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Rating: What is a video game?
A video game is nothing more than a movie where the user can participate, interact, and be part of the story, not just a spectator.
Excluding certain genres (for example, platform or sports), it often happens that the subject in question manages to stimulate the entertained at levels that defining as engaging would be almost reductive. It can make you cry, it can make you laugh, it can make you think, it can make you jump out of your seat with an even greater effect than horror films due to the player's embodiment. All this is primarily thanks to a suitable soundtrack, which is often discredited on the fly without any real understanding, as it is considered just "video game music," but few know that behind the video game music there's a composition and production work as professional as that of music in a more traditional sense.
As for the soundtrack of Soul Reaver, the production company Crystal Dynamics chose not an industry professional, but an artist, Kurt Harland, leader of the Information Society, a Dream/Synth Pop band from the '80s. Harland had the opportunity to show his versatility as a musician because the game is filled with settings that required dark atmospheres, masterfully proposed by Harland, who even decided to adapt a song by the Information Society, "Ozar Midrashim", as the main theme of the game. The enthusiasm of both parties led to the continuation of the collaboration for the following two chapters, and in the future, the artist will be able to fully establish himself as a composer of soundtracks for video games.
The game's OST is highly respectable, as mentioned before, it features dark ambient atmospheres with industrial elements, but the uniqueness of this theme lies in its ability to play with intensity. In fact, most of the tracks are divided into a "basic" version, meaning when you are in a phase of calm solitary exploration, and a "combat" version, where the same theme becomes much harsher due to the presence of enemies and the imminent combat. It is the sudden start of these latter that gives you the much-praised jump out of your seat followed by your heart pounding.
In the game, you can switch from the material world to a spectral world, so, enjoy your interdimensional journey!
"And so I fell into the depths of the Abyss, screaming, as white fires consumed me. Unspeakable pain, extreme agony, time ceased to exist, leaving only this torment and an ever-deepening hatred for the hypocrisy that condemned me to such an inferno." (Raziel)
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