Night trap. Bad boys will find you. Night trap. Watch out behind you. Night trap. Girls if you try to make it right, you'll be caught in the night. Night trap. Ooo.
All the games I have on Steam with songs in the end credits, judged in three related categories.
Hey, haven't done one of these for a while. The categories are:
How fitting is the song to the game it is from? Does it have the same kind of tone, or is it jarringly different?
How fitting is the song as a song in its own right, outside the context of the game it is from? Do the lyrics connect so heavily to the game that you can't really divorce it from its origins?
How much do I actually like this song personally? This is generally measured by how much I've listened to it outside the game.
Note: the song must be a song, i.e. have lyrics and not just an instrumental piece. And, as always, if you know I have a game that I missed, because checking each and every one of them for ending songs is tricky, let me know.
Night Trap - Night Trap
Night Trap ends with a jazzy little tune of the same name that feels like it should be tonally jarring given the horror movie style of the game, except the game is more like a cheesy 80s horror than anything truly frightening and to get to the credits you need to have played a full run of the game and at that point you're willing to accept anything. The lyrics are all about how good girls shouldn't go out at night because bad boys will find them and trap them in the Night Trap, which would be good advice except that's actually the exact opposite of the game's plot. 3/5
Despite having the same name as the game, it really has little to do with the game's plot. You could listen to it without knowing it was from anything specific. Kinda short though. 4/5
It's catchy, but I wouldn't add it to my playlist. 2/5
Phantasmagoria - Take A Stand
After Adrienne has spent a week in her haunted house being tormented by ghostly visions, her demon-possessed husband, and the comic relief bumpkins who live in her barn, she banishes the essence of pure evil and walks blankly away from the building, traumatised after seeing everyone die.
Then this song starts playing. Way too upbeat for what just went down. 2/5
The song also doesn't have much to do with the game. Adrienne isn't taking a stand against anything, she is annoying passive for most of the story. The lyrics are, likewise, unrelated. 5/5
I've listened to it a few times. 4/5
Phantasmagoria 2 - Rage
Given that Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh has a heavy theme about mental health problems and treatment, as well as lots of BDSM, the song Rage actually fits quite well. The lyrics feel like something Curtis Craig might have written if he was feeling especially emo. 4/5
Mental health issues are universal, you don't need to have played the game to get that. 5/5
This song rocks. A little very OTT but, screw it, it rocks. 5/5
Psychonauts 2 - Cosmic I
Does this count? It's not exactly from the ending as it appears in the game much earlier, but also I don't care. It's all about senses and feelings, and it sung by a character from the game, in the game. 5/5
But as a song... eh, I'm not sure. The lyrics are somewhat descriptive of the character's actual backstory, and while they could be interpreted as metaphorical they come off as a little clunky in that sense, in my opinion. It's like a song from a musical or something; without the context of the story you're missing a lot. 2/5
But hey, it's still pretty good, and the singer is Jack Black so he makes it work. 3/5.
Oh, and in case anyone is wondering why I didn't include 'Welcome To My Mind', it's because that was an existing song. It would be kinda cheating to include it, but I'd give it 4, 5, and 4.
Portal - Still Alive
This song is literally the game's villain singing about her feelings on the game's ending. And it's being sung in a robotic voice, for a game involving multiple robots It could not be more fitting. 5/5
However, because of this, the song doesn't really work outside the context of the game. I mean, it even name drops both Aperture Science and Black Mesa, those would be meaningless to anyone who didn't already know them from the games. 1/5
But c'mon, it's a great song. 4/5
Portal 2 - Want You Gone
Once again, this song is literally the game's, uh, secondary antagonist singing about her feelings on the game's ending. 5/5
Other than a brief mention of 'Caroline' this song has nothing that ties it to the game. It's just a toxic lesbian break-up song, and we really don't have enough of those I assume. 5/5
Jonathan Coulton does it again. 5/5
Grounded - It's The End (It's Credits Time)
It's... literally telling you it's the end of the game. And since the game is set in the 90s and has a lot of 90s nostalgia aspects to it, the family safe rap tone makes sense too. 4/5
Again, it's literally telling you its the end of the game. This would not work as its own song. It goes through the things that happen in the game, it would not work. 1/5
Eh... it's got a nice tune to it, but I wouldn't be in any rush to listen to it any more than I already have after beating the game/re-listening to it for this list. Sorry, Marc Rebillet. Just not my thing. 2/5
The Mystery of the Druids - The Kiss
"Hey wait, I thought you didn't have Mystery of the Druids on Steam anymore because it didn't run and you had to get a refund?" - guy who needs to get off my back a second. Yeah, this is true. But I could not let a list on video game songs pass without mentioning The Kiss. This is... not the tone of the rest of the game in any way, shape or form. I'd say I doubted that Josef Ferger even played the game, except he was also the main sound designer for it so how even knows at this point. Mystery of the Druids is a baffling adventure game about solving murders connected to human sacrifice. There is a romantic subplot, but it amount to two conversations, one of which is about domestic violence and the other is arranged date to Al's Pizza Palace, a place the main character isn't even allowed to patronise until he pays his unpaid pizza tab. Nothing that would justify a whole song, and definitely not one this... schmaltzy. 0/5
As a song in its own right, I mean, it's a schmaltzy love song. It's so sickeningly sweet that I was risking diabetes just listening to it again for this list. Put it on the radio for Valentine's Day. 5/5
OK, I don't want to just be mean to Josef Ferger because I'm sure he's a very nice man and it's a well made song on a technical level. If you like aggressively sentimental love songs this might be right up your alley. I do not. 0/5
Honourable Mention: King's Quest VI - Girl in the Tower
Yeah, couldn't pass up this one either. Girl in the Tower is a full on power ballad, with the singer really putting his full heart into it. And then, when you think it can't get any better boom, it's a goddamn duet. Beautiful. And unlike The Kiss this is exactly the same tone as the rest of the game, the Alexander/Cassima parts of it anyway. 5/5
And you know, it works as its own thing. Girl in the TowwwWWwer I'm reeeACHING OUT... sorry. 5/5
I... have listened to this song more than I care to admit. I wouldn't say I like the song so much as I enjoy subjecting myself to it now and again just to feel something. 3/5
