Like composer Rich Douglas (Shadowgate, Lifeless Planet), Out of this World/Another World hit me in a special way. While Douglas picked up the PC original in 1991 it was the 1994 Sega CD release that wowed us both (and many others) with Jean-Francois Freitas’ atmospheric soundtrack. The classic adventure game has seen a few HD updates over the years but one thing that’s not been touched is the music. Now Douglas has come full circle and thanks to the Materia Collective he’s been able to revisit and rearrange Freitas’ original score for the album Another World Symphony.
“The idea with this release (as well as many others I have put together) was to modernize the game’s score into something that would be right at home in a newly released version of the game or even a film,” Douglas explains.
For a fan and frequent listener of Freitas’ original it makes for quite a pleasant listen. The new layers and orchestration succeed in lending a cinematic feel to the original themes. The next time the game gets updated or ported to a new platform I really hope there’s a chance for this album to be incorporated. Take a listen to the intro theme above and compare it to the CD original here if you haven’t heard it (or seen it; that animation is still so sharp) in a while. Another World Symphony is available now on Bandcamp for $7.