Seconding Bastion! That soundtrack got me though so many grad school papers/ projects. I keep telling myself I'll get around to actually playing that game, but I can't shake the feeling that the second I hear "Build that wall" I'ma have some ptsd flashbacks.
Same artist who did the music for TUNIC. While its soundtrack isn't great to listen to alone in my opinion, it is phenomenal in game. To the point where watching the trailer gives me goosebumps.
Also, I emailed the artist once to ask permission to use the Dustforce soundtrack in a YouTube video I was making. They gave me permission and I sent the video to them when it was posted and they said very nice things about it.
The composer for Super Meat Boy has done lots of great tracks for Binding of Isaac and Crypt of the Necrodancer too (Danny Baranowsky)
Enter the Gungeon - Abbey or Die
Enter the Gungeon - Behold the Boss Eater
Enter the Gungeon - Boss Battle Beating
Metal Gear solid theme
Nine Sols - Collage
Hades soundtrack (all of it) + if you search for the composer (Darren Korb) then you'll find loads more great soundtracks he's done (notably for Bastion).
Hollow Knight soundtrack (all of it + the piano cover version)
Street Fighter 6 - Viator (theme for Ryu + there's a real cool metal cover that is on YouTube by an indie metal band)
Wipeout HD soundtrack (all of it)
Super Hexagon (all 3 tracks)
Hotline Miami soundtrack
Dead Cells
Lots of people have rightly mentioned FTL
Frank Kelpacki has done tons of great soundtracks across the whole Command and Conquer series and it's worth searching through.
If you're into chip tunes, then it is also worth checking out Streets of Rage 2 soundtrack.
In case you haven't noticed, I'm really into video game instrumentals. If anyone else is interested, there's a great podcast called Sound of Gaming by BBC radio 3 that is worth going through the back catalogue of episodes.
Adding on to this to specifically recommend the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 soundtrack. Oscar Araujo did masterful work on this, so much so that I even went out and bought the album, even though it was almost impossible to get my hands on it. But you can listen to it on YouTube.
It's great stuff. As a bonus, an artist named Alex Yarmak has put together two albums where he covers the entire OST of each game in a heavy metal style. Great stuff if you like that kind of thing.
Stellaris has a fine soundtrack, but I found myself vibing way more playing it with FlyByNo's soundtrack for Endless Space. Endless Space didn't have the staying power with me that Stellaris did but that soundtrack is * chef's kiss * .
Second on the Octopath Traveler II music. Even my son who is 9 and plays it as well as a ton of other games has only ever commented about how the music is really good on Octopath Traveler and no others (and I had never mentioned this to him). It's definitely the best music I have every heard for a game. There was a glitch one time where the music wasn't playing for some reason and I realized how much the music made the game come to life, NGL, I think it brings like 99% of the emotional engagement to it.
Also love cello, and it's why I keep hoping the long-rumored new version of Final Fantasy Tactics will surface soon. Even with a fifth console gen soundfont, Sakimoto's strings are so good in that soundtrack.
I do like symphonic metal, and that's a great song... it gave me goosebumps. I'll be sure to check out more of Blind Guardian's work. Any other suggestions are welcome! Maybe stuff similar to Epica's Omega album, and instrumental pieces similar to Essence of Datum, Mohamed Shawky, Rivers of Nihil, & Naxatras, if you've got the time :D
If you like prog metal and hard rock, I've yet to find a better soundtrack than Guilty Gear XX. The fan favorite is "Holy Orders (Be Just or Be Dead)", but for my money, the best songs on the soundtrack are "Existence" and "Awe of She".
First time I heard this was in a buddy's car and it was bumpin' hard. I asked him who the band was and was totally surprised when he told me it was from a video game. Very very solid stuff v all the way through
I've been playing so many soundtracks for my background music at work. Of course, nostalgia makes some songs slap harder than they deserve to, so your results may vary, but some of my favorites have been:
Mega Man series
Warcraft (I'm especially fond of Warcraft 2 songs)
Donkey Kong Country series
Variety lists (one hit wonders from games you nearly forgot)
Spotify has a lot of video game playlists, and even some covers in different styles. Right now we're listening to metal versions of classic games.
Persona 3/4/5 (not all tracks are instrumentals, but most of them are and they are straight bangers)
Katana Zero
Danganronpa 1, 2, V3
Silent Hill 1, 2, 3 (all I can vouch for, but I hear the later games still have banging soundtracks)
Crosscode
Kingdom Hearts 1/2
Nier Automata
Minecraft
Donkey Kong Country 1/2
VA-11 HALL-A
Catherine Full Body
Deadbolt
Risk of Rain 1/2
Some of these you'd have to sift through, like Silent Hill is one part industrial creepy noise, and one part absolutely incredible hip hop and rock
I have listened to Rimworld, Disco Elysium, and EVE Online's soundtrack while working. Though it's probably my emotional attachment to EVE more than anything lol
There are really no low points in the entire soundtrack. Although, I haven't actually played all of the DLCs, so I might have not even heard all of them.
Doesn't look like anyone listed the Ori soundtracks by Gareth Coker yet, they're amazing. Also can't go wrong with WoW if you're looking for more classic fantasy style.
Can't go wrong with pretty much any pre-Skyward Sword Zelda. SS itself also has Ballad of the Goddess, which was good, but I can't remember any other tunes from it or BOTW that aren't just reprises of tracks from previous games.
My favorite soundtrack ever, of course, is that of The Secret of Monkey Island (MT-32) by Michael Land. A lot of nostalgia there.
I also very much like the soundtrack to Dune by Stephane Picq. There's an edition that combines the Adlib, Adlib Gold, and MT-32 versions which is "chef's kiss". Alternatively, I can recommend the Space Opera edition.
Strike Commander by Nenad Vugrinec on MT-32 is also great.
For chiptunes, I really liked Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3 by Alex Mauer.
Or, for a real classic, Earthbound by Keiichi Suzuki and Hirokazu Tanaka.
Subnautica has a long and beautiful OST. It's been a long-time favorite of mine, and just a great instrumental jam to fuel my creativity lately. Stardew has my other favorite game soundtrack!
Overall, Surviving Mars might be my favorite work soundtrack. Assorted tracks from Stellaris plus the Age of Wonders and Civilization series are also good. Something about the soundtracks in 4X games and games like them always puts me in a productive mood while not making me emotional and thus distracted like RPG soundtracks can sometimes.
Since you like FF, I'd suggest looking into Uematsu's other works as well, especially Lost Odyssey. For similar ones in the genre, there's also Yasunori Mitsuda's work in the Chrono and Xeno series.
I prefer Sci-fi background noise so Surviving Mars is my favorite. Mass Effect is ok but I find it gets a little too cinematic and bombastic at times. FTL and Into The Breach, or really anything by Ben Prunty is good too
starfield the game is divisive to say the least, but i cant imagine anyone would talk bad about the soundtrack. inon zur's best work so far, and the death metal songs in there are fucking awesome too
I would suggest "quake 2", it's rock /metal and put me in a good mood when I work.
Now if you like instrumental metal, it's no game music, but I would suggest Aephenemer (their official instrumental playlist is on YouTube).
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is a music focused game and god damn but it is funky. State of Mind and Condensed Milk are my favorites but the range is wide and excellent. No two songs really share the same style.
If you're a metalhead, Metal: Hellsinger won a bunch of best music awards with such offerings as Stygia and This Devastation. It's not instrumental, but it's worth a listen and if you like what you hear it's worth a play as well. Think if Doom was a rhythm game.
Generally speaking, all of the Persona soundtracks are also top tier ambient chill tracks, especially so if you've actually played the games and have an emotional connection to these songs like myself. Persona 5 is a little more generally upbeat but I like it the best, but P4 and P3 have plenty of low key jazzfunk. I don't have specifics to recommend here but know that all three of the P3/4/5 soundtracks come with my seal of approval. EDIT: I have specifics to recommend here. Persona 5 - Rivers in the DesertPersona 4 - The Poem for Everyone's Souls ( <- This one appears in all three games with minor differences and is close to what I expect you're actually looking for from this thread) Persona 3 - Living With Determination