Deep Cuts - Catboss.
As we all know, certain game soundtracks tend to hog the spotlight, so this series is dedicated to finding those hidden gems that often go unnoticed and unappreciated. For this article, I asked VGM artist Catboss. to bring some visibility to a few of his favorite soundtracks—Iji, Trilby: The Art of Theft, Knytt Stories, Tower of Heaven, Spelunky Classic, and Jumper Two. Here is why these soundtracks matter in his own words.
Ah, indie games. Characterized generally by small teams, smaller budgets, and greater creative freedom compared to AAA games, indie games have gone from a hobbyist pursuit to a full-blown industry, collectively moving an estimated $1 billion per year (thanks, Wikipedia!). The Steam pages have become populated by masterpieces such as Celeste, Undertale and Cuphead, sometimes even surpassing the sales and popularity of their big-budget brethren.
Now, let’s rewind the clock to the late 2000’s. These were the early days of Steam, before digital distribution for games really became a thing and before indie games came to prominence in the eyes of the public. These were the final years when indie games were just talked about in niche forums (TIGsource.com anyone?), usually freeware, and spread by word-of-mouth. Many of these games also had really good soundtracks, but, not being commercial games, they have been criminally overlooked. These are the songs from those halcyon days.
* Disclaimer: Everything in this article is my own opinion only and in no way represents the views of any other entity. May contain mild spoilers for each game.
Iji
Released by Daniel Remar in 2008 (and recently updated in 2017 (!)), you play as the titular character, Iji, who happens to be visiting family at a science facility right when aliens attack. Whoops. She awakens months later to a full-blown invasion, and, with her newfound cyborg superpowers, sets out on a noble quest to attain peace…one way or another. (It’s actually possible to finish the game without killing anyone. Move over, Undertale, there’s a new old pacifist-route-haver in town!)
Iji is an action-platformer heavily themed around violence, with big guns and aliens with bigger guns that want you dead. For a game like that, you’d expect a soundtrack that rips and tears, and Iji’s heavy metal soundtrack delivers spectacularly, courtesy of Chris Geehan & Dan Byrne-McCullough from HyperDuck SoundWorks. We begin right after Iji’s awakening with the relatively calm, if uncertain, “Kinda Green”, dominated by quiet synths before briefly dipping into a downtempo metal section. The music continues to escalate with the heavy, march-like “Welcome to the Party, Pal”, which, yes, uses that very quote from Die Hard. This culminates with “Tor”, incorporating a guitar ostinato supplemented by staccato strings for building tension, before launching into a soaring guitar melody.
Daniel Remar is now a developer with Ludosity, makers of Ittle Dew (and more recently, Slap City), while HyperDuck SoundWorks went on to create music for Dust: An Elysian Tail. They’ve also released remixes of “Tor” and “Welcome to the Party, Pal” for Slap City. Iji’s soundtrack is available via Daniel Remar’s site, as is the game itself.
Trilby: The Art of Theft
A spinoff of the Chzo Mythos games, Trilby: The Art of Theft by Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw has you playing the titular gentleman thief in a mission-based stealth platformer doing exactly what he does best: stealing. You also deal with a shadowy Company that’s trying to blackmail and brainwash Trilby.
The soundtrack, composed by Mark Lovegrove, is an absolute masterclass in how to use MIDI effectively. With basically every song, tension is built by clever layering of instruments. “Tutorial”, also the theme for your hideout and place of refuge, largely utilizes lush, drawn-out brass (and later, choir) chords to create a sense of calm, punctuated by plucked bass and the occasional harp. “Blackmail”, a bouncy, triumphant track for the first heist, is notable in its use of the harpsichord to enhance the staccato nature of the brass melody, ascending in thirds. “Brainwashed”, which plays as Trilby makes his escape from the Company, is relatively bare, using screaming strings playing in chromatic intervals to invoke a sense of panic.
Currently, Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw continues to work on the YouTube series Zero Punctuation; Mark Lovegrove runs Screen7, a UK-based developer and publisher. The game is available from The Escapist, but the soundtrack is unfortunately no longer available; the closest there is is this rendering of the game’s MIDI files.
Knytt Stories
Developed by Nicklas “Nifflas” Nygren in 2007, Knytt Stories isn’t so much a conventional game as it is a tool for making stories. The game itself came with a pre-made story, The Machine, but otherwise tasked the players and community with making their own little Metroidvanias.
As something that’s more of a tool, the soundtrack to Knytt Stories contains a variety of tracks to fit different situations. Loops are largely short, simple, and ambient, but memorable due to solid melodies. Dominated largely by mallet and keyboard-esque synths supplemented by lush pads, these songs lend a serene, almost mystical feel to the game. For examples, listen to the glockenspiel-heavy “Arrivée Distante”, or the hopeful “Confiant”. There are, of course, notable exceptions—“Sun ‘Twixt a Zephyr’s” tranquil flute melody calls to mind Edvard Grieg’s “Morning”, and the sinister “Attentif” uses droning and warbling synths to paint an eerie picture.
The soundtrack was composed by a number of artists. Besides Nifflas himself, there’s D Fast (who has contributed music for Lethal League Blaze), Yann van der Cruysen (music for Seasons After Fall), Kevin Chow (aka De_Gopher, who I haven’t been able to track down outside of this Soundcloud link), and Trompkins (who I also haven’t been able to track down). The soundtrack itself can be downloaded with the game, available on Nifflas’ website, but the tracks aren’t named in the game assets, so you may have to do a bit of sleuthing to figure out which is which.
Tower of Heaven
In Tower of Heaven, developed by Askiisoft (now perhaps better known for Katana Zero), you play a little onion-headed character climbing the titular tower, beset by a god that imposes ever more arbitrary rules on your climb. Violating the rules (such as “no walking left”) results in death.
Tower of Heaven is done in a style reminiscent of the Game Boy, and the soundtrack reflects that as well. It was a standout chiptune soundtrack for its time, and it continues to be now. Interestingly, the soundtrack reflects the game’s theme of defiance in the face of divinity and oppression. The main motif of the game is laid out in “The Lonely Tower”, and while many other songs contain strains of this motif, the next time we hear it in full is its triumphant reprise in “Luna Ascension”, the final climb up the outside of the tower. The motif makes a final return in the ending “Farewell, Traveler”, where the soundtrack itself breaks free of its chiptune restrictions, carrying the melody with a flute and strings.
The soundtrack, by flashygoodness (who went on to make music for Rivals of Aether), can be found over on Bandcamp. Tower of Heaven can be played here.
Spelunky Classic
Before Spelunky was Spelunky, it was, uh…*checks notes*...Spelunky?
Created by Derek Yu, Spelunky was first released as a freeware game in 2009, which contained a fantastic chiptune soundtrack. Aside from the title theme (named, of course, “Title”), “Cave” is a particular standout, possibly because I spent so long in the Mines that it became ingrained in my memory. The key change to Eb minor in the C section is a great touch that keeps the song from getting stale. “Cave” even got a shoutout in Eirik Suhrke’s soundtrack for the remake (check out the “Deathmatch” track).
The soundtrack was composed by George Buzinkai and Jonathan Perry. Jonathan went on to work for BioWare as Cinematic Designer, and George also made music for the webcomic Homestuck, including the much-beloved “Doctor”, possibly the second-most remixed track among the fandom. George unfortunately passed away in 2018. Rest in peace, George.
Bonus mention: Jumper Two
The Jumper series (by Matt Thorson of Towerfall and Celeste fame) was actually one of the first games that came to mind when I was thinking of soundtracks for this album. I have fond memories of a particular track from Jumper Two, played for the Train level, and it turns out that it’s a MIDI cover of the Battle Spirit from Megaman Battle Network 2! Go figure, huh?
Catboss.
Singapore-based composer/producer/flutist Catboss. exists on the intersection of multiple genres: orchestral, jazz, rock, chiptune, electronic, ambient. It's sometimes intimate, sometimes grandiose, but always whimsical.