Composer: Module (Jeramiah Ross)
There was a post here I scrolled by some time ago about how music made for games is best enjoyed within the context it was made for. Apologies for not even attempting to track it down but, y'know, cohost. I don't think it went so far as to say it absolutely cannot be divorced from context, but that IS a take I've seen in the past. And there's a much broader post to be made about 1) how much of the music I enjoy comes from games; 2) how much of that music is from games I have never played; and 3) the necessity to squash the idea of "video game music" as a genre unto itself. But don't worry, that won't be this post.
Shatter was one of the earliest download-only PSN titles. It's a novel (and literal) spin on brickbreakers/Arkanoid-alikes carried by a retro-future electro-rock soundtrack that, imo, helped lay the foundation for the burgeoning vaporwave scene to come.
It's a game I've only ever played twice.
I probably won't ever purchase or play the frowned-upon "remaster."
This will forever be in my Top 5 albums.
To tie this back into the first paragraph, this soundtrack exists to me now in two entirely different contexts. For one, this is what I put on when I wanna go (or be reminded of going) for a nighttime walk in falling snow -- particularly the first five tracks off the album. Secondly, in the very cool third-person open world Metroid game that exists entirely in my head, the track linked above is my "Brinstar Jungle area"/that one track everybody likes.
Imagine you're on a barren desert planet. No audio but harsh wind and footsteps. You can walk for virtual miles in any direction before finding a rocky cave entrance.1 And once you do, you descend for a minute in darkness before saturated colors wash over the cave walls and this banger starts up.
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Oh god this is just Tears of the Kingdom, isn't it?