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Is it just me, or is most horror media better without a soundtrack? Silent Hill's music works HEAVILY to its advantage but every other game and movie I've played/seen either has a soundtrack that's utterly forgettable or just takes away from the horror. If the whole goal is to make it seem real to scare viewers, why add a whole ass strings section playing tense music?
Alan Wake is a pretty good example of this. The game became so much better when I turned the music off completely because I got to bathe in the atmosphere.
Can't say I've paid too much attention to the soundtrack of horror games outside of Silent Hill (Which is brilliant).
Silent Hill 3 - Hometown Lyrics.m4a
@Awoo I think silent hill is oozing with style and the horror vibe it gives off is much different from pretty much anything else I've seen. It knows how to use silence well, too. In silent hill you still get these moments of serenity to contrast against the batshit insane dentist still music, and those parts are what makes the game really sink in and tap into a weird part of the psychological horror genre where you're not being scared by the game but almost suffocated by it. I fucking love Silent Hill.
Actually, another series that does this decently well I'd say is Fatal Frame. Not as good as Silent Hill, but definitely better than many others. The sound design is pretty good, and has a similar thing going for it where there is a lot of melody in the sound to create some serenity. Honestly, if you didn't know any better you'd probably think FF was a JRPG based on the soundtrack alone, and that's what makes it unique.
