A Rant on Cyberpunk 2077's Music



Read more about Cyberpunk 2077➜ https://cyberpunk2077.mgn.tv

Ok! Let’s talk about this. Here’s a small rant on Cyberpunk 2077’s soundtrack (and Videogame music at large) that I had with Austin Wintory, which is something I thought needed to be said.
– FULL Podcast Episode: https://youtu.be/qTS9S-zfbk4

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31 thoughts on “A Rant on Cyberpunk 2077's Music”

  1. Right on, I find a lot of music criticism is lacking in the credentials department. But if that wasn't the case I probably wouldn't have sought out channels by actual composers to inform my understanding. So there's a possible upside to less-than-informed critique I suppose 😁

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  2. Dude the Cyberpunk 2077 soundtrack is nuts. Like calling it bad is such an insult. There are many songs in that soundtrack that just make you feel badass. Like going through a base and listening to Wushu Dolls for example is just cool. Like you still have to appreciate the work and effort that goes into crafting and creating a song.

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  3. The biggest struggle when it comes to digesting art, is separating what a piece is, vs what I want to see in a piece. People tend to have trouble with the latter I've noticed.

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  4. Cyberpunk has some absolute BANGERS. Haven't played in months but I still listen to some of those songs more then occasionally.

    I remember multiple times during my playthrough where a song would come on the radio and I'd stop whatever I was doing, just sit there and listen to the whole song.

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  5. 'Elevator music' which is usually just bossa Nova music, can indeed be great. You need ambient tracks in games and movies. That's just a fact. And some ambient tracks can be astoundingly well done and do a phenomenal job of setting the mood.

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  6. "If it one catchy theme after another, I need a break" that's completely understandable however truth be told without playing the game, the ONLY theme I distinctly remember from Cyberpunk2077 is Johnny's Silverhand's track when your him as a terrorist. The heavy use of violins, cello etc. Found it: https://youtu.be/rkpfWuSP2GE

    Maybe I remember a few from the Jazz radio station (found in vehicles) but that's because it was the only station I tended to switch the radio to.

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  7. I wouldn't argue that the soundtrack is bad at all, I quite enjoyed a lot of the ambient tracks as well as the more band-related tracks like the SAMURAI stuff.

    With that being said though, I didn't enjoy how little synthwave there was in the game, especially regarding how many artist features they had with rappers and the like. It seemed completely bizarre to me that they left synthwave out of the equation when I know that for myself and others I've spoken to, synthwave and metal are two of the most prominent cyberpunk aesthetic cornerstones.

    But again, I'd never call this soundtrack "bad", that's way too harsh and narrow minded imo.

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  8. Yea I liked the music a lot but I’m confused by all the comments saying it was the only good part of the game. I hope they can fix the next gen version at least and more people get to experience this game. Despite the many bugs, broken promises and gameplay issues like horrible ai it was still actually really good. Played it on a ps5 at launch. Don’t hurt me in the comments please I don’t work for them I promise.

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  9. Alex, I love you mate. Big fan here.
    But I can't agree. You don't have to be a movie director to tell that a movie sucks, you dont have to be a pro basketball player to tell if X played badly, you don't have to be a composer to dislike music in a game, and you don't have to be a magician to dislike a trick. Etc etc.
    Otherwise critcism would never be allowed.
    As artists or performers, creators we do things for everybody and therefore should be ok with critcism

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  10. Absolutely disagree, Xenoblade, persona, and many JRPG are just one catchy melody after another. And people love it, actually repeating the soundtrack multiple times make it stuck to people mind, and with time it DEFINES the game.

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  11. Cyberpunks soundtrack is actually really fucking good, songs on their own are really good. But they (songs) all hit exactly what they need to. Bells of laguna bend for example it fits so god damn perfectly

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  12. I'm glad you managed to subvert my expectations. I write electronic music myself and am decent at Dark Ambient music. The style might not bring much attention to itself but it's an art that takes refining. It can be very effective conveying emotions and sometimes enhances a scene. It takes much more effort than you'd think.

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  13. In all fairness, arguments like “you can’t criticize it because people worked hard on it/you couldn’t do it yourself” don’t really work. You don’t need to be able to cook a five star meal to tell a chef that he burnt your steak, and no matter how hard he worked on that steak it’s still burnt. A bad product is a bad product, regardless of any other factors

    That said, CP’s music is still fantastic and people calling it bad are intelligentn’t

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  14. Johnny Silverhand's theme really played into making you feel like a badass. Without the music that played during that part of the game, I doubt it would have carried anywhere near the same feel.

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  15. I haven’t played Cyberpunk since completing near its launch date but I still remember several pieces vividly, Rebel Path in particular is permanently burned into my mind

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