TAG, You’re It! Treasure Adventure Game OST (Review)

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Treasure Adventure Game (often referred to simply as TAG) is the debut game from Robit Studios. It’s also an entirely free game, available to anyone who has a GOG.com ^[2] (Good Old Games) account. The game is a wildly fun 2D platform adventure game (i.e. a “metroidvania” kind of game).

The soundtrack, by Robert Ellis, is available via Robit’s bandcamp page ^[3] for $6. It was the free soundtrack sampler included with the game that got me interested in looking up the soundtrack. And now, many listens later, I want to share this no-pretenses-about-it intentionally retro OST with you. So, you know what happens, after the jump!

Start listening, right now. Do you hear that? “A Legend,” a simple prelude, awesome intro music for a game. Piano solo, simple minor-key kind of ballad, which leads into … “Faded Memories.” The main theme is now fleshed out with a variety of instruments, but they are hiding the true nature of this soundtrack. For, while the sequenced music here sounds somewhat life-like, the majority of this soundtrack is wonderfully “artificial” in its synthy-ness. Square waves to emulate classic chip music, and other synths to match up with my myriad memories of PC-88 / XG 68k music. Robert is ready to take us down a pixelated trip down memory lane. But it’s not just for the sake of remembering. It’s adventure time, kiddies!

“Born for Adventure” and “8-Bit Insomnia” are two tracks early into the game that have all the trappings of classic VGM. Honestly, I get a “super-early Falcom” vibe from this stuff. Think like … early Sorcerian or Dragon Slayer. The layers of audio begin to stack up a few tracks further: “Of Mice and Monkeys,” “Forgiving the Plow” and “Riddles of Stone” are beautifully-written ambient/electronic pieces of music with nice melodic leads and the perfect touch of piano.

The hilariously-titled “Fight or Fight” (no running!) sounds like a classic RPG battle theme, even though there’s no turn-based battling in the game. I love the fast-paced melody on this one with the dissonant passing notes, as well as the breakdown beginning at the 1 minute mark. Get your METAL FISTS in the air.

I enjoy both versions of the track “Duct Work.” The second version, (Electrified), adds some more crunch and distortion to the guitar part. The original version is a little more jazzy, though both tracks share the awesome swing-syncopated rhythm on a surprisingly life-like trap set.

There are a few filler tracks on the way out to the end, but “Crystal Kick” and “One-Handed Revelations” remain on my short-list of awesome tracks from this diverse OST. At the end of the soundtrack proper is the end credits track, “Two Weeks Notice.” There are a few seconds of vocal work found here, but most of what would be sung is instead played by a very synthy keyboard. After that, for those of you who bought the album and aren’t just streaming on bandcamp, there are 8 bonus tracks. 3 of them are super-short jingles, but the other 5 are prototype/unreleased tracks from the game. Among them, my favorites are the two “Born for Adventure Idea” tracks (tracks 32 and 33).

Outside the context of this fun, *free* game, the music sticks out like a sore thumb. Not in a bad way, per se, but certainly it cannot be left un-noticed. Especially for those of us who used to thrive on the earliest MIDI sound banks used in games, those of us who “get it” — well, let’s just say there’s more to be gotten. I’m happy to have found this treasure among my adventures. What about you, though? Do you count this OST among your treasures? Have you played the game? Please leave comments!