Easy Vibin‘

Since I finished my last Donald Duck pocket books about 15 years ago, my only contact with the comic genre has been the uninspired leafing through Asterix-volumes when I'm at my parents' house. It's a shame, really, but you could say that about so many other genres and hobbies, and I would just end up feeling depressed about all the things I've missed out on.

For this reason, I was not aware of the Arcanepunk comic Battle Chasers from the beginning of the millennium, on which the subject of this review is based: Battle Chasers: Nightwar, a turn-based role-playing game and debut from the studio Airship Syndicate, which would later produce Ruined King: A League of Legends Story among other titles.

Since I haven't played the game, but it's found its spot in the upper mid-range with a score of 75 on Metacritic (6.9 user score), I decided to listen to the score—both because of that and because Jesper Kyd, one of my favorite composers, was involved. With 29 tracks, the OST is very large and can be listened to in just over an hour.

For connoisseurs of Kyd's compositions for the Assassin’s Creed games such as Brotherhood, the music of Nightwar is an unexpected journey into stereotypical fantasy. This is made clear by the themes Battle Chasers and Opening Cinematic, whose almost childishly heroic orchestrations follow the path of Immortals Fenyx Rising.

The music remains faithful to this style for the most part, with the strings and piano creating a relaxed, yet rhythmically driving atmosphere. Examples of this minimalism are When the Smoke Clears and Between Space and Time, whereas Awe drifts more into melancholy. Contrary to what one might initially expect, however, the composer emphasizes the genre mix of arcanepunk (quasi-magical steampunk) with electric influences (Dreaming of Crits, Mountainside), which push the listening experience toward modern lo-fi listening.

However, it rarely gets action-packed, with Avatar of Fear probably being the biggest outlier here with its proximity to Hades and the aforementioned Brotherhood . But Smugglers & Thieves also builds up a Bastion-like speed with the guitar, while Hearts Beating Like Drums is no less driving thanks to the combination of drums and strings.

It's Nights Curse, in which - besides the dramatic Night Curse - I found my personal favorite on the album. It's where Asian instrumentation meets a rhythmic groove, which is a bit reminiscent of Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom. The piece doesn't quite earn a full five stars due to its uniformity, but I would still recommend it. The same goes for the rest of the score, as long as you don't expect an action-packed Darksiders-style extravaganza despite the packaging. If you're looking for long stretches of tame, lo-fi-style relaxation music with a fantasy twist, you'll find it here.