Combining music and video games creates core memories that are impossible to forget

I’ve always been the type of person who attaches memories to music, and that means that my life has a very long soundtrack that lives rent-free in my head. Every moment has a song attached to it, and my gaming moments aren’t exempt from this strange phenomenon either. 

Music resonates with us, and I know I’m not alone when I admit that I often turn off the background music of a game and throw my own playlist up to listen to as I get things done in-game. This means I’ve got specific songs, intrinsically attached to specific moments in specific games, and those core memories can never be detached from one another.

Listening to those songs will always conjure up memories of those gameplay moments, and trying to replay those moments without the related song makes the gameplay moment feel… Empty. 

The Dark Ages: A Day to Remember

Listen, going into the latest Doom release, I was expecting a lot of metal. It’s part of the core of Doom: killing demons while being blasted with heavy guitar riffs and trying to keep your aim while your head moves of its own accord. But, with Mick Gordon sadly missing from the fray, the music of The Dark Ages felt sadly lacking. 

So, considering what you’ve already read, what do you think I did?

That’s right! I pulled up Spotify, and as A Day to Remember had released a new album, I listened to that instead (along with their entire back catalog). And now I cannot disconnect the two. 

Running around Argent D’Nur and viciously slaughtering the demon hordes felt so satisfying, especially with lyrics like “live for the hunt, and hunt for the thrill, when it’s a bloodsport, you can only kill or be killed” blasting directly into my ears through my headset. Even thinking about it makes me want to do it all over again. 

And forget about playing The Dark Ages without the album anymore, Argent D’Nur feels eerily quiet without it, unless you’re entering into a boss fight. 

I guess the moral here is that Doom needs metal music, and much more of it. 

You can’t dance without music

FFXIV has a job, Dancer, that is constantly moving and looks as though it’s always performing to the rhythm of a certain beat. That’s great for a music lover like me, and FFXIV itself has some pretty stellar music attached to boss fights and areas. However, none of it properly fits the beat to which Dancer apparently moves. 

So I created a playlist. Hundreds of personally selected songs that run at the same BPM as Dancer’s movements, and all of it delightfully metal or punk-rock. It’s a playlist that I still go back to, be

This was around the time of the YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse NieR-themed Alliance Raids, and for anyone who’s played through those, you’ll remember The Compound and the transition moment from “white ball of people” to Compound 2P. Now, imagine that moment, but perfectly timed to Drowning Pool screaming “let the bodies hit the floor”. Even if you’re not into metal, I think you’ll agree that there is no better song for that moment, not even the one created specifically for it. It just fits. 

Turn gaming moments into core memories with music

With the deluge of new games released daily these days, it’s easy to pick up a game on release day, play it, and then forget about the experience within the month. That’s a sad fact when you consider the effort put into making these games, but it is still true nevertheless. It’s not because the games are forgettable or unenjoyable, but has more to do with our capacity to hold onto recent memories while making new ones that are entirely unrelated. 

So, how do we hold onto those memories in the long run? We add music. 

If you’re musically inclined like me, then creating a playlist for a game from songs that you already love is a sure-fire way to turn those gaming moments into core memories. Those memories stay with you long after you’ve finished playing a game, and listening to those songs again will always invoke memories of those moments. They become linked, and one can no longer be thought of alone.