When we last heard from Mick Gordon he was being praised for his driving and powerful soundtrack to 2016’s DOOM. Now he’s back with another dark, sci-fi score to a Bethesda title, Prey. The game launches on May 5th for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Steam but the full soundtrack is available now to stream on Spotify or Apple Music and for purchase on iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play.
Compared to DOOM there’s a much wider and varied style to his work on Prey with equal tones of isolation, paranoia, and alien terror. The playable demo mostly stood out with the action theme, “The Phantoms”, but listening to the full album imparts a far more pensive and somber vibe. As Arkane Creative Director Raphael Colantonio explains, it’s based on the sound Gordon created for Wolfenstein: The New Order.
“I really enjoyed his work [on Wolfenstein], and specifically the sophisticated guitar arpeggios that stood out as something unique and emotionally powerful,” Colantonio says. “So we talked with Mick about the mood of the game, the fact that it’s in space, and my desire to see some of those arpeggios. Mick came back to me two weeks later with a short test that I really loved. It featured arpeggios that sounded a bit like some of those Sergio Leone Western movies – albeit a more melancholic version – mixed with some ’80s style synths.
The mix was so unique and so adapted to the mood we wanted to convey that it immediately felt like the right direction. I jokingly called the style ‘Western in space,’ and then we used that term as a filter for all of the future music Mick did for Prey.”
The album also includes two vocal tracks — “Semi Sacred Geometry” and “Mind Game” — as well as the previously released track “Everything is Going to be Okay” which is set to the game’s opening credit sequence. These three lend a more uplifting and modern dance feel which Colantonio described as being inspired by “80s Italian disco, like a lot of French DJs have been doing for some time now: Daft Punk, Kavinsky, Justice”.
Take a listen or check out the demo and let us know what you think of the Prey soundtrack (and the game) in the comments below.
