This might sound a bit random, but Cyberpunk 2077 has this sort of warmup sound that plays through the game startup sequence that always gets me relaxed or psyched up to play. Another example is the title song in Trails from Zero. Calms me every time.
Whether it’s a sound effect, music, or a loading screen, is there a game that does this for you immediately when you open it?
The valve game loading sound
One of my best gaming experiences is when you boot up Half Life Alyx. It has a giant and fully 3D model of the bald dude with the valve on his head and he does the slow turn at the end of the iconic music.
Not only is it a killer intro, but it’s one I felt like I’ve poured so many hours into valve titles to receive in what feels like its best and final form.
It wasn’t as classic, but the valve intro for The Lab was really unsettling for me. Giant room with hundreds of valves, felt very surreal. A simple space that would/could never exist, but here I am standing in it. But I might just have trypophobia lol
Mechwarrior games take the trophy
Reactor online.
Sensors online.
Weapons online.
All systems nominal.
Rock music starts blasting as your mech turns to face the bulkhead. The dropship’s engines roar louder as it approaches the ground, and the wall in front of you flies upwards. Your mech’s feet slam into the ground with a heavy thud.
The old school PS jingle is the ultimate gaming warmup sound for me 🤌🏼 absolute vibes
That combined with the Final Fantasy Tactics opening music is 100% nostalgia fuel for me. Always that twinge of anxiety later on too when you weren’t sure if you’d get the second part of the jingle to let you know the disc is working.
The Gameboy Advance startup sound never fails to activate my neurons either.
Ooh, and while we’re at it,
SE-GAAAAA
is permanently burned into my brain
Persona 5’s title screen, feels like the characters are all waiting for the player to start the game and do some shenanigans.
Persona 4’s title screen makes me feel emotional just listening to it. I played that game at a particular time in my life and that music just gets it going. Persona 3 FES’ as well, actually, 5’s isn’t nearly as like… emotional
Yeah, P5’s title is more anticipatory than the pensive mood of the other games. Although Sunset Bridge hits me hard now after playing through Royal.
And most Persona games tbh. Just finished Tactica.
Fallout. The one that comes to mind is the Fallout 4 menu music, but I’ve gotten that feeling with nearly all their games.
War, war never changes…
HYDRO THUNDER!
The narrator is constantly yelling everything as you go through the screens to start the game. He yells the title, the name of the track, the name of your boat, and he doesnt stop when the race starts. Always makes me hyped to play.
Probably Katamari Damacy Reroll. The music is so whimsical, and loading your save at the startup screen uses the unique movement (double joystick) so I’m already using the controls before actually playing.
Elden Ring has the most epic main menu music
Played through it with my husband, usually on an evening after work, and discovered that no matter how stressed or annoyed you are the Outer Wilds intro / menu is just instant relaxation. Like sliding into a whole other world where everything is going to be ok.
Mario Kart Wii (others versions too maybe) has a music with more and more instruments. The more you configure your kart, the more instruments are playing. It’s a nice warmup.
Back in the day, the loading screen music on Runescape absolutely got me hyped to play. It was beautiful, atmospheric, and exciting.
The main screen music for the original Age of Empires games (the versions published from 1997–2005) was likewise excellent. AoE1’s was mysterious and ancient feeling, AoE2’s is grand and heroic, Age of Mythology takes “grand and heroic” and ups it to 11 with by far the most epic theme. AoE3 perfectly captures the vibes of a mixture of 18th century warfare and the sense of exploration of its game’s setting.
In all other ways, the new Definitive Editions are vastly superior games. But the music on their main menu screens no longer so perfectly captures the sense of the game, unfortunately.
The original EverQuest theme song was mine. Captured the epic wide-eyed wonder of going on an adventure perfectly.
Civilization IV
Baba Yetu fucking slaps
Bodacious banger.
Breath of the Wild. Every time Link steps into the light after opening the shrine, the camera pans over Hyrule, with that glorious music … I always get goosebumps and can’t wait to get the runes, catch a horse and start “exploring” again, even tho I pretty much know the entire map by heart already.
Another one for Cyberpunk. Its the only game I put my hearing aids in to play 100% of the time and sometimes I’ll just sit at the main menu until the music loops.
Sounds like what Doom 2016 did for me, the menu music is awesome!
Done that more than a few times. Great soundtrack all around. Best loop I’ve ever heard for a character creator too, by a mile.
The Dark Souls Character Creation Music is still my personal favorite.
Goooooooood morning Night City!!
