The Impact of Changing Soundtracks on Video Game User Experience

Gaming console with headphones ready for immersive sound experience

I've always been fascinated with sound design in video games, from hearing satisfying reload animations to discovering songs I didn't even know I'd love. Hell, I could go on all day about the music they use in marketing and even Easter egg songs like "Won't Back Down" by Eminem ft. Pink by interacting with the 3 phones on "Five" in Black Ops 1 (if you know, you know).

The point is

Soundtracks in video games do more than fill empty levels, spaces and silence. They make you feel emotions, create the vibe and put your ears into the game itself, so it goes without saying that altering the music and alter how you feel, experience and interact with the game and I'm gonna explore that idea.

Now I'm sure this concept isn't new and is pretty self explanatory but maybe I've got something new to add.

How Soundtracks Influence Player Emotions

Music is powerful in the way it can trigger emotions, I'm sure everyone has a memory attached to their favorite song, or have cried when you watch something hype and the music kicks in at the right time. In the same way the game devs use this to there advantage.

Imagine when you're playing a mission, the music is triumphant and then suddenly, oh shit somethings wrong. The music changes and you can feel that shit has really hit the fan.

Or when you play a horror game and all of a sudden everything starts to get quiet, and you get goosebumps all over your skin in anticipation for whatever is about to happen.

If you were to add mismatched music or fumbled the execution it just doesn't hit the same, which is why music was so important.

Examples of Soundtrack Changes Impacting Gameplay

This whole article started as I started playing Devil May Cry 5. A game that I've been obsessed with the last few days. The combat and gameplay is fun and addictive in the best ways, the world building, characters, graphics are all top notch but in all honesty, I wasn't really feeling the soundtrack.

Now this isn't me being a hater because I like my fair share of rock and heavy metal, and to where credit is due I think the composer did a great job, it just wasn't my cup of tea at the time so I muted the music audio, but what was I gonna do play in silence?

Nah.

So I put on some music but I wanted something that would fit the vibe, so I thought to myself what would match the vibe? What would Dante or Nero listen to? What would match the cutscenes and I had my answer.

Trap Music. Now hear me out.

This isn't me saying just slap some Carti on and it'll work but I thought about the game and the vibes.

In a game dripping with style (You litterly build a style meter with your combo), where all the characters are these cool, shit talking, swagged out, demons with guns and zero fucks given I thought it would be a good match. Plus the high bpm would match the games frantic energy.

I connected my music, adjusted the sound setting and listened to a song called I-30 by 870glizzy and played the intro cut scene and everything just clicked. I was just vibing, watching Nero chilling with his feet out the car window, Nico lighting up a smoke, and Nero being all smug and non chalaunt. And just before the truck flipped, and Nero went flying though the air I heard Fighting My Demons by Ken Carson and I almost lost it.

And that's just one example.

Before DMC5 I played through Silent Hill 2 for the first time and like Jeremy Clarkson says a bit of poo came out. Point being that the game was scary as shit and the devs sucessfully made me refuse to go down certain hallways. Now this was a beauiful problem because the game was doing its job of making me anxious but it was done so well at times it halted my progress, so I decided to turn music into my superpower.

In the early parts of Silent Hill 2 all you're armed with is a a plank of wood and that you use to fight enemies in the game, meaning you had to get up close and personal to deal damage. At first I was scared braccing myself before entering new rooms checking for theats but there was an easy fix.

It was called Enter The Wu-Tang (36 chambers).

After I put that on I went from hunter to hunted.

turning James Sunderland from a mild mannered man into a menace from New York stoming everything out like I had a pair of Tims and bad intentions, clearing the level with a certain level of exctiement and somehow turned Silent Hill 2 into a Croydon simulator just by playing an album.

That's just a few ways a change in music can alter the video game experience. Can you think of any examples or a song that matches a games astetic.

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