Summative season has been upon us, and so a perfect study soundtrack can be essential to getting work done. My preference of study music is game soundtracks, a subject which I’m pretty passionate about, and I am the proud connoisseur of a perfect gaming/study playlist. Game soundtracks can be some of the best accompaniment to your work, often built intentionally to be ambient and atmospheric, which is the ideal environment for cracking on with projects in the library. Whether you’re hurriedly trying to finish an essay before the deadline, or have some quiet reading to do, these soundtracks can be a great tool to help you concentrate and be productive! Here are some of my favourite soundtracks for studying:

Hollow Knight

What I love about the Hollow Knight soundtrack is how beautifully atmospheric it is. Most of the tracks are designed to play almost imperceptibly in the background as you explore the various regions in the game, and this means they are entertaining enough to accompany your work, without disrupting and distracting you. The atmospheric synth sounds paired with the steady rhythms help to keep you in deep focus with little resistance, whilst also sounding amazing. The soundtrack was composed by Christopher Larkin, who has written and worked on soundtracks for various other games, and has won multiple awards for his composition work. My favourite track from the soundtrack is probably ‘Greenpath’. Its textured and layered lines makes for an interesting but not intrusive sound, and the sort of mysterious energy works well for a study session, in my opinion. My other favourites are ‘Hornet’, which is quite intense but perfect if that’s the sort of motivation you need, ‘Reflection’, which works well as calming background music and is very beautifully written, though almost frustratingly short. ‘Crossroads’ also deserves an honourable mention for having such a stunning soundscape that makes you really feel immersed, whilst also relaxed enough to work alongside the music.

Minecraft

Perhaps one of the most iconic game soundtracks of all time, written by the famed C418, Minecraft is one of my favourite soundtracks to study to. Like Hollow Knight, the Minecraft soundtrack is great at creating an atmosphere with music. The tracks are compelling enough to keep you engaged, yet not so interesting that you stop your work. There is also the bonus of an intense wave of nostalgia that it will likely occur, if you have not returned to the game in a while. The tracks are all quite different from each other yet still work together cohesively in an album or playlist, making it perfect to slot in amongst other soundtracks. C418, though most famed for his work on Minecraft’s Volume Alpha and Volume Beta, has also worked on other large-scale projects such as the music for Netflix’s Beyond Stranger Things. Some of his finest work for the Minecraft soundtrack are; ‘Subwoofer Lullaby’, an iconic classic with perfect studying ambience, ‘Aria Math’ (the clue is in the name) but that hand-pan, alongside the other synth sounds creates the perfect concentration piece. ‘Clark’ is a severely underrated track on the album, calm yet slightly mysterious, the perfect balance of soothing and subtle tension to work as studying music.

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

This might feel like a bit of a rogue choice but just trust me. I will admit, not every track on the album is great for studying, some of them verge on quite terrifying, but there are some pieces that have made it onto my playlist that I swear by, through and through. The ‘Saferoom’ piece is an obvious first choice, the eerie yet comforting atmosphere created by the guitar and drone noises, the rhythmic swelling of the bass, it acts as perfect working music. The Saferoom music of a few other Resident Evil games have infiltrated by playlist, and I think the version from Resident Evil 2 deserves a mention – and this includes the original and the remaster. The music itself in the Saferoom is quite interesting, but is also easy to concentrate to, because there isn’t a whole lot going on, which I suppose is part of the nature of the game – this is where you are meant to be ‘safe’ for a minute from the horrors of everything else. I wish a lot of tracks on the album where a bit longer, such as the hauntingly beautiful ‘Into the Night’, which lasts less than a minute. ‘Bad Boy Games’, though quite creepy when you dwell on it too much, acts as quite good study ambience, almost akin to those ‘Binural Beats’, yet just slightly more horrifying. ‘The Sad Truth’ is another favourite, a lot more calm and subtle, but good for focusing for a longer time, which can also be said for ‘Floating In-Between’. Overall, I think it’s a strong contender, but maybe just don’t shuffle the whole album unless you really, really need that kind of motivation.

The Elder Scrolls (but specifically Oblivion and Skyrim)

These feel like such an obvious choice but that’s for good reason. In my opinion, these are literally perfect albums to study to, and my go-to’s for when I really need to get on with my reading. I always used to put on those ‘Study with Me in Skyrim’ videos (which I highly recommend, they’re great) when I needed to properly lock in, and they make you feel like you’re in the College of Winterhold library, or somewhere in the Forests of Falkreath. I think the Oblivion soundtrack is similarly very good, it shares the same high-fantasy atmospheric feel that is just perfect for getting work done. It conjures up images of Bruma or the Great Oak Tree or the stunning Imperial City, as if you are on some grand adventure, studying your spells on your great quest. My favourites from the Oblivion soundtrack are ‘Through The Valleys’, ‘Wings of Kynareth’ and ‘All’s Well’, whilst my favourites from Skyrim are ‘Secunda’, ‘Solitude’, ‘Silent Footsteps’ and ‘Distant Horizons’. The orchestral works are just perfect as backing music to whatever you’re doing – some more intense which are perfect for if you’ve got a big deadline coming up, having to rush out a piece of work, and some more subtle for a more relaxed studying session. I think ‘The Northern Tors’ from Beyond Skyrim also deserves an honourable mention, it is just an amazing piece of music that works perfectly for studying but also is just fun to listen to. Overall, I think these are probably some of my favourite tracks on my playlist right now.

Stardew Valley

Songs from the Stardew Valley soundtrack are a more recent addition to my studying playlist, but I think they serve a great purpose amongst the rest of the music on there. A lot of the tracks are quite upbeat and cheery, but without being obnoxiously energetic, which I think is an important balance to have. There is something in them that makes me feel inherently productive, like I should be getting stuff done, which I think is part of why they are so effective in Stardew Valley. It provides a nice break from some of the other soundtracks I have, but it keeps me focused just as hard, and the variation keeps my brain from getting bored. My favourites would have to be ‘Winter (The Wind Can Be Still)’, just because it has a nice airy energy and the synths feel really satisfying, ‘Fall (The Smell of Mushroom)’ because I feel like the repetitive nature of the rhythms means I pay more attention to what I’m doing as the music changes more subtly over its run-time. ‘Fall (Raven’s Descent)’ is another fun piece that I really enjoy listening to and is also effective as background ambience for studying. It reminds me of lo-fi hip-hop in a weird sort of way, with the extended chords, unusual percussion, and the way that the different layers loop over one another.

This is by no means the entire playlist, there are so many great soundtracks out there that I couldn’t possibly talk about all of them. In the end, nothing beats a good playlist to keep the energy up, so happy studying!