Music is a vital part of any gaming experience, as vital as the characters, story, and gameplay.  For me, and assuredly so many others, a game’s soundtrack can act as an emotional link between the player and the game, making a fictional world feel so much more real and alive.  While plenty of games are fun, lighthearted romps, others weave a more complex, emotional tale which are often elevated by the music that accompanies the gameplay.  Hollow Knight is the newest game that touched my heart like few games do.  It made me cry.  It made me feel the pain of loss.  It made me appreciate beauty in sadness.  Hatm0nster has already discussed City of Tears, a beautiful track that you should certainly check out if you haven’t already.  My own choice is the music in Greenpath, an overgrown and beautiful section of Hollownest that you discover shortly into the game.

Seeing as the game takes place almost entirely underground, the more barren passageways of the Forgotten Crossroads were more what I expected of the tunnels once inhabited by the bugs of Hollownest before the infection drove them to madness.  It wasn’t long, however, before I managed to venture beyond the Crossroads and stumbled upon Greenpath, an unexpectedly lush and green wonderland that provided new dangers in the form of thorns, pools of acid, and new enemies.  It also introduced me to this lovely song:

Video from YouTube User: GrofNerd

The music in Greenpath has a serene, magical feel to it.  It is calm and relaxing and could seriously lull me to sleep if I let it.  While Hollownest can be a very sad place indeed, and sometimes outright unsettling (the Abyss and Deepnest, for example), Greenpath is calm and beautiful.  Despite being inhabited by the infected husks of bugs that were likely once peaceful, the music helps me to appreciate the beauty surrounding us despite our circumstances.

Being a big fan of urban exploring, I can’t help but draw parallels between an abandoned house as it’s slowly overtaken by nature when I hear this music.  A forgotten home, left to rot, is a sad thing indeed for a number of reasons, but it can also be beautiful in its own way as the paint peels off the walls and vines creep in through the windows, new life overtaking a place that was previously empty.  If anything, this music helps me to understand that sometimes there can be a special sort of beauty in sadness.

How does this music make you feel, dear readers?  Please share your thoughts in the comments below!

Lede image is an official promotional screenshot.