When it comes to music, Heart Machine's upcoming roguelite Hyper Light Breaker has some big shoes to fill, since the 2016 Hyper Light Drifter OST is widely considered to be one of the best video game soundtracks in recent memory. BAFTA-nominated composer Joel Corelitz is well-equipped for the challenge, however, with an impressive resume that includes co-composing for Halo Infinite along with working on other noteworthy titles like Solar Ash, Eastward, and Hideo Kojima's Death Stranding.
Game ZXC recently sat down with Corelitz to discuss his work with Hyper Light Breaker, and he gave some valuable insight into his creative process, the tools he uses, and his approach to creating the score for a successor to the 2016 indie game classic.
Hyper Light Breaker's Soundtrack Uses Some Unique Instruments
Although Hyper Light Drifter's soundtrack and overall aesthetic were very futuristic and synth-heavy, Corelitz found some interesting uses for more realistic -- and a little unusual -- musical instruments when composing Hyper Light Breaker's score.
One instrument that we've relied heavily on is this piano called the Una Corda. We have a sampled version of it, but it's a piano that has no cabinet. It's got exposed strings, it's only about four and a half octaves, and every note has only one string as opposed to a traditional piano which, for the middle notes and higher registers, has a few strings.
So it has a piano-like quality, which made a lot of sense for the themes that we wanted to express and the instrumentation we wanted because it has an organic, natural feel. It almost feels like a higher-tech version of a piano in some ways, but it also feels like you can really hear the medium. It has a delicate, kind of exposed, vulnerable quality to it too. So that's an instrument that is in a lot of pieces of music that we've composed, between Troupe and me.
The combination of delicate, organic instruments and swelling synth chords results in an almost hypnotic soundscape that brilliantly accompanies Hyper Light Breaker's vibrant yet desolate atmosphere. Hyper Light Breaker's audio team favored somewhat destructive effects like bit crushing and tape emulation to give the sounds a slightly "worn-out" texture, and Corelitz aptly describes these effects as making it sound as if it were "an undiscovered remnant of this lost society."
Hyper Light Breaker's Soundtrack Furthers the Signature Hyper Light Sound
Hyper Light Drifter's soundtrack is considerably popular even among listeners who have never played the game, racking up millions of plays across YouTube and Spotify. Although it was important for Hyper Light Breaker's music to feel related to Drifter, it was equally important for it to stand on its own. The transition from 2D to 3D also necessitated a slightly different approach to much of the game's audio.
We want it to feel related, we want it to feel in the same universe, but we don't want to draw so heavily from it that it doesn't feel like it comes from an original place. So I think it's really about taking the overarching sensibilities that make it feel in the same family but creating something that feels really unique to Hyper Light Breaker .
We had a lot of conversations early on about what made something sound “ Hyper Light ,” which is kind of an all-encompassing term. Once we had a basic understanding of how that felt, once we had a design language and a musical vocabulary to understand what that meant, then we started to figure out “Alright, now what makes it sound like Hyper Light Breaker ?”
Based on the sample of Hyper Light Breaker's soundtrack that Game ZXC was provided, fans of Hyperlight Drifter's music are in for a real treat. Those looking for somewhat of a hint of what's to come can take a look at Heart Machine's Solar Ash, a thematically similar title that Breaker composers Joel Corelitz and Troupe Gammage recently worked on.
Hyper Light Breaker is set to release in Fall 2023 on PC.