Soundtrack Saturday: Noita

 

In this weekly feature, I recommend game soundtracks. I share a few of my favorite tracks, talk about why everyone should listen to the soundtrack, and a little bit about the composer. This week's choice is Noita by Nolla Games.

 

THE STATS

Name: Noita
Developer: Nolla Games
Publisher: Nolla Games
Release Date: October 15, 2020
Genres: Action-adventure, roguelike
Composers: Niilo Takalainen, From Grotto

MY FAVORITE TRACKS

(The full list of tracks are linked by playlist below... and I highly recommend some good headphones to best enjoy all of the subtle elements of the music!) 

Daddy Long-Leg's Surprise

(Length: 3:30) I didn't think I'd like the groove of a song named after something creepy.

Beat of The Kosmos

(Length: 3:30) The guitar in this is what roped me in, and then I stayed for the intriguing noises.

Kolmisilmän Koipi 

(Length: 1:49) The opening chords spoke to me, and the building of the other elements fit perfectly. I heard subtle similarities to ELO's Strange Magic, even. This one is definitely my favorite, but don't ask me to pronounce it.

Out-take VII - Kultaa jahtaan

(Length: 1:05) It's all about the bass riff, right? I SWEAR I have heard it in the ending theme of a show or something. It's so familiar! (If you know, please tell me. This will bother me for a long time.)

You can listen to the (incomplete) YouTube playlists here:

Noita Vol 1 OST (Side A only)
Noita Vol 2 OST

WHY DO I RECOMMEND IT?

Look, at first listen I wasn't convinced. Then I closed my eyes and just listened to the balance of the sounds and elements. And it felt like Pink Floyd married early sci-fi anime, and I was absolutely okay with it. Your mileage may vary since this is definitely a psychedelic sort of OST, but there are some great nuggets of auditory brilliance to be found in these tracks!

Not convinced? Well, the game's name is Finnish for "witch" and the game centers around making your own magic to combat your way through its world. The game was created by three indie developers with previous, highly successful games: Crayon Physics Deluxe (Petri Purho), The Swapper (Olli Harjola), and Baba Is You (Arvi Teikari). If nothing else, give it a listen for the sake of those amazing titles!

THE COMPOSERS

The music for the OST was a collaboration provided by Niilo Takalainen and the band From Grotto. The band consists of Joonas Turner, Pekka Takalainen, Riku Hyötyläinen, and Antti Pasonen. Niilo and Joonas are credited on the E-Studio website as being the ones who run E-Studio's video game department. E-Studio is a recording studio in Finland, near Helsinki, and the pair are credited with working on such titles as Nuclear Throne, the BADLAND series, Broforce, and Environmental Station Alpha.

If you like what you heard here, you purchase individual tracks or both albums from Bandcamp: Volume 1 and Volume 2; or on Steam. Here are some handy widgets for Bandcamp and Steam:

If you enjoy my Soundtrack selections, consider joining me on Patreon!