10 Indie Game OSTs That Outperform AAA Titles

As generations have progressed, soundtracks have acquired a seminal role in interactive adventures, helping to establish the tone and emotions with great ease.

Humanity and music have become practically inseparable, and video games have applied this knowledge by increasingly focusing on the sound compositions that accompany digital worlds.

Whether to instill adrenaline, melancholy, or epic grandeur, soundtracks are one of the most reliable means of expressing emotions, and this isn't only something large multinational corporations understand, but also independent studios.

Thus, in order to recognize those modest yet talented teams that have created impressive pieces, I invite you to read this list of ten indie game OSTs that outperform AAA titles.

10 Cairn

Rising Without Climbing

I write these words with chills running through my body as I listen to Cairn's soundtrack, because it hits just as hard on the nineteenth listen as it did the first.

If the game itself is extraordinary, with superb attention to detail both mechanically and visually, the songs are the icing on the cake, oscillating between the epic scale of climbing an impossible mountain and the pain of a life that just wants to become part of another whole.

Aava is a magnificent protagonist, embodying a dichotomy between the feats she accomplishes and the demons that afflict her, and we understand this not through dialogue but, particularly, through the soundtrack, which breathes an air of a nonexistent future that hurts even when you don't know why.

The Game Bakers is more than established among the most outstanding studios in the indie scene, but what they achieved with Cairn and its music is truly worthy of a standing ovation.

9 Outer Wilds

Smiling at the End of Times

Contrary to what its scale might suggest, Outer Wilds' soundtrack carries the weight of humanity in a way that few games on the brink of apocalypse manage to do.

Instead of dwelling on the futility of existence or presenting our journey through its galaxy as a biblical odyssey, the music is at the service of the connections we make along the way, feeling more like tunes performed at family gatherings than regular songs.

Through its themes, the game conveys a warmth that vividly contrasts with the inconceivable magnitude of our task, connecting with the game's central topics of valuing life, exploring what makes us human, and cherishing the bonds we forge during our mortal existence.

For that reason, Outer Wilds' OST delves into your heart, but then merges with it with the few but heartfelt variations in intensity that, like a shooting star, fleetingly make you feel otherworldly sensations, including a main theme that is directly generational.

8 Ori and the Blind Forest

The Orchestra of Mother Earth

Ori and the Blind Forest showcases a beautiful natural world where fantasy has yet to give way to human presence, a fact reflected in the natural mystique of its musical pieces.

Each song, in keeping with its Metroidvania structure, is meticulously crafted to guide the rhythm and determine the specific emotions we should feel in each area and situation, especially since the game lacks dialogue.

The weight of its soundtrack becomes even greater as it transforms into one of the main narrative channels through which the state of affairs is echoed; an importance that Moon Studios grants it precisely because it's so divinely multifaceted that it lives up to the task.

From a genuine sense of adventure and discovery to tension, grief, and hope, the range that Ori and the Blind Forest manages is ambitious yet fulfilling, as it achieves without effort everything it sets out to make you feel.

7 Sayonara Wild Hearts

Harmonies of Love

Synth-pop, dance-pop, EDM, techno, surf rock... Sayonara Wild Hearts handles a remarkable plethora of genres for its arcade campaign, primarily focused on music, whose combination of colors and sounds is simply electrifying.

It's impossible not to be mesmerized by the game's lightning-fast, rhythmic sequences while listening to such vibrant tracks, reminiscent of the sensations generated by Monstercat's explosion in the early 2010s.

Joviality, love, and happiness, but also frustration, effort, and helplessness are manifested in a soundtrack that is the work's absolute protagonist, and connecting with them to the point of finishing each level with a perfect score is unparalleled.

Including Sayonara Wild Hearts might be a bit of a cheat, as it's a "pop album video game", though the truth is that its OST is light years ahead of most of what we see in big-budget productions precisely because of that.

6 Sword of the Sea

A Natural Fantasy

Giant Squid's creations have always had archaeological undertones, transporting you to astonishing places steeped in inaccessible legends and a history understood more through vibes than narratives, which is the exact approach taken by Sword of the Sea's soundtrack.

The way each track makes you soar through the journey's beautiful dunes and seas, marveling at the striking particle effects and horizons that accompany you alongside flutes and violins seemingly descending from the sky, is absolutely captivating.

Gradually unraveling the mysteries of this silent world while discovering increasingly imposing and architecturally magnificent locations is superb, though the music's intrepid, inquisitive, and elegant tone is what ties everything together.

Sword of the Sea's soundtrack is what you would expect to hear from a symphony orchestra, and I sincerely believe it has nothing to envy from AAA productions within or outside our artistic medium.

5 Hotline Miami

Waves of Violence

Unlike any other entry this far, Hotline Miami's musical score is unadulterated action, serving both the adrenaline rush and the ecstasy of bloodshed, but also the game's most profound critique.

In its reflection on how players interact with violence within our medium, the title seeks to instill the most addictive, controlling, and dominant sensations possible, with a cyclical synthwave that lulls you into a simulation of ruthless killings and merciless shootouts.

Each track is more exhilarating and uninhibited than the last, though the sonic compendium also fulfills its purpose when you've killed everyone and fall silent, making you retrace your bloody steps through each level in complete silence so you can internalize what you've just done.

On the surface, Hotline Miami has a glorious album that takes you on an outstanding psychedelic and visceral trip, but its depth reveals an even more shocking reality that turns this indie experience into a timeless gem.

4 Celeste

The Soundtrack of Life

Celeste is a video game whose gameplay is perfectly designed to immerse you in a flow state from which you don't emerge until you finish each level, though this is only possible thanks to its songs' immaculate complement.

Lena Raine entered the pantheon of composers by creating an iconic soundtrack from beginning to end, whose techno and 8-bit chiptune pieces oscillate between the classic feel of its inspirations and the modernity of its application, which suits the rest of the elements present in the title perfectly.

Fighting your evil counterpart, taking a moment to breathe, getting closer and closer to the summit, drowning in a sea of ​​doubt... Celeste's ability to capture the literal and the abstract with the precision of its soundtrack has few parallels in the video game industry.

When you finish the campaign, the probability of adding more than half of its melodies to your weekly playlist is so high that all that remains is to pay homage to it for what it is: one of the best of all time.

3 Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights

The Veins of a Finished Kingdom

There are video games designed to immerse you in the deepest possible melancholy, and Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights goes the extra mile to ensure you understand beyond a shadow of a doubt the tragic nature of the journey you're embarking on.

Set in a decaying kingdom with inhabitants who have forgotten themselves, every piano keystroke and every violin flourish aim to induce such profound gloom, nostalgia, and longing that, even during a boss fight, it's tough not to feel the despair of its sounds.

It's a Metroidvania and, inevitably, it has its epic moments, though even these are interwoven with an inescapable sorrow that permeates everything from the aesthetics to gameplay and story, all inseparable from the afflictions of its music.

Ender Lilies knows perfectly well that it offers suffering and grief, but the way in which the OST elevates every imaginable feeling, especially when it introduces hopeful vestiges to motivate you to keep fighting, is nothing short of majestic.

2 Undertale

Generational Tunes

Being part of the list of products seen as a music album that comes with a free game, so much so that Megalovania was even played at an event in front of the Pope, Undertale is an unavoidable entry on a list of this volume.

Sometimes, legitimacy comes from the unanimous agreement among everyone, fans of the game and casual spectators alike, on how significant each song is, and Toby Fox's creation is full of generational pieces that have easily left their mark on the industry.

Along with the aforementioned, the iconic nature of tracks like Hopes and Dreams, His Theme, Asgore, Spider Dance, and Save the World is deeply ingrained in the gaming community, far more so than virtually any AAA title has ever achieved.

This ability to spread across the globe and be so universally praised is an unusual phenomenon, one that supports the undeniable fact that Undertale's soundtrack is a contender for the best ever created.

1 Hollow Knight: Silksong

Unmatched Greatness

I'll take the liberty of placing Hollow Knight: Silksong in first place, not only for 53 immeasurable reasons, but also because it's so egregious that, considering its magnificence, Christopher Larkin's impressive work is so rarely praised.

Arriving at the Choral Chambers for the first time evoked sentiments I thought were reserved for the afterlife, as if I had stumbled upon the soundtrack of angels, who granted me the gift of hearing their psalms for the achievement of reaching their halls.

That lofty and pompous way of describing one of Silksong's many glorious themes is repeated incessantly during the game, because I also felt it in Bilewater, against Lace, within Verdania, facing the Cogwork Dancers, alongside Nyleth, when visiting Cogwork Core...

It's peak after peak, showcasing an immense plurality in the use of instruments and rhythms to induce so many sensations in so many unique moments that it makes perfect sense that the game took so many years to complete.

With a perfect musical representation of its areas and bosses, Hollow Knight: Silksong firmly enters the list of the best sound compositions ever created, and I feel it will be many years before we witness anything similar.