Video game soundtracks are pretty respectable these days. I just watched James Bond composer David Arnold take the stage at the BAFTA Games Awards and pay tribute to the medium before presenting an award to Toma Otowa for the Ghost of Yōtei soundtrack. After a sustained campaign for recognition by a PR friend of mine, UK classical music radio station Classic FM now frequently plays video game scores. It's small wonder, really; game music concerts now regularly sell out, which must be a boon for classical venues and musicians everywhere (even if they were used as a punchline in Tár).

But I'm mostly talking about classical compositions that are indebted to the great masters and strongly influenced by a century of film scores. There are other kinds of soundtracks that are endemic to the video game medium, but are still pretty disreputable. These soundtracks don't make you think of the cinematic vistas of modern........

© Polygon