Year: 2012
Type: Original Soundtrack (OST)
Composer(s): Dominik Morgenroth; Daniel Pharos
Number of tracks: 14

★★★★★

One laughing and one dark eye

The advantage of having no expectations is well known: You are never disappointed. As usual, I approached the score for Das Schwarze Auge: Satinavs Ketten with this mantra in mind. A point-and-click adventure game from 2012, developed by the German studio Daedelic, which recently failed with Gollum and - unsurprisingly - set in the pen-and-paper world of The Dark Eye (DSA for short). A quick listen and ... I like it!

German developer studio, German fantasy world, plus this style ... something rings a bell. A quick search of the names and ... bam! Not only does composer numero uno, Dominik Morgenroth, work at the soundtrack forge Dynamedion, but composer two, Daniel Pharos, also worked on Gothic 1 . As a result, listeners can expect decent to very decent fantasy fare that ranks between the Anno-, Gothic- and SpellForce-series.

This becomes particularly clear with the main theme "Chains of Satinav", which with its initial harp sounds evokes memories of "Vista Point" from Gothic 3 . In combination with the female voice singing a lovely aria, I was immediately struck by a pleasant feeling. This runs through the majority of the score, which accompanies the different areas and set pieces of the game as is typical of the genre and ranges from emotional ("The Journey", "Follow the River") to menacing ("The Brinusk Marshes", "Dreamscape Palace") to atmospheric ("Ambush", "End Credits"). All in all, well worth listening to!

Nr.	Title	Interpret(en)	Ratings
01	Chains of Satinav	Dominik Morgenroth; Daniel Pharos	4
02	The Journey	Dominik Morgenroth; Daniel Pharos	4
03	The Blood Barrier	Dominik Morgenroth; Daniel Pharos	4
04	Caverns	Dominik Morgenroth; Daniel Pharos	3
05	Enqui	Dominik Morgenroth; Daniel Pharos	3
06	Follow the River	Dominik Morgenroth; Daniel Pharos	3
07	The Brinusk Marshes	Dominik Morgenroth; Daniel Pharos	3
08	Dreamscape Palace	Dominik Morgenroth; Daniel Pharos	3
09	Visions of the Seer	Dominik Morgenroth; Daniel Pharos	2
10	Andergast in Winter	Dominik Morgenroth; Daniel Pharos	3
11	Tempest of Crows	Dominik Morgenroth; Daniel Pharos	2
12	Ambush	Dominik Morgenroth; Daniel Pharos	3
13	Secrets of the Harp	Dominik Morgenroth; Daniel Pharos	2
14	End Credits	Dominik Morgenroth; Daniel Pharos	4