Come Out, Come Out! PixelJunk Eden + Encore OST (Review)

In 2008, a physical CD print was released for Baiyon’s PixelJunk Eden Original Soundtrack. I had always been tempted to pick up the album, but there was one chief thing that stopped me: the encore.

PixelJunk Eden Encore was the sole DLC released for the game, and it included five new and absolutely breathtaking levels, complete with new audio tracks. So, why would I buy this CD if it was missing my favorite bit of Baiyon’s work?

Patience paid off. In February of this year, PixelJunk Eden + Encore was released on Steam for $10, and for an extra $6, you could procure the entire soundtrack: 12 tracks from the CD, plus the 5 tracks for Encore, totaling to nearly 2 hours of catchy, trippy electronica.

After the jump, I’ll try and sell you on why this music is so marvelous, why the Steam version of the game surpasses the PS3 version, and why I still must lament the current status of the soundtrack’s availability.

Remember when Glinda gently but persistently tells the munchkins to come out and greet Dorothy? This is the same scene where the world of the film The Wizard of Oz changes from grayscale to full-on brilliant technicolor. That’s how I feel every time I plant a seed or nab a new Spectra.

Yes, I’ve been playing PixelJunk Eden. Again. The experience was great on the PS3, but it’s even better on Steam. I was worried that the mouse-centric controls would make the game even more challenging. Perhaps to balance this challenge factor, Q-Games has done away with the whole “Spectra repetition” thing. You find one, you’re booted out of the garden, but when you return: you’re right back as you left it. Completionists rejoice.

All of this is central to my enjoyment of the soundtrack. Composer “Baiyon” didn’t do just the music, you know. The whole artistic landscape of PixelJunk Eden, the strange, clashing colors, all of that is his doing as well. The context of this music, for me, is the visuals. No more, no less. Give me the art and those colorful, changing backgrounds, and I’m a happy camper. Well, more like a spaced-out couch potato. But you get the idea.

When it comes to “trance” music, my favorite kind of trance is that which overwhelms the senses to a state of numbness, as opposed to the super-subtle kinds that lull you to sleep through sheer boredom. Baiyon is a master of “beats.” And I use the term in the broadest sense possible. Whether pulsing, pulsating, piercing, or wavy, the different layers of percussion on each and every track just blows my mind. This is especially true for the Encore tracks, and double-especially for the final stage, ~color().

Now, if you’ve never listened to this soundtrack or played this game, I will admit that no amount of words will convey what I’m experiencing as I listen. But I think that simple looped pattern, the 15 second title screen track “Become part of this,” tells much of the story for me. Beyond that, it’s all stage themes (well, there is one credits track, “3 across 4,” which runs about 3 minutes).

Some other favorite tracks? Seriously, all five of the Encore tracks are fantastic. “621 balena” and “Versprechen” take over multiple portions of my brain, and I go into a sugar-coma that (thankfully) stops the moment the music ends. “Circle of clavier,” on the other hand, puts me into a hyper-alert state.

It just dawns on me now that the way I’m describing these tracks, it’s like they are drugs. Designer drugs from Serial Experiments Lain, or something like that. Well, so be it. The music is powerful, and I like that.

Here’s the problem with all this, though. I’d like to point you towards iTunes or Amazon so you could sample the tracks and then buy. However, months after the initial Steam release, that hasn’t happened. The only way to buy the soundtrack is through Steam, which means that a) you need a Steam ID and b) you need to buy the game alongside the soundtrack. If you’ve never played the game before, you may as well take the plunge. But for people who already own the game on PS3 and enjoyed it, and want to own the soundtrack separately, this is a far from ideal state of affairs for the consumer. I urge Baiyon to release the soundtrack separately on any digital venues available to him (the aforementioned iTunes and Amazon mp3, or perhaps Bandcamp). This is great music, but I think part of the general lack of appreciation among VGM enthusiasts is its lack of availability. The Steam release was a step in the right direction, but I want more proliferation!!