Sony Music release the original soundtrack for The Last of Us: Part II videogame, with music by Gustavo Santaolalla and additional music by Mac Quayle. Five years after their dangerous journey across the post-pandemic United States, Ellie and Joel have settled down in Jackson, Wyoming. Living amongst a thriving community of survivors has allowed them peace and stability, despite the constant threat of the infected and other, more desperate survivors. When a violent event disrupts that peace, Ellie embarks on a relentless journey to carry out justice and find closure. As she hunts those responsible one by one, she is confronted with the devastating physical and emotional repercussions of her actions...

Anyone who has played The Last of Us: Part II will be perfectly aware of how instrumental the music is in setting the right tone and helping you connect to the characters, while at the same time heightening the tension of the game's action sequences. The first game in the franchise was just the same and it's a testament to composers Gustavo Santaolalla and Mac Quayle's skills as artists that they can manipulate the gamer's emotions so effortlessly. I loved the game (as I did the first one) and while I didn't notice the music that often (which is how it should be if a composer is doing their job), when I did I was aware of how integral it was to the whole experience.

I was really looking forward to listening to this on its own merits. Sadly it doesn't really work in isolation. It's mainly background atmospheric music cues and general electronic noise than it is thematically driven. Yes, variations on the theme, and other guitar-based pieces make an occasional appearance, but nothing as memorable and certainly not what I'd describe as a "theme" like the main theme from the first game.

Anyone who has heard Santaolalla's beautifully intricate score for The Book of Life, will already be familiar with how versatile the composer is. Quayle composed the electronic score (mostly music cues) for Mr. Robot (1, 2, 3, 4) and on balance I'd have to say that the music on The Last of Us: Part II is more Mr. Robot than it is The Book of Life.

Talking about the score, Santaolalla said: "Composing the music for The Last of Us: Part II represented one of the biggest challenges of my career. Diving into the universe of the first game inspired me to come up with sounds, instrumentation and moods that became very closely related to the story and the characters. Fortunately, people found in the music the precise emotional support that a story such as The Last of Us required. The way in which fans related to the score of that first game is something I had never experience before. In that context, writing new music for Part II demanded from me even more soul searching and more experimenting. So just as in the first game, where the acoustic guitar and the vintage 6 string bass played an important role in the narrative, this time the banjo, a special classical guitar (fitted with strings that are an octave lower) and my ever-present ronroco, became the story tellers of the score."

You get plenty of music for your money, as this score contains 28 tracks (1 hr, 16 min, 56 sec). Beautifully woven into the story of the videogame, but just a little too flat when heard on its own.

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Darren Rea