Sound in Games: Part One — Atmosphere and World
Auditory excellence can be just as meaningful as beautiful presentation in games
This is part one of a series I’m writing about sound in video games. This post will focus on the atmosphere and world-building that good games create with strong sound design. Today, I’ll be focusing on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, FTL: Faster Than Light, Gone Home, and Firewatch.
Games are a visual medium. That statement is so simple as to seem unnecessary, but visuals alone are only part of the equation. Games also use some form of audio — whether through sound effects, voice acting, ambient noise, or anything else—and this form of creation affects games in ways that are not always obvious. I think this aspect of games is worth a deeper dive, especially in regards to how games use subtle noises to build believable and interesting worlds. There are many examples that come to mind, and one of the most obvious is the reigning favorite for game of the year.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
As far as auditory parts of games go, voice acting is probably the most prominent. The most well-known actors appear in multiple games every year, and a strong performance on that end can elevate a game’s story and believability. Zelda has almost none of that, though. Nearly all of the game’s dialog comes in the form of written text accompanied by various vocal sounds (i.e., not words). It’s an effective conceit, even if stylistically discordant from most big-name games.
Despite this though, Zelda still boasts impressive auditory design. However, it comes in the form of much more subtle, less-obtrusive forms. For example, players who bring Link to one of the game’s many stables will hear a slow, lilting song played out some pipe instrument. Since most stables are near grass, this tune will most likely play out against a peaceful backdrop of green fields and trees. Stables almost always feel peaceful, and the sound that accompanies them is a big reason why. Other areas in the game have their own songs, especially in the several towns that dot the landscape.
Music isn’t all of the equation, though. There are plenty of other atmospheric effects, all of which contribute to the game in some way. Animals, trees, wind, fires, all have their own effect, and all of them contribute to the beautiful world in the game. Most impressively, there’s a single-minded attention to detail that often caught me off-guard. At numerous times I stopped to wonder what a certain sound was, only to realize that it was coming from a particular piece of armer or equipment I was wielding.
Of course, every game has some kind of sound effect. Zelda isn’t unique for assigning certain songs to areas or recording elemental effects. It is unique in that all of this is remarkably well done, though. And the ultimate effect of the sound design is that the world of Hyrule is welcoming and inviting. It’s a place that I would want to live in, and that compelling feeling has already brought me back to the game time and time again.
There are many great things about the newest title in the Zelda franchise. But don’t let its magnificent sound design slip through the cracks. It’s truly wonderful.
FTL: Faster Than Light
FTL is one of the more creative indie games in recent memory. Players control a spaceship full of humans or (preferably, because of abilities and strengths) aliens. There are levels and a final boss, but the game also resets completely upon death. It’s also incredibly difficult. These elements might not sound appealing at first, and I was admittedly cautious to buy this game for a long time, but the end product is truly something special. Conveyed through retro graphics and simple controls, FTL is also built with a huge amount of care and attention to detail.
The game’s sound, as you might expect from this piece, is also amazing. There’s a fun little soundtrack that varies based on the level players are currently on, and the noise effects from opening doors and preparing for a light-speed fit perfectly. The game’s combat sounds are fine as well, but it’s the attention to smaller, less noticeable sounds that helps fill out the game’s atmosphere. Even through the chunky graphics and simplistic animations, this game somehow feels real.
I like using FTL as an example because it’s such a low-budget game that succeeds so admirably. I played this game for hours at a time using my iPad and a good pair of headphones, and I return to it from time to time. There is no spoken dialog, and no cutscenes. But the game is still interesting, and the world is still one I enjoy spending time in. It may be a pun to say that a space-based game has a great atmosphere, but I’ll go ahead and say it anyways. This is a game worth playing, in large part because of its phenomenal sound design.
Firewatch and Gone Home
I lump these two together because of genre similarities, and because I consider them to be roughly equal in quality. I would recommend playing each of them, but the qualities that make each one stand out can be easily found in the other. Both games feature protagonists exploring largely empty worlds, trying to solve some sort of mystery. Each one conveys a meaningful sense of loneliness, and the various sound choices in each game are vital to that purpose.
Firewatch sets players loose in the Wyoming wilderness as a patrolman tasked with spotting fires from a tower. The game relies heavily on dialog, which is worth a moment to explore. The voice acting is phenomenal, and carries the game’s story for much of the narrative. However, there are also long periods with complete vocal silence, where players are left to deal with a potentially-hostile world. That world is lovingly conveyed in an almost hand-drawn style, but it’s also full of ambient noise and atmosphere.
There is even less dialog in Gone Home, which is a spiritual predecessor in many ways to Firewatch. Players are exploring an empty house, one that is both opening and creepy. In Gone Home, the central narrative is punctuated by periods of silence where players listen to the house creaking, to the noise of a storm outside, and any other variety of ambient sounds. These auditory techniques add a sense of loneliness and sadness to the game, which continues right up until its end.
In one sense, it seems completely expected to see good sound design in good games. It probably is, but I’m captivated by the ways in which these four games utilize audio cues that are entirely separate from voice acting. That shows an attention to detail that is truly mesmerizing. To a large degree, I also think each of these games would lose much of its appeal were the auditory design any less excellent. Would Zelda be as much fun without the music and background noise? Probably not. Would Firewatch and Gone Home succeed if their worlds weren’t perfectly believable? Almost certainly not.
There is a lot more to good sound design than just atmosphere. Good voice acting is an invaluable asset, one that raises the very best games to almost the level of movies. But that voice acting loses some of its sheen when layered over a world that doesn’t feel rich, complicated, and real. And these games build a wonderful foundation with their various choices.
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