Notes From the Score: Essays on Game Music That Endures
From Hurghada, Egypt, we dig into orchestral scores, forgotten leitmotifs, and the composers who shaped how games make us feel.
Browse ArchiveLatest From the Archive
New essays and soundtrack breakdowns, published as the listening continues
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01
Yasunori Mitsuda's Wandering Themes
A look at how Mitsuda's use of world instrumentation gave Chrono Cross a sense of place no orchestra alone could capture.
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02
The Quiet Power of Kow Otani's Score
Revisiting the sparse, mournful strings that made Shadow of the Colossus feel like elegy rather than adventure.
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03
Grant Kirkhope's Comedic Timing in Music
How Banjo-Kazooie's playful brass and woodwind lines turned platforming into something closer to cartoon scoring.
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04
Basil Poledouris and the Ghost of Film Scoring
Tracing how early orchestral game soundtracks borrowed structure and gravity from golden-age Hollywood composers.
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05
Motoi Sakuraba's Prolific Signature
An analysis of recurring motifs across Sakuraba's decades of work, from Star Ocean to Dark Souls' somber choirs.
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06
The Underrated Brilliance of Jeremy Soule's Ambient Writing
Why Soule's restrained orchestration for Morrowind still shapes how open-world fantasy scores are written today.
What Sets This Editorial Apart
Every review comes from repeated, close listening sessions, not surface-level summaries pulled from press releases.
We trace careers across decades, connecting early work to later masterpieces rather than covering scores in isolation.
Written by enthusiasts with no publisher affiliation, so the critique stays honest and unaffected by promotional cycles.
We break down orchestration choices alongside the emotional impact, giving readers both craft and feeling in one piece.
Reader Questions
Common questions from those who follow the blog and its coverage
How often is new content published?
New essays and soundtrack reviews go up roughly twice a month, with occasional longer features on composer retrospectives published quarterly.
Do you accept guest contributions?
Yes, we occasionally publish guest essays from other soundtrack enthusiasts. Pitches should focus on a specific composer, score, or thematic angle rather than general overviews.
Do you cover soundtracks outside of orchestral games?
Our primary focus is orchestral and symphonic game scores, though we sometimes cover hybrid soundtracks that blend orchestral elements with electronic or chiptune work.
Where do your listening sources come from?
We rely on officially released soundtrack albums, publisher-sanctioned streaming releases, and in-game audio, always through legitimate and publicly available channels.
Can I suggest a composer or score to review?
Absolutely. Reader suggestions often shape our editorial calendar, and we credit the readers whose recommendations lead to a published piece.