The Tool Desk
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What counts as an original video game song?
Here, “original” means a song whose melody and lyrics were written specifically for and used in a game. That is consistent with the Recording Academy’s 2026 songwriting-award rules for visual media, which include video games: Recording Academy rules and guidelines. Licensed songs written and released independently are outside the scope, as are instrumental score cues without lyrics.
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Minecraft - Volume Alpha | $24.99 | Buy on Amazon |
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Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart Original Video Game Soundtrack Blue and Pink Translucent Blend Colored... | $31.00 | Buy on Amazon |
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Bloodborne Vol. II (Original Soundtrack) | $38.99 | Buy on Amazon |
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The picks below are not a poll or a claim of consensus. They are chosen for how clearly they belong to their games, how they function in the experience, and whether their music remains compelling when heard on its own.
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1. “Song of the Ancients” — NieR / NieR Replicant
Emi Evans, who sings and wrote the lyrics, created a fictional language for the NieR music. In a PlayStation interview, she explains that “Song of the Ancients” grew from her first attempt at that language, which draws on sounds and elements from real languages. The result feels expressive without asking listeners to decode conventional lyrics.
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That choice also suits the game’s atmosphere. Director Yoko Taro said the invented language helped prevent recognizable lyrics from distracting players during gameplay. Evans’s voice carries emotion and shape, while the words remain part of the world’s texture rather than a plain-language explanation of it.
2. “Death Stranding” — DEATH STRANDING, performed by CHVRCHES
CHVRCHES wrote this song specifically for the game, according to Kojima Productions’ interview with the band. The group says it watched Hideo Kojima play and tried to inhabit the game’s emotional atmosphere. Its connection to the story is impressionistic, not a direct retelling of plot events.
That balance is its strength: the track sounds like a complete CHVRCHES song, yet its mood belongs to DEATH STRANDING. The band described its aim as making the song feel part of the game while still standing on its own.
3. “Build That Wall (Zia’s Theme)” — Bastion
Supergiant’s official Bastion soundtrack listing credits Darren Korb with writing, producing, and recording the music, and credits the song’s lyrics and vocals to Korb and Ashley Barrett. Its pared-back, folk-leaning sound gives Zia’s theme an intimate quality that contrasts with the ruined world around it.
As a character song, it adds a human perspective to the game’s larger story. The track’s compact arrangement and memorable refrain make it effective both in context and as a standalone listen.
4. “Mother, I’m Here (Zulf’s Theme)” — Bastion
Another of Korb’s Bastion songs, “Mother, I’m Here” is credited on Supergiant’s soundtrack page to Korb and Ashley Barrett, with Logan Cunningham also credited for vocals. Its two-voice presentation and more forceful tone distinguish it from Zia’s theme.
The song is character-linked rather than a general mood piece: its title and vocal interplay make it feel personal, while the arrangement keeps it rooted in Bastion’s distinctive sound world. The game’s soundtrack credits identify it as a song, not merely an instrumental cue.
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5. “Setting Sail, Coming Home (End Theme)” — Bastion
Supergiant identifies this as Bastion’s end theme. Korb wrote, produced, and recorded the music; the soundtrack listing credits lyrics and vocals to Korb, Ashley Barrett, and Logan Cunningham. Its place at the end gives it a different job from the game’s character themes: it gathers the journey into a closing song.
That makes it a useful example of how an original game song can function as more than incidental music. Its vocal arrangement and sense of resolution give the ending a distinct musical identity.
6. “A Beautiful Song” — NieR:Automata
“A Beautiful Song” appears on Square Enix’s official NieR:Automata Original Soundtrack Vinyl LP track list. The catalog confirms its place on the game’s soundtrack and physical release. The available evidence here establishes the track and its release, but not a detailed account of how it was composed or used in a specific scene.
It earns a place as a reminder that original game songs can be built into a score’s wider musical identity rather than presented only as an end-credit single. The track’s title and official soundtrack placement make it an identifiable lyrical-song selection from the game’s music.
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7. “Still Alive” — Portal
“Still Alive” is a natural example of an end-credit song whose lyrics extend a game’s character voice beyond the final scene. The song has been identified as written by Jonathan Coulton and performed by Ellen McLain for Portal, but the available material does not include a primary credit source sufficient to firmly substantiate those details here. For that reason, this selection is included cautiously rather than used as a basis for broader claims about its production.
Its place in the conversation illustrates a distinct function: an original song can deliver a final character beat after play ends. It is different from a licensed needle-drop because the intended connection is to the game itself.
8. A song written to a game’s brief
Original songs do not all begin in the same way. In a Game Audio Network Guild interview, composers Jack Wall and Austin Wintory describe varied workflows: a team may commission a song to a brief, pair a composer with a lyricist, or have game writers provide lyrics. A track’s production process can therefore be part of how closely it fits the game.
Wintory distinguishes end-credit songs from in-game source music. A closing song can summarize or weave in a game’s themes; music heard within the world has to function as part of the play experience. That distinction is a useful way to listen for what a song is doing, even when the song is not simply a character theme.
9. Music that changes with the game: South of Midnight
The South of Midnight team describes songs shaped by the stories of the game’s creatures, with lyrics built from that material. Xbox Wire reports that the music was arranged in evolving sections that respond to the player and level: Xbox Wire’s account of the game’s music.
This approach puts the song in conversation with gameplay rather than treating it as a fixed recording laid over action. It also shows why “best game songs with lyrics” can mean more than the catchiest standalone track: a song may be memorable because the game changes how and when it unfolds.
10. The end-credit song as a musical epilogue
An end-credit track can provide a final point of view after the player’s last action. In the Game Audio Network Guild interview, Wintory describes a credit song as a kind of summary distinct from music sourced within the game world. Sometimes that means bringing back a musical theme; sometimes it means giving the ending a new vocal perspective.
This category matters because it explains why songs such as Bastion’s “Setting Sail, Coming Home” feel different from in-world character themes. Their purpose is not only to accompany a scene but to leave the listener with a closing interpretation of the experience.
How game songs work differently from licensed tracks
A licensed song can become inseparable from a game’s most memorable moment, but it was not necessarily written for that game. Original songs have a different relationship to the material: their lyrics, arrangement, or placement can reflect the characters and world from the start. The Recording Academy’s visual-media songwriting rules explicitly include video games, recognizing that songs can be composed for this medium rather than merely selected from elsewhere.
Game-audio workflows vary. A song might begin with a creative brief, a lyric supplied by writers, or a collaboration between composer and lyricist. It may be built for a character, an ending, or an in-game environment. In South of Midnight, the reported use of evolving musical sections that respond to player and level shows how that integration can reach into the structure of play itself.
Quick Recap
What to listen for
- Creation: Is there evidence the song was written for the game, rather than licensed after the fact?
- Role: Does it introduce a character, add to a scene, respond to gameplay, or close the story?
- Musical identity: Is it memorable for its vocal performance, arrangement, language, or contrast with the rest of the score?
- Context and independence: Does the game deepen the song’s meaning, and does the track still hold together outside the game?
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