Organic instrumentation with ethnic accents meets classic JRPG-style melodies.
Editor's review by Adam Corn (2017-03-03)
The great soundtrack surprise of 2016 is Valley Original Soundtrack by Aakaash Rao. Steam tells me the game is a first-person adventure platformer, but the score says classic JPRG. Atmospheric environment themes, festive town themes, dark and mystical dungeon theme, rousing battle theme, and a beautiful ending vocal - virtually every staple JPRG music type gets a nice big check. In fact after hearing the soundtrack's varied soundscape and ethnic instrumental accents for the first time, the first thing to come to mind was Suikoden. It's a bit more subtle - and not quite as memorable - as that classic score, but the fact that a comparison is even valid means it's well worth listening.