I often get some flack for mostly listening to video game music lately, but what can I say? It’s all pretty great these days! Even the worst video games have at least decent music in them. In many ways, video game scores stand out in a way that few movies of late have. Do you remember your favorite track off the last Avengers soundtrack? It’s not to say those scores aren’t great in their own right; just that film scores sound a bit repetitive lately.

We therefore submit the following Video Game Music Mixtape to highlight. Plus, save a few tracks, you can probably get away playing it without anyone even noticing that it’s from a game! The one stipulation to this playlist is that they must be composed specifically for the game. (We’re working on a playlist of the best already existent songs used in games for later.)

1.  POWERGLOVE – Blood Dragon Theme –  (Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon)

For those with a bit of an electronic New Wave affinity, you don’t get more awesome than PowerGlove’s Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon soundtrack. With an epic build up, it’s hard not to just lose it when the song finally breaks open.

2. DISASTERPIECE – Adventure  – (Fez)

Disasterpiece is great at creating atmosphere with an electronic sound. While not really an 8 bit sound, it does sound similar enough to give many gamers a sense of nostalgia. It’s also beautiful enough that you don’t need to have been a gamer for a long time to appreciate it. Just be careful with the Fez soundtrack, because there are a few tracks that sound a bit like something off of Disasterpiece’s It Follows soundtrack, which is terrifying.

3. GUSTAVO SANTAOLALLA – The Path (A New Beginning)  – (The Last of Us)

The entire soundtrack for The Last of Us is something you can play for people without them ever realizing it is from a video game. This is pretty much explicitly because it was masterfully crafted by Academy Award winning composer Gustavo Santaolalla, who created a perfectly sad sounding, melancholic, and beautiful score. There are better tracks than The Path (A New Beginning), but our favorite track is probably really just the best if you play the game (and stare at giraffes for ten minutes).

4.  JONATHAN MORALI – Main Menu – (Life is Strange)

Morali has had some success with his band Syd Matters in other forms of media, but his original score (mixed with some Syd Matters songs as well) for Life is Strange is one of the most beautiful scores in all of games. It’s easily something you can play and no one would ever guess. The main menu music is relaxing and melancholic, and really drives home the heart-felt nature of the game.

5. SOULEYE – Pressure Cooker – (VVVVVV)

Yeah, you won’t really trick your friends into thinking this isn’t from a video game given the retro 8-bit sound, but it’s just so energetic that it doesn’t really come off sounding like a score to an actual game. It sounds like something you’d find on a normal chiptune album, which is a big credit to Souleye, who manages to inject new life into a classic sound.

6.  SOLAR FIELDS – Introduction –  (Mirror’s Edge)

Solar Fields is yet another great, atmospheric electronic band that composes some of the best in gaming. Mirror’s Edge is almost criminally underrated as a game overall (though it isn’t perfect by any means); it’s soundtrack is beautiful and ranges from a sort of Mogwai/The Album Leaf type sound to one of a lot of chaotic energy. Probably the best track is Introduction though.

7.  GUSTAF GREFBERG – Wilderness Part 2 –  (Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons)

One of our favorite games of the past few years, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is an emotional game around a gorgeous fantasy world. It gets dark and bleak, but has some heartfelt moments in there. The score does an excellent job creating atmosphere, whether it’s the creepy heir surrounding the field of slain giant warriors or the horrible feeling in your gut when you get back home after all that’s happened. Yet it’s some of the bigger moments of adventure where the score really shines.

8. JACK WALL & SAM HULICK – Uncharted Worlds –  (Mass Effect)

Mass Effect has one of the most perfectly fitting scores in all of gaming. As each game gets grander in scale and more epic in story, the soundtracks evolve to create one extremely atmospheric and cinematic sounds. While not the best song on the three soundtracks Uncharted Worlds has a pretty great feeling around it, while sounding almost like a track from a Mogwai album.

9.  DAVID HOUSDEN – Ghosts of the Past – (Thomas Was Alone)

Who would have guess that a game about sentient rectangles would have provided some of the best characters and most heartfelt stories in all of gaming? Yet Thomas Was Alone does exactly that. David Housden’s score was easily one of the biggest factors for the atmosphere and emotion of the game. They’re all beautiful and strangely sad sounding.

10.  GREG EDMONSON – The Caravan – (Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception)

The Uncharted soundtracks were always fluid, yet stable. Each game tweaks the score to match the environment of the game, all while retaining some of that signature sound that composer Greg Edmonson crafted for the original game. Nowhere is this more noticeable – nor more beautiful – than in the third installment. Taking place in the deserts of the middle east, his score takes up many sounds that would make one imagine Lawrence of Arabia. It beautifully matches the environment all while remaining epic.

11. M.O.O.N. – Hydrogen – (Miami Hotline)

Admittedly, we haven’t played this game yet. (It’s sitting in my Steam library waiting for the day when we have time for it). In essence, it looks like Grand Theft Auto III: Vice City if it were retro and top-down. Partially inspired by the film Drive, it isn’t hard to tell how. It has a retro visual style, with an upbeat, electronic club soundtrack to match. It’s hard to listen to all of M.O.O.N.’s tracks on the soundtrack without moving at all.

12. RAISON VARNER – Bandit Slaughter – (Borderlands 2)

All of the Borderlands soundtracks are incredible and atmospheric. Often, it’s a tag team between Raison Varner and Jesper Kyd, but both really knock it out of the park. Easily the most memorable track though happens in one of the arena sections of Borderlands 2.  Like many tracks on the mix tape so far, it’s electronic and energetic. More importantly, it’s just a lot of fun. This track is one of my favorites in all of gaming. No song makes the image of the gameplay pop into my head more vividly than “Bandit Slaughter.”

13. JONATHAN COULTON – Still Alive – (Portal)

To round off the first VG Mix Tape, it’s only fitting to put the always amusing Jonathan Coulton’s end credits song to the amazing Valve puzzle game Portal. Sung by the robotic villain of the game, its sarcastic sense of humor is completely in line with the game. It’s also strangely pretty and one of the most memorable songs to close out any video game.