Deus Ex

Game Music

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Adds Sascha Dikiciyan to Compose

May 18, 2016 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Adds Sascha Dikiciyan to Compose Share this

The upcoming game Deus Ex: Mankind Divided will be adding some more manpower to its original soundtrack. Beyond Michael McCann (Deus Ex: Human Revolution) returning to compose for the game, award-winning artist Sascha Dikiciyan (aka Sonic Mayhem) will also be brought in to compose select tracks for the game’s score.

Dikiciyan has a sizable repertoire under his belt, having contributed to the soundtracks of games like Quake II, Borderlands 2, Mass Effect 3 and several others. He collaborates with other composers (such as Cris Velasco of Bloodborne and Battleborne) under the name Sonic Mayhem to create much of his works.

It was important for us to build upon the strong foundation of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, but also to let it stand on its own. Along the way, we realized this game was much vaster than anticipated and we made the choice to add another composer to the team. Sascha Dikiciyan’s music stood out. After talking with Sascha, it became clear that we shared the same vision and passion for what musically drives Deus Ex. ” – Steve Szczepkowski, Executive Audio Director

You can hear Dikiciyan’s work within the recent trailers for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, which comes out in August with the soundrack to follow shortly thereafter on Sumthing Else Music Works.
Game Music

BASTION Wins Best Original Score at Spike’s Video Game Awards

January 3, 2012 | Gideon Dabi | 3 Comments Share this

Independent developer, Supergiant Games, dropped this little gem of a game onto the XBOX Live Marketplace on August 16th, 2011, and it hasn’t looked back since. Widely hailed as one of the best indie games of the year, Gamespot’s former Editor, Greg Kasavin, devised a genius script with an astonishingly innovative narrator to make the story and presentation of Bastion unique. Thankfully, not lost in all the glitz and glamour was Darren Korb’s quirky and charming score. Korb’s score beat outBatman: Arkham City, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and Portal 2, and it does give me some sense of satisfaction to see the new guy with the small game best the year’s giants.

Do you agree with the VGA’s choice of winner and nominees? Be sure to check out our year-end awards, OSVOSTOTY, in the coming weeks!
Game Music

“Deus Ex Musica” – DX:HR Soundtrack Review

November 23, 2011 | Patrick Gann | 1 Comment Share this

Deus Ex: Human Revolution hit RPG-hungry gamers like a tidal wave of sci-fi goodness earlier this year. There are going to be some top contenders in 2011 for best RPG. This, Skyrim, and a few others will be at the head of the pack.

And these triple-A titles haven’t disappointed in terms of music, either. Next month, Jeremy Soule’s mammoth soundtrack (four discs!) for the aforementioned Elder Scrolls title will hit. But even with all that music, it has tough competition in the form of Michael McCann’s amazing score to DX:HR, whose official soundtrack was published (CD and digital) by Sumthing Else on November 15th.

We (specifically, Gideon) already wrote about the game (including a lengthy section about the music) back when it was released. But now that an official soundtrack is out, we’re talking about that too.

If you want the short version of why I love this soundtrack, I think it’s just that the music works great both in and out of context. But if you want more details (and I know you do), you’ll find them after the jump. (more…)
Game Music, Reviews

Deus Ex Human Revolution: No Need for Augmentation Here (Review)

September 23, 2011 | Gideon Dabi | 3 Comments Share this

2011 seems to be a year full of comeback stories. Storied franchises like BloodRayne, Marvel vs. Capcom, and even Duke Nukem (no, I can’t believe it, either) have all returned after some years in hiatus. Not to be outdone, Square Enix-backed Eidos Montreal updated its beloved franchise, Deus Ex, with a blockbuster prequel, Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Though much of last year and the early part of this year allowed for game developers to entrust their sequels’ soundtracks to the franchises’ original composers (i.e. Bioshock 2, Fallout: New Vegas, Halo: REACH, Dragon Age II, Dead Space 2, God of War III) with surprisingly winning results, much of the rest of this year hasn’t been as kind to the original baton-holders. The Red Faction, Crysis, and Mafia franchises have all gone the way of bringing in different composers than their respective franchises’ previous outings. Now, the Deus Ex franchise joins this band of IP’s – but does it have equally successful results? (more…)
Game Music

E3 2010: Deus Ex Human Evolution Soundtrack Details

June 15, 2010 | Jayson Napolitano | 1 Comment Share this

With Square Enix now publishing Eidos titles, their booth here at E3 is quite the busy place. While I admittedly skipped the second Deus Ex game, Deus Ex: Human Evolution is shaping up to be a great looking game. It was announced some time ago that composer Michael McCann would be handling the game’s soundtrack, but this is the first opportunity people have had to actually hear it in the game.

We were fortunately able to speak with the title’s producer about Michael McCann’s involvement and the direction for the game’s score this time around. We also learn about their intentions to distribute the soundtrack, how many minutes of music will be featured, and whether or not a live orchestra will be featured.

Read our impressions after the jump. (more…)