What are the best Video Game Soundtracks?

Every Supergiant game should be on this list,

NieR:Automata

FFVII (especially the 10 minute FFVII remake of One-Winged Angel)

Cyberpunk 2077 had some good ones. I'm digging I Really Want to Stay at Your House

Hades

Kingdom Hearts (Wave of Darkness is pretty great)

It's not my normal thing, but Doom's soundtrack really gets the juices flowing and fits beautifully with fast paced frantic gameplay.

Edit: 2016 Mick Gordon

If you like DOOM's OST, have you looked at ULTRAKILL? It's similarly stupid high energy (though maybe less metal and more breakcore) for a similarly stupidly fast pace bloody shooter set in Hell

Chrono Trigger, of course. Some legendary tracks in there that transcend their limitations. The Deadbolt OST, Katana ZERO's OST. Nier Automata, Street Fighter V.

Oblivion and Skyrim as well. Really there are too many excellent game soundtracks to possibly list in a comment

Came here to say Skyrim. God that soundtrack along with the gorgeous visuals from the game was breathtaking.
Don't leave out Chrono Cross. Burning Orphanage still haunts me.

GTA Vice City

Hotline Miami. God damn, so good.

Hotline Miami is great. Have you tried Katana Zero? My favorite ost from it is probably Chinatown and Sneaky driver
I totally agree. I actually played the game after hearing the soundtrack. I had to see what sort of game would have music this sick. Careful listening to it while driving though. You'll get busted for speeding.
Glad to see somebody else mention this. Hotline Miami 1 and 2 have some seriously great music. I listen to it for background music all the time.
In the same vein as Hotline Miami: Try the game RUINER. Also love the soundtrack for it.

Bloodborne has an amazing soundtrack. Here's an example of one of the epic songs:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=NHIkUzmNmc0

I swear every fromsoft game has a 10/10 soundtrack

Battleblock Theater (goat main menu track)
Hades (amazing combat music)
Hollow Knight (most atmospheric)
Undertale + Deltarune (great range, captures a lot of emotions throughout the story)

Here are my personal favorites:

AI War / AI War 2 - Pablo Vega
Dragon Quest series - Koichi Sugiyama
Final Fantasy VII - Nobuo Uematsu
Final Fantasy XI - Nobuo Uematsu and others
The Last of Us - Gustavo Santaolalla
Medal of Honor - Michael Giacchino
Offworld Trading Company - Christopher Tin
Stellaris - Andreas Waldetoft (I didn't notice that this game was just an idle clicker for a long time because the music was so damn good)
Tidalis - Pablo Vega (especially the piano versions)
A Valley Without Wind - Pablo Vega

Stellaris is an idle clicker?
- Yeah wth, are the standards for idle clickers now so high that people start calling actual games idle clickers? I don't want it

Persona 5 and 4. The soundtracks can stand on their own as just great music.

Agreed on Persona 5, and I really need to play Persona 4 (it's on my list but stupid life gets in the way).

Two other picks:

The original Lunar: The Silver Star on SegaCD. I never played the remakes on other systems but I know they changed significant parts of the soundtrack in those games, while the SegaCD version just hit perfectly for me.

Final Fantasy Tactics. One of the few soundtrack CDs I imported when those were a thing and could listen to and instantly recall fond memories of playing the game.
- Omg! I had Lunar on Sega CD too. It’s the game that got me into RPG’s.

Donkey Kong Country. Good Jams!

The legend of Zelda always had the most iconic themes (personal favorite is Dragonroost island from Wind waker, but they really all have some amazing music).

I also listen to the Chrono Trigger and Octopath traveler OSTs on my free time.

TotK is absolutely insane tho, it's better than many Hollywood productions

Mega Man 2. Can't believe I scrolled the whole comments and did not see Mega Man 2.

Agreed, we're showing age though.

Witcher 3. Surprised I haven't seen it yet. The vase game is totally the best in my ears, especially the Skellige soundtrack but the expansions are also a blast!

https://youtu.be/NknjE2SBPxw

For licensed tracks, Burnout 3 Takedown wins it for me. Great driving music (obvs) and generally just a blast of uplifting pop punk.

Cyberpunk 2077,Doom 2016, Doom Eternal, Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West, Zelda Breath of the Wild, and the Metal Gear Series.

Sonic Mania is one I always fall back on, the tracks are fun as hell and I don't think there's a single one I don't like. Shoutout to the Studiopolis act 1, Studiopolis act 2, and Press Garden act 2 tracks.

Good picks! Studiopolis 1 and Metallic Madness 2 would be my favourites. Sonic CD (jp) is a really solid soundtrack too. Wish Mania 2 would be released with hopefully more CD remixes.
+1 for Sonic Mania - added it to my vinyl collection a month or two back!

Uncharted for original soundtrack.

Burnout Paradise for licensed soundtrack.

Just of the top of my head:

Doom (2016) - BFG Division - Mick Gordon
Nier: Automata - 美シキ歌 (A beautiful Song) - Keigo Hoashi
Super Meat Boy - The Battle of Lil Slugger - Danny Baranowsky
Metal Gear Solid - Encounter - Takanari Ishiyama, Gigi Meroni, Kazuki Muraoka, Lee Jeon Myung and Hiroyuki Togo
Hades - No Escape - Darren Korb

And remember you can purchase most of the game OST for download on Steam ! (Nier I've found on Amazon Music and Super Meat Boy on Bandcamp).
- Darren Korb is the master of video game music. Still listening to the Bastion OST on the regular.

Some of my favourites:

NieR Automata
Katamari Damacy
Chrono Trigger
DOOM 2016
Celeste
Sonic Adventure 2

That Katamari Damacy song still stuck in your head too?
- Haha always
We Love Katamari might have a better soundtrack depending on the listener. I find myself humming more of We Loves soundtrack than the first game
- Oh fair! I've never actually played that one, only Katamari Damacy and Beautiful Katamari, I should check it out sometime

Maybe this answer is cheating, but Smash Bros Ultimate has the best soundtrack of all time. It's got over 1000 tracks, including some of the most recognizable video games music of all time, and some amazing remixes.

C418 - Sweden

Besides many of the ones others have listed, I really enjoy a lot of the music from Katamari Damacy.

Final Fantasy XIV

Bastion

Life is Strange soundtrack. That is, including all the licensed songs.
Was so good, got me into playing guitar.

Everything else here 100% deserves the credit but I didn't see anyone mention Divinity: Original Sin 2, which is also amazing.

Tons of little songs I found myself idly humming for days/weeks after playing and a thoroughly epic main theme.

The finale of the game where time slows down and the music swells is one of my favorite gaming moments.

I had to scroll wayyyyy too far to find it. I absolutely love the soundtrack! And Baldur's Gate 3's music is also great so far. Not surprising as it's from the same artist(s) XD

Castlevania, Metroid.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

My personal favorite is Stains of Time

Doom 2016, hotline Miami, neon white

ehh fuck it, im gonna say its space funeral. It's a bunch of music lifted from the 70's BBC sound archives. Its clearly not the most expensive or masterfully produced soundtrack, but that's nowhere near the point. Its the dichotomy between the ugly visuals of scum vullage and the melancholic first track that persuaded me to stick around, and then it went in all sorts of different directions over the course of an hour long game.

that's super, dracula.

My favorites:

Command & Conquer (the first one)
Hearts of Iron 2
TES Morrowind
Valheim

People talk up hell march but nothing beats just do it up https://piped.kavin.rocks/watch?v=cfAalQu9hvY
- I'm more of a Prepare for Battle kind of guy... that slow buildup preceding the awesome metalesque riff. chefs kiss

Hear me out.

MechWarrier 2.

-Assassin's Creed Odyssey: Legend of the Eagle Bearer, The 300, Odyssey(Greek version).

-Assassin’s Creed Origins: Main theme, Return of the Medjay, Bayek of Siwa, The Shimmering Sands, The Battle of Krokodilopolis.

-Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Main theme, Shadow Walker, Out of the North.

-Battlefield 1: Nothing Is Written, Avanti Savoia, Hunted, Cape Helles, Zeebrugge Harbour, Sand and Dust, In the Name of the Tsar, Grace and Glory, Sword in Hand.

-Battlefield V: Legacy Theme, Under No Flag, Far From Home, Spitfires, Rotterdam In Ruins, Devestation, I Vow To Thee My Country

-Battlefield 4: Warsaw Theme, Stutter theme, Jin Jie's Revolution, A Theme For Kjell, Fishing in Baku.

-Battlefield Bad Company 2: The Storm, Snowy Mountains, Operation Aurora.

-Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2: Opening Titles, Extraction Point, Coup de Grace, Chain of Command, Esprit de Corps, Protocol.

Valheim!

The WWE SmackDown VS RAW series had some great soundtracks.

Especially SvR 2007

Animal I Have Become is a banger in that game.

There are many I love but I gotta go with Evergrace. I know it's great because I've never played the game and am still always putting this one on.

Though if best means best in the context of the game then I'd probably have to go with Sim City 3000. The OST sounds fantastic and really captures the vibe of a city that is wires and plumbing sprouting into something living and breathing.

Tyrian 2000

No Man's Sky

Final Fantasy ix and X.

Their vibes just fit both the games respected themes and narratives.

Besaid Island from x is one of my all time favourites. Roses of red from ix a close second.

Bastion and Transistor also come to mind from Super Giant Games.

The Ghost of Tsushima soundtrack takes me back to the game every time

Senran kagura games tend to have really great soundtracks (PS4). Same goes for Blazblue and Guilty Gear series.

Lots of good answers in this thread. Thank you for wording this in a way that allows me to post more than one answer, lol. I'll name a few I didn't see reading through here:

Talos Principle
System Shock remake
Metroid Prime
FF VI pixel remaster (all the pixel master OSTs are great, but VI got the most love)

I thought Mass Effect had a great soundtrack that really fit the game perfectly. Moody in parts and rousing in others.

Mass Effect 1 Soundtrack

Nier automata

Yes! NieR Automata is one of my favourite OSTs ever
I second this, I keep coming back to the OST. It's so damn good.

Morrowind. It's iconic.

for me, WH40k Mechanicus probably has the best. Every track is awsome and fits the setting perfectly.

Here is a playlist of the soundtrack if you want a listen.

Jet Set Radio Future is up there for me. Even twenty years later it sounds like it came from the future.

Killer Instinct (original and 2013).

Risk of Rain 2 for GOAT Any supergiant game, but Transistor and Hades are a cut above

GTA 4. Dark, gloomy, realistic

simcity 2000.

Golden Sun. Despite some other masterpieces, I still maintain that the trilogy of games represent Motoi Sakuraba's magnum opus. Nothing else from the life of the GBA came anywhere close to even touching it, and even now tracks will randomly get stuck in my head, more than I can say for any other game soundtrack I've ever heard.

I have the soundtrack from the first two games on my phone!

Haven't played the third yet, maybe I should go find a good DS emulator

Genshin Impact has an incredible soundtrack.

It really does. I think their music budget is probably larger than some AAA games' entire budget.
!Dominatus! Dominatus! Dominatus!!<

Katana Zero and Celeste both had great soundtracks. Persona 5’s soundtrack is amazing.

I'm going to go deep cut here with Outlaws (Lucasarts, 1997). If you don't have time to listen, imagine an Ennio Morricone Spaghetti Western score, but with John Williams-like melodic leitmotifs. It was done really well, and lived on my various MP3 players for many years.

An older one, but Fahrenheit had such a great soundtrack.

I’ll limit myself to recently released games. Blasphemous and Dead Cells have really good soundtracks. I think Axiom Verge’s soundtrack is very cool too but not something I listen to often.

Payday 2 leads the industry with countless bangers and implements music in a way that keys you in on what phase you're currently in.

'Evil eye' 'Hot pursuit' 'Break the rules' 'Ode to greed' 'I will give you my all' 'The gauntlet'

Not to mention the Christmas track.

Octopath Traveler I and II.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=349cnjiNqqI

Some of my favorites include

Minecraft (nostalgia and calming slow paced)

Subnautica 1 and below zero (super calming to listen too and also fit the vibe really well)

No man's sky (music fits the atmosphere of the game really well)

Payday 2 (very good kinda electronic songs)

Superliminal (very good calming piano)

Boneworks and bonelab (these are absolutely phenomenal like electronic tracks, Michael Wyckoff fucking nailed the sound track for both games and both are perfect)

Red dead redemption 2 (the entire game is perfect and so is the sound track) (haven't played the first one)

But I swear it's always the tiny little indie games that hire some guy off of fiverr or something like make some masterpieces.

Shout-out to Xenoblade Chronicles X. I really wish Nintendo would port it to Switch , since the only way to play it is on Wii U..

https://youtu.be/SuVRnUvdmz4

ULTRAKILL has a phenomenal OST. Fast paced and very breakcore for a stupidly fast FPS set in hell with crunchy PSX graphics, but still with these weighty almost sad moments of calm.

On the complete other end of the spectrum, Project Moon. They've done two turn based deck builders that force you to slow the fuck down and read, and are also a fan of using "actual" songs (made a group called Mili) for boss fights that are slow, melancholic, and Really Good. they've also done the main themes for Both Games but idk if they strictly count as 'OST'.

Also I know Persona gets all the love, but the mainline SMT series has some fucking bangers too, just more in the Club and/or Hell yeah tubular bells genre

Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, FFVI and Xenogears top out the list for me. You can't beat them. If you want something a little off the beaten path, the soundtrack to Ruiner is pretty fucking rad.

Hunt: Showdown

Spotify

Youtube

Its insane how much the soundtrack makes this game. Probably the best use of music in a game outside of musicaly focused games. It's not just a few moments where the music is used effectively, its every single moment.

Portal 2. It's music told me more about aperture than I could discover with my eyes.

Need for Speed II SE

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE730706C5F8C6F79

Planescape: Torment by Mark Morgan

I always liked the music written for the original Fable.

Dustforce. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4oOAeDYLSGYkmwjAJnvY8u?si=rGCcRlkHSLus7bAvRnD-Tg

Ace Attorney: Gyakuten meets orchestra
Ace Attorney: Turnabout Jazz Soul
Any Castlevania soundtrack

Reznor did a great job with the soundtrack for quake 1.

I’m very nostalgic for the Paper Mario games’ soundtracks, especially The Thousand Year Door’s.

Though Castlevania: Lords of Shadow was a divisive game, its art direction and soundtrack are incredible. Oscar Araujo’s score combined with some great vistas and setpieces elevates the mediocre gameplay to actually make this game one of my favorites.

I also loved the songs from Death Stranding. Low Roar’s tracks fit the atmosphere of the game perfectly, and the few tracks from other artists really stand out in a nice contrast to Low Roar’s calmer feeling.