dormant – and among them was Streets of Rage. 2020’s Streets of Rage 4 arguably didn’t break any new ground, but it was a skilfully executed take on perenially satisfying beat’em up mechanics. Commercial success followed strong reviews – a year after launching, the game had sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide. Of course, that meant DLC would soon follow and indeed arrived in the shape of Streets of Rage 4: Mr. X Nightmare. The expansion’s main addition was a new Survival Mode (seemingly inspired by roguelikes), three new playable characters and a more challenging difficulty level.

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The Caligula Effect 2 Soundtrack

The Caligula Effect 2 Soundtrack, Various, 2021

Expectations were running high for 2016’s The Caligula Effect – no surprise, given its pedigree. With the involvement of writer Tadashi Satomi and composer Tsukasa Masuko, who had worked on several Persona and Megami Tensei games, the connections to that beloved franchise were strong. Unfortunately, critics’ reaction to The Caligula Effect was tepid. Still, the game made enough money to warrant an improved remake in 2018 and finally a sequel in 2021, developed by Historia. Its plot seems like an almost straight reprise of that found in the first Caligula Effect. An almighty virtuadoll has created a utopian virtual reality (a high school setting) that offers refugee for wounded souls looking to flee reality. A group of students is trying to escape this simulation after one of them has his memories of the real world restored by another virtuadoll. This time, reviewers were more enamoured with the game, but only slightly.

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TowerFall Ascension Soundtrack

TowerFall Ascension Soundtrack, Alec Holowka, 2014

Created by Alec Holowka’s friend Matt Thorson, multi-player brawler TowerFall proved to be a hit with gamers and critics. In 2014, Thorson ported TowerFall as TowerFall Ascension over to the PlayStation 4 and other systems. Essentially, Ascension is an upgraded version of TowerFall, and this time the music received a dedicated soundtrack release on Bandcamp.

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