VGM Vinyl - The Latest Additions
A pretty awesome set of videogame music vinyls this time round, more info on each of the ones pictured are below!
Doom (2016) - If you’ve checked my previous posts, you’ll notice that I’ve already bought the Doom vinyl collection as one of my first ever set of vinyls. So why have I bought it again? Simple, in a rare event the limited edition 4LP anniversary collection became available at RRP due to overstock. Good thing I got it too because it sold out in one day! As you can see it’s enormous, and even includes a thematic slipmat. Definitely going on the turntable when I get one. Of course, I also just had to have Mick Gordon’s incredible soundtrack in full with no compromises. You can’t see it easily, but if you can squint you can see that red & black murkiness of hell as the vinyl colour.
BPM: Bullets Per Minute - Sometimes more affectionately known as the original ‘Doom: The Musical’ within the Reddit community, you take on the mantle of a rather angry valkyrie by the name of Göll. Similarly to Doom, you punish a load of baddies but as a twist on the formula, it adds a rhythmic element. This means you have to fire to the beat, reload to the beat, dodge - you guessed it - to the beat. It can be challenging not to go out all guns blazing as uaually happens in a first-person shooter, but hitting the beat flawlessly & brutalising a room full of enemies is incredibly satisfying. The particular room-based roguelite style gameplay also reminds me of the glory days of Binding of Isaac. The smoky finish is incredible on these, and matches the shader colour palette of the game perfectly. The metal soundtrack is awesome, but for some reason I keep coming back for that whistling tune of Huginn's Shop!
VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action - I’ve already reviewed this game here, but for those that don’t know this is a visual-novel style game with a unique bartending mechanic that is used to influence the story. All this is cleverly explained by the barternder (Jill) herself: “It’s time to mix drinks and change lives”. Although I found that this was less influential than I’d hoped, I did still very much enjoy the game and I kept listening to the soundtrack on repeat on Spotify. Particularly the track named Every Day Is Night. It’s a kind of dreamy-synth soundtrack that puts your mind into the moonlit lounge of a midnight bar, while you sip that cocktail. Good job Garaod!
Thumper - Last but not least we have another rhythmic game, but this one is different. The game is often marketed as ‘rhythm violence’, but I’d class this as more of a ‘rhythm horror’, or ‘rhythm nightmare’. Here you are essentially a supersonic chrome beetle, coasting along at breakneck speeds as varying obstacles speed towards you. All this while the horrifying yet alluring soundtrack builds and builds in intensity and the backdrop evolves with imagery of skulls and uncomfortable shapes. The haptic feedback really kicks in your hand (at least on the Nintendo Switch version), and you can feel your palms sweat and your fingers gripping those buttons while you hang on for dear life attempting to keep up. It truly is one of the most intense experiences I’ve ever had in a video game, and it goes without saying that the soundtrack became essential. And it had to be the limited edition 2016 pressing because it’s very pretty.
I’ve just updated the previous posts with the inner gatefolds and actual vinyl pictures, as they look too good not to be there. Check out the updated posts under the vinyl section in the archive. That may be it for a little while with the vinyls, as only more expensive ones seem to exist on the list at the moment. More in other areas will be coming your way soon!
