The “Cinematic Promise” of Video Game Music

Abstract

Consonant with recent developments that have contributed to the ongoing convergence of film and video game forms, a common aspiration exists among many contemporary “Triple A” titles to fulfil what we might call the “cinematic promise” of video games. Many recent releases illustrate that a shift has taken place towards certain games’ stylistic harnessing and hybridisation of cinematic idioms that, in turn, transforms the experience being marketed to gamers. One title in which these dual-aspirations are especially conspicuous is Final Fantasy VII Remake (Square Enix, 2020), a game that straddles an intricate balance between channelling elements of both the cinematic and the game’s original identity as a fifth-generation video game. This article explores the ongoing convergence of scoring idioms for films and games. Remake is adopted as a central case study, considering the extent to which game and film music idioms coalesce as part of the game’s idiosyncratic musical identity and are foregrounded as a result of their interaction. I argue that the tension between Remake’s clear efforts to channel aspects of the cinematic alongside sounds, timbres, and compositional structures from the original game affords us new insights into: the relationship between film and game music; remakes and adaptations more generally; and game soundtracks that adapt pre-existing music. Beginning with overviews of existing research on (i) film and game music, and (ii) music in remakes, the article culminates in musical analyses of both Final Fantasy VII and its Remake, illustrating the palpable tension that emerges between Remake’s concessions to both film and game scoring conventions: arguably the defining characteristic of the game’s musical identity.