Sunday, December 14, 2025
Feast For The Ears
From
the moment a visual novel starts to its end, music is always playing in one
form or another. It is so omnipresent the player may not even
properly register it since its presence is exactly what they would
expect and its absence is more striking. Yet a game’s soundtrack
holds a lot of power
over the various ways it is perceived as well as the tools it has to
crafts its narrative and contextualise any mechanical elements. Music
has the ability to invoke emotion in the listener which makes it
perfect for guiding the player into the desired emotional state for
the scene’s events to have impact. When
used in an understated manner the soundtrack can build a sense of
atmosphere and place without it being spelt out, leaving room for
interpretation or manipulation later on. The varied nature of music
provides the ability to
add or remove elements of a players auditory understanding through
the alternation of established tracks or the
careful use of silence and shape the way a scene should be parsed
when placed as part of the whole experience. Let’s
put some headphones on and see exactly how these tools work in
practice.
Music As Emotion
Utilising
the ability of music to invoke emotion is hardly unique to visual
novels and has been practised throughout history. What is interesting
about it is the way its relative prominence within the structure of
each visual novel makes it more memorable and significant to the
experience than in other types of video game. This is predominately
due to the way the soundscape of a visual novel is set up where sound
effects are infrequent or understated in favour of having the music
do the heavy lifting. Emotional subtly has a strange relationship
with visual novel music for exactly this reason, for the most part
their soundtracks tend to communicate the intended emotion load and
clear so the player can be influenced in a manner which lacks
ambiguity. If they attempt to be indirect about it then they might
muddy the waters and confuse a scene’s core identity and so it is
often avoided at all costs since music is such an important tool.
When subtly is brought into the emotional range of the soundtrack it
is part of a universal ambiguity running through the entire game in
order to prime the player to be able to independently interpret it.
This allows the title to weave in a wider soundscape without diluting
the music due to its understated nature and the way it has room to
show off various flourishes.
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| Slice of Life Romance is a genre which musically knows what it wants |
One lineage of visual novel music which
relies on emotion in a standard way across it titles is the slice of
life romance genre. These games lean into a common pool of auditory
templates for their soundtracks in order to guarantee the
establishing of an easy to understand emotion for each of their
narrative beats. For example take Sabbat of The Witch and Neko Para
which despite their different developers and intents speak the same
musical language. Their soundtracks are modern day and loosely synth
in nature with the occasions sprinkling in of an out of place
instrument to try and add identity. A majority of their music sets
about establishing a light and upbeat mood as the emotional baseline
through cheery tunes like Asa no Youki and Nya Soleil respectively.
Then there is at least one slightly sombre track, often played on the
piano, for the moments of emotional sincerity, such as
Tashikame-au Omoi and Tasogare Nyanko. To top it all off is the
romantic tracks were love is in the air and the games want to make
that as clear as possible in its gentle tones, like Mahou no Hikari
and Aibyou. What this common language achieves is creating an emotional
short hand the player will come to internalise as they become
familiar with the genre and this makes it easier for developers to
shape the mood without having the reinvent the wheel to get these
results. However, it is also their biggest problem since none of
these soundtracks are particularly memorable and, while they can have
the right emotional impact in the moment, they lack the ability to leave a lasting impression. While not all use of an
established auditory language is in such quite a complete manner, it
is nonetheless common when considering certain kinds of tracks.
Action music, such as Fight Or Flight from Sorcery Jokers, tends to
follow its own specific emotional script defined by a strong and load
beat and a fast rhythm used to sell the directness and intensity of
the events on screen. As such there is merit in this approach in a
broader suite of genres and it can be included in whatever amount is
needed.
Music As Atmosphere
Crafting
a tone and setting through a soundtrack is key to the way visual
novels approach them. This can manifest in various ways due to the player’s flexible interpretation of music and the angles
offered with instrumental choices. Parsing a soundtrack through a
cultural filter is a relatively straightforward way of set up an
atmosphere using the sense of place associated with the culture.
Without having to spend a long time establishing the setting in the
main body of the game, an idea of what to expect has formed in the
player’s mind and allows the game to skip over unnecessary
details. This is even more effective in a real world setting where
this understanding is often correct or at least works for the
narrative’s purpose. Since this use of culture is such a nebulous
idea let’s look at a few example to demonstrate its application.
Piofiore: Fated Memories’ 20s South Italian setting and the serious
nature of the mafia are clear from the moment the player reaches the
main menu with its mixture of jazz and classical tones speaking to
the energy of the story and the rapidly changing world around its
characters. It consistently maintains this style of music throughout
the title even in the different emotional tones the tracks invoke
where the energetic jazz gives way to a sombre version. Taking from
the other side of the world, Winter's Wish: Spirits of Edo presents
its Edo era Japanese setting via the way it pushes its traditional
Japanese instruments to the front of each of its tracks. They are
often mixed into a group of modern instruments or musical styling yet
maintain the sense of being from a distant past by careful putting
these elements in the background to supplement rather than overtake
the traditional instruments.
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| Commiting to a setting for a musical atmosphere can really sell it |
Adhering to convention is not the only
way to create atmosphere and music can make use of unusual element to make a unique soundscape. These tracks are
often accompanied by sound effects of a similarly off-kilter nature
since it would clash against more traditions sounds and this limits
how useful it can be for a lot of genres. In choosing to utilise odd
tracks the visual novel can shift the tone of scene quickly due to
how distinct such tracks are when compared to the rest of the musical
score and so being able to loadly signal the dramatic change in
narrative circumstances. If the tracks make up a major portion of the
overall soundtrack then the effect becomes broader and adds an
atmosphere where unexpected things are on the cards. Such unusual
aspects of the music do not need to be abrasive to get the desired
effect as can be seen in The House Of Fata Morgana’s extensive use
of vocals throughout its tracks. While it is not uncommon to have
vocal tracks in isolation, a large number of them is abnormal and
influences the overall atmosphere quite considerably and lends it an
almost dream like sensibility. It helps fuel the sense each event
depicted is being told to the player by someone reading from an old
book and the vocals are this voice faded into the background of the
drama.
The Nuance of Control
So
far all the methods of using music have been on the complete soundtrack
and its overall influence. However, any soundtrack is made up of many
individual tracks and while they might adhere to these overarching
trends they each offer a chance to control the specifics of moment to
moment interactions with a game. The most obvious of these has
already been covered in the form of how the presence of music can
change the emotion or atmosphere of a scene, yet it is the pauses in
the music when lend them much of this impact. Silence in a medium
where music is constantly present allows its absence to create a greater
emphasis on the tracks immediately before and after the gap. The
previous track echoes in the player’s mind where they are held in
suspense waiting for the next track to start and so when it finally
does there is a sense of release given to the new track. In order for
this impact to be meaningful each track has to have its own distinct
purpose which the section on emotional music gestured towards. These
can be anything from music indicating action or everyday scenes to
those aiming for a disquieting or cultural atmosphere and their
individual effects have been discussed before. It is in their
totality where their value can be seen, they are a tool kit the
visual novel can dip into in order to add nuance the text and images
would lack on their own. Obviously this requires a discerning touch
to avoid the risk of overusing the tracks, causing them to lose their
ability to contribute to the events they are attached. When the
soundtrack is larger this becomes a lot easier at the cost of not
having those core memorable tracks which the player will always
recall through their repetition. Knowing what a game is aiming for
is key to making the most out of the music available.
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| The House of Fata Morgana is an odd beast in so many ways |
Conclusion
Choosing
what to included and how to shape a visual novel’s OST has a
profound influence on the way a player is going to engage with the
game. The power music naturally has over our emotions can be utilised
to clearly shape those feelings due to how continuous and prominent
each one is within the material being presented. As such there is a
lot to be gained from introducing a variety of styles into a
soundtrack and this allows for a lot of control over the perception of the
game alongside a careful use of silence to exaggerate the music. Not
only can an OST change the emotions of a scene it can also alter the
atmosphere from setting up a particular cultural backdrop to
including some abnormal elements to keep the player’s on their
auditory toes. When composing for a visual novel the strength and
importance of music to the overall experience is something you should
keep in mind.
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