I like the game quite a bit so far. The music is bad.

[Overlord Byron]

I have been gaming for 30 years and this is, without hyperbole, the first game I'm setting the music volume to 0 to. I've been playing the game for ~2-3 hours and the only sound has been either the same 15 second looping chorus or (blessed, merciful) silence.

I'm sorry, this just isn't acceptable in a post-1980s video game. The writing here is really solid, I'm intrigued and engaged in the world, the aesthetic and art direction is great, but the music choices is *bad* *bad* *bad*.

[viasolus]

Could not agree more. Phenomenal game, atrocious music.

[Bankai9212]

Ah you are still in the mashroom area. In terms of themes yeah it’s not great other zones are better

[Marcus Butthurticus]

I think the music is awesome later on, especially the one you get when you try to recruit the old Dark Stars or do the Ghosts missions.

[ManoutofTime913]

Disagree. A lot of the soundtrack is good, and when it isn't it fades into the background.

[Overlord Byron]

Originally posted by ManoutofTime913:

Disagree. A lot of the soundtrack is good, and when it isn't it fades into the background.

The game has more than one track? That's pretty cool. It would have been prudent to put it in the fort. Or the wilderness. Or the mushroom village. Or anywhere.

[ManoutofTime913]

Originally posted by Overlord Byron:

Originally posted by ManoutofTime913:

Disagree. A lot of the soundtrack is good, and when it isn't it fades into the background.

The game has more than one track? That's pretty cool. It would have been prudent to put it in the fort. Or the wilderness. Or the mushroom village. Or anywhere.

Yes, it does. If you like the rest of the game, and you really can't deal with an atmospheric background track, then why don't you kill the audio and put on your own music? It's not like you're missing voice acting or anything.

This just seems like a really silly thing to get angry about.

[Overlord Byron]

Originally posted by ManoutofTime913:

Originally posted by Overlord Byron:

The game has more than one track? That's pretty cool. It would have been prudent to put it in the fort. Or the wilderness. Or the mushroom village. Or anywhere.

Yes, it does. If you like the rest of the game, and you really can't deal with an atmospheric background track, then why don't you kill the audio and put on your own music? It's not like you're missing voice acting or anything.

This just seems like a really silly thing to get angry about.

If you don't think that audio is a worthy topic of critique in an audio-visual medium then you're in damage-control mode aren't going to entertain ANY criticism of the product you're infatuated with, no matter how substantive or even-handed. The chorus is "atmospheric" in the starting prison when talking to angelic homonculi and inquisitors, *not* when traversing an acid-trip wilderness full of monsters or during a daring raid on an airship pirate's fort or in a backwater village full of yokels getting high on prophetic mushrooms; the music is directly at odds with the atmosphere for 95% of the game I've played thus far.

Having a grating 20-second looped chorus as your only music for the first 3+ hours of gameplay is, plainly speaking, unacceptable. It would be unacceptable for a shovelware mobile game, and it is certainly unacceptable of a game as inspired and creative as Dread Delusion. This is the sort of creative choice The Beginner's Guide would lampshade. "Turn off the music" is no more a rational solution to bad, repetitive audio than "close your eyes" would be for bad visuals.

I'm saying this as someone who otherwise really enjoys the game and wants it to succeed, AND as someone who is perhaps the least audio-inclined gamer you're likely to find. This is not normally something that's important to me. Hell, it barely even registers. But it makes me actively not want to play the game. And if that's a problem for me, it's going to be a DAGGER in the heart of a regular customer base.

[ManoutofTime913]

Well that's just a difference of opinion. And, no it's probably no going to affect the average consumer that much simply because that's just the natural reaction. You get tired of the music, turn it off and play something else. It's not a permanent barrier to enjoyment of the game just like not everyone is going to be bothered by it as much as you.

I didn't say the audio wasn't worthy of critique nor did I suggest it couldn't be better. I just questioned why it made you angry. I guess I should have said 'passionate' given you made a multi-paragraph topic about this.

Fact of the matter is, this is a smaller game from a smaller team that was developed modularly in Early Access. The dev didn't have all of the money and the time in the world to make this game perfect, so I cut them slack on that sort of thing, especially since I was never annoyed by the music myself.

Again, I find this a silly thing to complain about specifically here in discussions rather than bringing it up in a review. You do you, though. I personally don't care to discuss this any more than this.

[.vad//hakara]

I really like the music in Dread Delusion. If they release the OST as a dlc, I'll probably buy it.

[Trappist]

Originally posted by Overlord Byron:

Originally posted by ManoutofTime913:

Yes, it does. If you like the rest of the game, and you really can't deal with an atmospheric background track, then why don't you kill the audio and put on your own music? It's not like you're missing voice acting or anything.

This just seems like a really silly thing to get angry about.

Take my advice, don't bother with them. They've clearly made up their mind that this game is perfect and infallible, and yeah, trying to imply that sound is 'silly to complain about' strips them of all credibility.

Anyhow, imo you're right and its a big problem. It's not that the games OST is bad, it's just improperly used. Of course, asking the devs to just make quadruple the music would be a bit much, making music takes a LOT of effort. Instead, I think the game just needs to use the music much more sparingly.

Have the music fade in only occasionally, replaced by silence ~60% of the time. And music shouldn't play at all inside caves, dungeons, etc.

[Generic Hyena #2]

Ironically, this is the first game in a long time I haven't almost immediately turned off the music. It is a fantastic choice to leave it as ambient and moody as it is in the game, providing atmosphere, instead of leading you along on some bombastic symphony, or other generic ♥♥♥♥ like that.

It is the perfect soundtrack for this dreamlike place called the oneiric islands.

This OST stands out, whether that's a good thing to your ears or not, I suppose that's personal taste.

[Overlord Byron]

Originally posted by Trap Pissed:

Originally posted by Overlord Byron:

Take my advice, don't bother with them. They've clearly made up their mind that this game is perfect and infallible, and yeah, trying to imply that sound is 'silly to complain about' strips them of all credibility.

Anyhow, imo you're right and its a big problem. It's not that the games OST is bad, it's just improperly used. Of course, asking the devs to just make quadruple the music would be a bit much, making music takes a LOT of effort. Instead, I think the game just needs to use the music much more sparingly.

Have the music fade in only occasionally, replaced by silence ~60% of the time. And music shouldn't play at all inside caves, dungeons, etc.

I made it to Hallow and there's finally additional tracks. And they're mostly what they need to be: unobtrusive, atmospheric, and serene. It's only a small step above the white noise I use to fall asleep to, but that's fine when you're exploring the wilderness or hanging around in a town. There's really no reason this music couldn't have been spread around more during the first few hours of the game, frankly, and it's almost enough to make me think the devs mismanaged some triggers somewhere. If they really just don't have the tracks to spare, there should be more sections where the music just cuts out completely; silence is atmospheric in its own way, and doesn't grate on the nerves like a fifteen second loop does.

I still think the game needs some more action-y scores for combat or when you're doing something especially daring. A recurring complaint I've seen around the forum is that the game feels too easy, which is reinforced by the music never differentiating between you buying a drink and slaughtering a castle full of mercenaries. I just double checked by going up to kill a monster from a Studio Ghibli film and, yeah, the music doesn't skip a beat. A short track or two that carries some menace or tension would go a long way toward making combat sections feel more meaningful.

[micmotorheadst]

I muted it after an hour. The problem is just how it keeps looping the same short track. Maybe it gets better, but the music in the early game was driving me nuts.

[Bit By Bit Bert]

I literally thought the audio was bugged or something. I didn't think they *actually* just went with that ambient chorus loop for the first several areas of the game. So I came here to see if anyone else was experiencing it.

I'm a game composer so this bothers me immensely. Everything else I'm digging, but man, after about 20 mins of that loop it gets a bit annoying. After an hour it's making me skip dialogue and rush to the next area because I JUST WANT IT TO STOP.

[Twyncyn]

adding one more voice... also muted the music. they either need to cut the music in it entirety, or only play it so sparingly.. in its current state it actively detracts from the quality of the game