Year: 2011
Type: Original Soundtrack (OST)
Composer(s): Darren Korb
Number of tracks: 22

★★★★★

Headbang beats meet campfire romance

I hardly remember Bastion, at all . Just that it was an action brawler with an iso perspective, with a combat system that you had to learn and get to grips in numerous challenges before it was really fun. You could decide which buildings you wanted to build on your flying island and then there was some story twist at the end, some betrayal - that was it. And of course, as far as I know, it was one of the first indie games that I consciously bought because a review explicitly emphasized the good soundtrack. Even back then it was a reason for me to buy it, as it was still the early days of my hobby and I had no idea that I would one day start a website about it, let alone still be listening to individual tracks from the OST nine years later.

As the title suggests, Bastion takes an unusual path when it comes to the background music. Composer Darren Korb dares to experiment and mixes country with psychedelic rock and intersperses strong strings here and there to create an interesting final composition. However, this rough classification would do the OST an injustice.

Instead, I would divide the soundtrack into three musical genres: Firstly, there are the quiet, reflective pieces with reduced instrumentation in the form of guitar and drums. The Sole Regret, Slinger’s Song, Faith of Jevel and Pale Watchers - all pieces that are reminiscent of Borderlands 1 or that could be used to characterize a cyberpunkesque future city.

Next up are the vocal tracks with a narrative component such as Build That Wall (Zia’s Theme), Mother, I’m Here (Zulf’s Theme), Setting Sail, Coming Home (End Theme) - a reprise of Mother, I’m Here - and The Pantheon (Ain’t Gonna Catch You). Beautiful, soulful songs that are reminiscent of Booker and Elisabeth singing together in BioShock: Infinite which I like a lot, even if they lean very heavily into the lone-cowboy-with-his-guitar trope at times.

The rest of the soundtrack could now simply be described as a funky, action-packed disconnect. But while the tracks are similar in terms of tempo and tenor, the instruments are varied. Of course, we hear a harmonica or a banjo (Spike in a Rail) for the perfect Western cliché, but also seemingly incongruous sounds reminiscent of Asian climes (A Proper Story) or paan flutes (Twisted Streets) and harps (Faith of Jevel). These are joined by tracks whose melodies sound like variations on well-known game-series. Bynn the Breaker has something of Age of Empires, Brusher Patrol sounds like a Super Mario-remix; The Mancer’s Dilemma , on the other hand, sounds like Final Fantasy. And Mine, Windbag, Mine could come straight out of the Splinter Cell-series.

The Bastion-soundtrack is a nice mix for me, which largely meets my taste with its stylistic execution. Although there are only a few shortcomings, a number of the tracks are unfortunately just too laid-back for me, while conversely the action tracks are sometimes a bit over the top and in my opinion clash with the generally calm country mentality. Of course, this doesn't mean that the tracks are bad, it just means that not every track makes it into the 5s for me. Others may see it differently, opinions are welcome!

No.	Title	Artist(s)	Ratings
01	Get Used to It	Logan Cunningham	1
02	A Proper Story	Darren Korb	5
03	In Case of Trouble	Darren Korb	3
04	Bynn the Breaker	Darren Korb	5
05	The Sole Regret	Darren Korb	4
06	Twisted Streets	Darren Korb	3
07	Terminal March	Darren Korb	5
08	Percy's Escape	Darren Korb	4
09	Faith of Jevel	Darren Korb	3
10	Mine, Windbag, Mine	Darren Korb	4
11	Slinger's Song	Darren Korb	4
12	Build That Wall (Zia's Theme)	Ashley Barrett	4
13	Spike in a Rail	Darren Korb	4
14	What's Left Undone	Darren Korb	1
15	Brusher Patrol	Darren Korb	4
16	The Mancer's Dilemma	Darren Korb	4
17	Mother, I'm Here (Zulf's Theme)	Darren Korb	3
18	Pale Watchers	Darren Korb	3
19	The Bottom Feeders	Darren Korb	3
20	From Wharf to Wilds	Darren Korb	5
21	Setting Sail, Coming Home (End Theme)	Ashley Barrett; Darren Korb	5
22	The Pantheon (Ain't Gonna Catch You)	Logan Cunningham	4