Fans of FromSoftware’s hard-as-nails dark RPG series Dark Souls were in for a treat this weekend as all three entries’ legendary OSTs were added to streaming services. They are currently only available on Spotify and Apple Music, but given that these two services dominate the streaming scene, I doubt anyone has any problems with that. I’ve listed the three soundtracks via Spotify below:
This move comes at a time where Japanese companies are beginning to take streaming services more seriously. Over in the anime industry, Aniplex also recently put all of the Monogatari OSTs on streaming services. In general, there’s been a significant delay in their uptake over here, often to frustrating ends as it becomes impossible to discover and share Japanese music with others.
When it comes to things like OSTs in particular though, their absence from official streaming services only encourages piracy and illegal uploads. Most often, these uploads aren’t the best quality either, meaning that you often can’t appreciate the full depth of craftsmanship that has been sunk into these pieces of art.
This is almost definitely the case for the OSTs of the three Dark Souls games. Thanks to the leadership of Bandai Namco Entertainment composers Motoi Sakuraba and Yuka Kitamura, the soundtracks contain perhaps some of the greatest compositions in gaming history.
From Dark Souls, you have tracks like ‘Great Grey Wolf Sif’ and ‘Gywn, Lord of Cinder’ that invoke such great sadness, so perfectly suited for the tragic stories of the characters they accompany. And even though Dark Souls II may be a controversial title, almost everyone can agree that the theme for the games hub world Majula is one of the most comforting arrangements out there.
But the series got back on track with Dark Souls III, and the OST reached new heights to boot. Perhaps it’s because this title was the first title in the series that I played on launch, but such tracks as ‘Dancer of the Boreal Valley’ and ‘Oceiros, the Consumed King’ still give me goosebumps every time I hear them. Even if it’s more epic tracks you’re after, then Dark Souls III has those in spades as well – with ‘Pontiff Sulyvahn’ being perhaps my favorite track in the entire series.
With this, I couldn’t be happier that the Dark Souls OSTs are now available for streaming. All I want now is for the Demon’s Souls OST to receive the same treatment (Bloodborne is already on there) – but given that it’s currently in copyright limbo, I wouldn’t count on that happening any time soon.