In the world of entertainment in 2023, a miracle has happened – the worlds of video games and music have merged to create unique and incredible forms of entertainment. Villains now voice their own theme tunes, and players can enjoy interactive songs while immersing themselves in immersive virtual reality worlds.

Baldur’s Gate 3

Developing the music for Baldur’s Gate 3 was an exciting creative process that involved developers at Larian Studios in creating a monumental and epic atmosphere. One of the key decisions was to use a song performed by the character Raphael to give the game’s battles a special emotional depth.

The idea for the song, which Raphael himself will perform, came to director Sven Vincke six months before the release. Borislav Slavov, music director of Baldur’s Gate 3, notes that the entire development team immediately liked this decision. The result of the idea was the song “Final Act,” a two-minute composition that combines a mystical organ melody, grandiose orchestral excitement and authoritative, mocking lyrics, performed in part by the actor responsible for voicing Raphael.

Although Baldur’s Gate 3 features a great orchestral score, the team decided to take a more creative approach to creating the music for Raphael’s character. Raphael, in addition to his power, is ironic, cunning and loves the theater. In this regard, Borislav Slavov, inspired by the West End theater, decided to find a new approach to composing music for this character, which led to the appearance of an original composition.

Thus, the music of Baldur’s Gate 3 has become an integral part of the game’s atmosphere, emphasizing not only the epic nature of the title, but also bringing a special theatricality and richness to it.

Phantom Liberty for Cyberpunk 2077

The Phantom Liberty expansion for Cyberpunk 2077 takes players to the fortified area of Night City, where a gripping spy thriller unfolds. Gaming company CD Projekt was faced with an unusual task – to create a unique musical number that would attract gamers, emphasizing the danger of the character’s position in the game. However, achieving this was not easy, as it was necessary not only to convey the song convincingly, but also to provide a believable performance, which presented serious difficulties when using real-time animation.

The technical implementation of this episode, called “Delicate Weapons”, required the participation of many specialists in the field of game design: artists, animators, level designers, cinematographers, writers and programmers. An important aspect was also the correct timing of the musical number on the game event. As one of the developers notes, the ideal moment for speaking was the one that occurred after the change in tone of the plot, when the agent was faced with unforeseen circumstances.

In the final version of the game, Lizzie’s performance begins immediately after contact with the desired agent, a moment that changes the player’s perspective on the situation and forces him to think about the consequences of his actions. It is interesting to note that most players, instead of rushing through the plot, pay attention to the performance itself, which confirms that the concert is not easy to fit in perfectly but also provides gamers with the opportunity to enjoy the unique atmosphere and freeze in anticipation of further events.

Alan Wake 2

Composing the music for Alan Wake 2 was a unique and exciting process, involving real-life Finnish band Poets of The Fall creating numerous songs as fictional rock trio Old Gods of Asgard and performing them in-game. The truly exciting moment, however, was a nine-minute musical biopic called “Herald of Darkness.” Remedy Entertainment decided to combine the performance recordings of the song with the game world, creating a stunning effect where the game character wanders around the stage, surrounded by giant screens from which the incredibly powerful song plays.

This interweaving of the real and virtual worlds made the Game Awards ceremony in Los Angeles in December 2023 especially vivid and memorable, when the game’s actors performed live on stage, performing an unforgettable composition from the game. Incredible success also came to Poets of the Fall, who spent an entire week at No. 18 on the album charts as Old Gods of Asgard, demonstrating that the virtual world can penetrate and change reality.

Naturally, many are worried about the growing popularity of games and their connection to gambling. Some experts are against this expansion of gaming into the arts because they believe it could lead to an increase in the popularity of Canadian dollar casinos, such as those found at topcadcasinos.net. However, such negatively-minded citizens are in the minority. Most of the audience is still happy that games in all their forms have become so integrated into our lives.