interview

Penka Kouneva's diverse portfolio of composing credits include Prince of Persia and Forgotten Sands, as well as numerous film and TV soundtracks, and passion projects like The Woman Astronaut. I talked with Penka at the Game Developers Conference ahead of her session on how composers can balance their drive for perfection with the time constraints and demands of media clients. 

After 11 years, fans of the Dante's Inferno-inspired Devil May Cry series by Capcom finally have a new chapter with Devil May Cry 5! Casey Edwards was thrilled to write some of the music for Devil May Cry 5 because it gave him a chance to rediscover the "angst-y teen" he says he was was when he played the original games. He told me he used his own love of the games' fusion of Gothic and heavy metal to craft just the right sound.

Seventeen years have passed since the nuclear explosion that ends Far Cry 5, and in that time Nature has reclaimed the landscape. So have some really nasty Highwaymen who aim to bring all the survivors under their control! John Swihart and co-composer Tyler Bates created a soundtrack for Far Cry New Dawn that plays off the ideas of instruments made from scavenged parts, and the vibrancy of the Super Bloom.

Every composer approaches writing music differently, and few are willing to share their earliest sketches, but that's exactly what Marty O'Donnell has done in a series of fascinating videos in which we get to hear his earliest thoughts for the suite, Music of the Spheres, which he wrote as a prequel for Destiny, created by Bungie.

I had a deep dive with Marty into his composing process as we listened to these fascinating sketches and to the finished recordings performed by an orchestra.

Composer Brian D'Oliveira has channleled his passion for pre-Hispanic music from Latin and South America into becoming an acknowledged expert, which made him the obvious choice for Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Lara Croft's latest adventure takes her to the jungles and ruins of Mexico and Peru. As he told me, Brian had his own adventures in Mexico sourcing authentic instruments to create an authentic sound for the game.