'Damn—that’s cool!' FF14's composer gives the nod to Alan Wake 2's surprise musical number—which tracks, given he's also a master of the left field
Alan Wake 2's captured the imagination of the gaming public for a lot of reasons—it's downright gorgeous, but it also has Remedy's penchant for blending genres, deftly mixing comedy and horror. This habit hits a high-point with Herald of Darkness, an in-game track so popular it was performed live at The Game Awards this year. Spoilers for Alan Wake 2 and Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn follow.
It's even received a nod of approval from Masayoshi Soken, the composer of Final Fantasy 14's soundtrack (and FF16's OST, as well). In case you're not familiar, FF14's music is so beloved by the players that the studio has a dev band that Soken's a part of, one that takes to the stage during fanfests each year to play the hits. Music is a huge part of the game's identity.
In a recent round-up of composer's favourite soundtracks of the year by VGC, Soken gave Alan Wake 2's Herald of Darkness a shout-out as one of his favourites:
«I would choose the scene where 'Herald of Darkness' plays in Alan Wake 2. It’s out there to have a gun go off while the music video starts playing all around out of nowhere during the gameplay, and I found that interesting. And on top of that, the [music video] is made interactive. Nothing to say other than, damn—that’s cool!»
This tracks for two reasons. Reason one: Herald of Darkness is an absolute banger. Reason two: suddenly swapping up the genre of a game's soundtrack is something Soken's very familiar with—in fact, it marked a major turning point in the evolution of FF14's soundtrack back in 2014, one that made its way into subsequent patches and expansions.
As Soken mentions, Herald of Darkness comes right out of nowhere. Alan Wake's sections are all a little bizarre, starting off as live-action
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