Forspoken, the action role-playing game developed by Luminous Production, releases today, so what better time to talk about its soundtrack?

Industry veteran Garry Schyman (Bioshock, Dante’s Inferno, and Shadow of Mordor) teamed up with another industry veteran, Bear McCreary (God of War, Battlestar Galactica, and The Rings of Power) to compose the game’s soundtrack. While I haven’t had a chance to play the game myself, I did hear a few of Garry’s compositions, and judging from that, this is going to be one hell of any adventure. In this interview, I speak with Garry Schyman about his career, his inspirations, and his favorite memories from composing Forspoken.

Before we talk about the Forspoken score, I’d like to discuss your history as a composer. You started in the TV industry before breaking into film, and then finally, video games. What was the gaming industry like for a composer in the early 90s?

A friend of mine was working for Phillips Interactive in the early 1990s, and he hired me to score Voyeur and Voyeur 2. What made this interesting to me was that Philips had a technology called CD-i, and this permitted recordings of orchestral music to be synchronized with the game. I scored a few games for this platform, but when my friend left Philips Interactive, I focused again on my film and television scoring career. It was not until 2004 that I was hired to score a game for THQ called Destroy All Humans.  The game industry was not terribly interesting to me until Sony’s PlayStation permitted much more sophisticated cinematic style games which became a wonderful opportunity for music.

After Voyeur II, you stepped away from scoring video games for about a decade. What brought you back, and what had changed during that time?

Well, as I said, I scored Destroy All Humans in 2004.  I got that opportunity by sheer serendipity as my agent at the time sent my demo over to the publisher THQ.  They heard one piece of music on that demo, which felt right for Destroy All Humans, and that started a process that led to me scoring that game.  

Aside from Forspoken, what have been some of your favorite gaming soundtracks to work on?

I’ve been very fortunate to score a number of really interesting games. Those would include BioShock, BioShock 2, and BioShock Infinite. In addition, I scored Dante’s Inferno for EA, Shadow of Mordor, and its sequel, Shadow of War. A year or two ago, I scored a game called Metamorphosis, which was based on Franz Kafka’s book by the same title. That was a wonderful and very creative opportunity. I’ve been extremely fortunate to work on all kinds of amazing gaming projects that permit very creative approaches, and I love scoring video games because of that.

How did you get in touch with Luminous Productions?

Luminous reached out to my agent, and they indicated that they were interested in working with me on the game. They were also interested in my friend Bear McCreary, and as Bear I had been wanting to work together, it seemed like the ideal opportunity to have a creative partnership. It turned out to be one of the most interesting and enjoyable experiences of my career.

What drew you to this game in particular?

The story and scope of the game promised to be very impressive, which it has turned out to be. Also, we were promised the opportunity to work with a large orchestra, which is always enticing to me. The script needed more than just strong combat music, since at its heart, it’s a very emotional journey that allowed me to write some beautiful music. Let’s face it, not every game score permits beautiful, emotional music, but Forspoken definitely did. Of course, there is lots of really intense combat music, and the cutscenes are beautifully rendered, which permitted me to write to picture, which is one of my favorite things to do.

Did they give you any specific directions for the soundtrack?

The development team was open to any creative approach to the score. Of course, they provided a script and as much gameplay video as was available at the time when we started, to inspire us. I like to joke that I’m always permitted to write anything I want as long as they like it! So, it was an experimental and iterative process until we discovered the right approach together. That happened fairly quickly on Forspoken, and then, it was just finding the right approach to each individual cue as I composed it. 

Sometimes, that required input from Luminous, and other times, it was just following my instincts. You learn to trust your instincts, and sometimes they’re wrong, but usually when that happens, you know it in some deep part of your brain. That’s when you should stop and start again or rethink what you’re doing. Every now and then, you turn in a cue like that, and it gets rejected. Of course, every now and then, you write something, and you’re not sure about it, and they love it, so again, it is an iterative process and a collaborative process which I love.

Listening to a selection of your tracks, I immediately noticed the strong, cinematic themes and ethereal female vocals. How would you describe the Forspoken soundtrack?

It’s a very cinematic score for a beautiful fantasy game. Solo vocals, orchestra, and choir as well as synths and unique instruments like the viola d’Amore. It’s a big score at times when the action is intense, but it can also be delicate and beautiful when those quieter moments occur (especially in the cut scenes).

The “Cipal Theme” in particular reminded me a lot of a James Horner soundtrack (e.g. Wrath of Khan). Did you draw from any specific inspirations (film, TV, games) for this soundtrack?

I am a big James Horner fan, but I was not thinking of Wrath of Khan when writing the “Cipal Theme.”  I do think the use of the flat 6th in an otherwise major mode is what might be connecting you to it. I also think that Horner’s score for Wrath of Khan is the best Star Trek movie soundtrack of them all!  

Do you have favorite stories or moments from working on this soundtrack?

Working on recording the orchestra in Nashville was wonderful. Our plain vanilla Holiday Inn hotel had a stage setup in the dining area, and every night after recording, we’d watch these amazing and talented country singers croon away while we sipped our beers. The orchestra was wonderful and played their hearts out. I think they really enjoyed the music, and that makes a difference. I got to check out Nashville’s famous hot chicken as well as a wonderful old stylish restaurant one evening. Then, I walked around downtown Nashville, listening to all the bands playing Rock n Roll and country music. It was a wonderful week with my recording engineer Dan Blessinger and orchestrator Peter Bateman!

As far as the score itself, I loved scoring the final cinematic. It’s so moving, and it really sums up the game's deep emotional aspects that make it such an interesting story. I believe story in games is often overlooked, and it can make the gameplay so much more immersive if you care about the characters in the game.

Who are some of your favorite composers in the film, TV, and game industries working today?

My favorites of all time (only Williams is still working) are the holy trio of John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, and Bernard Herrmann. All three of those composers continue to inspire me. My favorite classical composers include Bartok, Mahler, Stravinsky, Corigliano, and Ravel. So, I guess I did not answer your question, but those are the composers that inspire me every day. There’s more, but those are tops in my opinion.

BAFTA-winning composer Garry Schyman is one of the world’s most celebrated voices in video game music as evidenced by his award-winning scores to the BioShock game series, as well as dozens of hit games, films, and television productions. Schyman has most notably given the universe of BioShock (including BioShock 2 and BioShock Infinite) its musical identity, scoring the hugely successful game series with a blend of haunting beauty and terrifying unease. He paid playful homage to ’50s sci-fi with his score for the 2005 game Destroy All Humans! (followed by two sequels), accelerated the heartbeat in action games like Resistance: Retribution and Dante’s Inferno, and gave a nod to the hypnotic style of Bernard Herrmann in the mystery game Voyeur. He has been in the fantasy world of Tolkien for the adventure game Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and its sequel Middle-earth: Shadow of War.

Schyman’s film and television credits span every genre, including classic series like The A-Team and Magnum, P.I., stormy action (Tornado!), thrillers (Horseplayer, starring Brad Dourif), and family horror (Spooky House, starring Ben Kingsley) and more recently Itsy Bitsy.  Among his most recent work is the Square Enix game Forspoken, which will be released in January of 2023.