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SOMNUS's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Quality | #77 | 4.039 | 4.039 |
| Overall | #81 | 3.914 | 3.914 |
| Creativity | #93 | 3.902 | 3.902 |
| Impression | #97 | 3.843 | 3.843 |
| Correlation to theme | #106 | 3.922 | 3.922 |
| Composition | #117 | 3.863 | 3.863 |
Ranked from 51 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Description
https://soundcloud.com/scarletknife-570246388/sets/somnus
15 YEARS AGO
YOU COULD NOT SAVE HER
THIS TIME,
IT CAN BE DIFFERENT.
SOMNUS is a survival horror game, heavily inspired by the likes of SIGNALIS and Resident Evil, which explores the depths of a shipwreck-- the same one your mother was lost in 15 years ago. Guilt and grief have shackled your soul, and ever since then, you have struggled with sleep. Stuck in another endless night, you pop in an old VHS tape, hoping the sound of your mother's voice will lull you to sleep.
But sleep will bring no comfort on this night. A shipwreck, a familiar one---the same one which took your mother on that fateful day. You can hear your mother's voice; maybe, you can save her. Maybe, you can save yourself.
In the delirium of night, the doomed bargains of grief seem possible.
I made this OST with a mix of ambient and orchestral elements, with certain tracks leaning more into the other depending on their role within the game.
1. VHS DREAMS (MAIN MENU) (LOOPABLE)
2. HIDING / PURSUIT (LOOPABLE)
- A more tense track for when you are trying to hide from (or being pursued by) the ghosts and corpses of the ship.
3. SAVE ROOM (LOOPABLE)
- A brief reprieve. The innocence of a child. A ghost of what you used to be.
4. BECOMING YOURSELF
- In the final sequence before you can finally reach your mother, you must face an onslaught of the final enemies: yourself. Shadow selves overrun the floor, a manifestation and catharsis of the fight you've been fighting for fifteen years. Will you win the battle of believing you are worthy of your mother's love? Of being saved?
5. THE FACE OF MY MOTHER (MP3 FILE CORRUPTED - LISTEN ON SOUNDCLOUD)
- There she is. In the flesh. She is silent, and greets you with a smile. She is exactly as you remembered---a flood of memories returns: the tears in her eyes as she dropped you off for your first day of school, her warm smile as she carried you to bed, the frizz of her hair on a humid summer's day. This track is heavily orchestral, a change from the primarily ambient preceding tracks. I wanted this track to feel more real, more intimate. In my own dreams that I've had of my grandmother, they never feel like dreams, but as if the legitimate manifestation of her soul is visiting me. I wanted to capture that sense of real in this scene of the game.
6. ASCENSION
Goodbye, again.
"It's time for you to go home now."
"I don't know if I can."
"I know you can do it,
you're my daughter."
As for the previous track, I also wanted this track to use a bit more "real" instrumentation, in order to symbolize the realness of your interaction with your mother, the end of the dream, and return to wakefulness. The goal was to capture a sense of simultaneous heartbreak and hopefulness; your grief will always be there, but when you wake up this time, you will carry your mother's love instead of your own self-hatred.
(This one is my favorite track!!! <3)
Message from the artist
My music inspirations for this were primarily SIGNALIS, Akira Yamaoka, and specifically on "Ascension," Radiohead's Motion Picture Soundtrack (which had harpwork inspired by Alice Coltrane!!)
Story inspirations include Celeste, Signalis, Futaba from Persona 5.
Theme
How does it fit the theme?
Your mother was lost in a shipwreck many years ago. One night, when falling asleep to an old VHS tape, you fall into a dream in which you can save her. I was inspired by the image of a child with a ghostly outline of her mother, surrounded by water. For "Inside my world," the dream takes you through the inner world of grief, self-hatred, and survivor's guilt that the protagonist has been suffering with ever since.
Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/scarletknife-570246388/sets/somnus
Number of tracks6
Genre
Soundtrack use permission
Any non-commercial project
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Comments
I was completely in a trance while listening. A hell of a OST I could definitely playing a game with!
Amazing job, nothing really to say other than amazing! So much breath of different themes explored, with very different feelings to them, quite impressive! Followed!
I don’t have much to say other than I love it! As an enjoyer of Farewell, I can definitely see the Celeste inspirations for the story. I also totally hear the Radiohead influence, both in ASCENSION and some of the other tracks. Great work!
Great work !
The Yamaoka influence is definitely noticeable : the first track somehow feels like a slowed/lofi version of Welcome To Hell from Shadow Of The Damned (starting from 28s) and the second track feels like it could belong in Silent Hill 4, and the synths/arrangements you made bring that eerie vibe quite well.
I also enjoyed a lot the more melodic arrangements on your last three tracks, they feel really nostalgic and effective with the story (which was also very enjoyable to read through).
Overall very nice album, so congrats !
Fantastic work ! I love the texture of your tracks. Everything feel full yet sober. Love the vibe ! I don't feel scared tho, just deeply melancholic, in the sens of a great, instrospective depression. GG
Bro... Bro, a creepy vibe mixed with a melancholy vibe, it's just "WOW" *_* You did a great job! ❤
Ugghhh I love this creepy vibe. Hiding in pursuit is soooo good, Save Room reminds me a bit of Darkwood's morning theme just in that sort of stretched/reverb peaceful but not vibe, the breathing in ascension is also really cool! I really like this ost, you really embraced the ambience and it pays off really well. Great work!
I think we know who the next Akira Yamaoka is ;D
You executed this nearly flawlessly. I have almost nothing to critique, other than wishing there was more of it. The last 3 tracks of this submission are absolute gold. You nailed it all, from concept to execution. You should be proud!
the description accompanied with melody legit nearly brought me to tears. This is absolutely fantastic, sound design is peak.
You have a vision and you completely sold it to me in this, both through the text story and the storytelling in the music itself, genuinely no complaints except for wishing it was longer. I love how you handle the more creepy atmospheric tracks and would love to hear more of that in the future!!!!
most of the songs really just leave me wanting more, the ambiences are great and the strings sound amazing, first track is def my fav just bc i love the arpeggiated piano and the synths and i wish there was some more of that present cause that song alone would sell me a whole game, only real criticisms i have are if the hard cuts on 4 and 6 are unintentional i feel there should be some ending there, and also cleaning up the breath clips on 6 cause the start and stop of clips are really uncovered in the silence, but overall great job!
As someone who has composed a soundtrack in the same vein as this is in the past, I absolutely adore your submission. The texture of all the sounds used are very cohesive and glue together very well. Serious props for your sound selection - it can be very tedious to find sounds that fit the vibe you went for. It reminds a lot of Kira's work, specifically Lost in Vivo, which takes a lot of inspiration from Silent Hill. Really great job and a super tight composition to boot. Great job <33
YESSS I love the Lost in Vivo OST!!! I was literally listening to that on repeat a month ago. It makes me so happy to see that others see what I was trying to conjure up in my music :') I have work for a bit but I'll be sure to check yours out when I'm off work <3 <3
Well, my dear horror fans... I'm in!
MAIN MENU - VHS? Yes! Creepy? Yes!
HIDING AND PURSUIT - Tu tsi aaa. Tu tsi aaa... Very tense atmosphere.)
SAVE ROOM - I really felt the atmosphere of the safe rooms from Resident Evil. It feels safe, but it's still the outside of the safe zone that makes you feel safe.
BECOMING YOURSELF - This is a really calming theme).
THE FACE OF MY MOTHER - Sad tune. Very sad and full of happy nostalgia, which contrasts with the rest of the horror happening on the ship... Love it!
ASCENSION - Breath? Is that you recording yourself? Awesome! (Violin sad, Heh...)
The compositions are well done! The sound quality is good. The atmosphere of horror is present and fits with your idea.
I like it!
So cool. Some tracks remind of Silent Hill a little which is a big thumb up from me. I don’t know, I got some little nostalgia from it for some reason.
akira yamaoka (the main SH composer) was one of my big influences for this so this means so much to read!! thank you!!
This is probably my favorite soundtrack from the jam, for obvious reasons. I can see myself regularly listening to this. Great work.
This entire soundtrack feels ominous, and i'm pretty sure that's what you were trying to do, so good job!
This was fun listening to, The ambient tracks are my favourites and they give me soooo much Tim Hecker vibes (one of the songs I thought of) (you'll love it if you like atmospheric ambient).
The opening is amazing, the mixing is good and the instruments are so atmospheric and reverbrating, very intriguing.
The only complaint I have with the second track is that the clap/snare is loud at the start, toward the end it sounded better imo.
"The face of my mother" is a good orchestral track, it wasn't that much emotional though.
"Ascension" is a quiet closer, still has that orchestral theme.
I would LOVE to see this in a real game, especially the first four tracks.
I really like how reserved and pulled back the soundtrack was at the start, before opening up in instrumentation and feeling in the latter half. Hiding and Pursuit was a really good, tense track, and definitely captures the survival horror vibe perfectly.
It stood out to me that the first impression your songs gave was feeling. The textures capture a lot of emotion, especially when I'd listen while reading the descriptions. I don't know if you've done film scoring before, but I feel like you'd be good at it. Also by the way, 'Hiding and Pursuit' probably would've been the song to make me turn off the ost as a kid, so hats off for that lol
ugh you have no idea how much this comment means to me :') i have really been struggling to feel good at all about what i entered but this is such a sweet comment. i love film scoring and jonny greenwood & ennio morricone's scores are some of my biggest musical inspirations. thank you!!
Aww I'm so glad :3 Your music seems to have layers and a great read I wasn't aware of- really impressive. And glad to hear, very great recs :) Check out IFMC if it you haven't seen it yet - it's an awesome bi-annual contest, feedback for all contestants. Best of luck!!
15 YEARS AGO
YOU COULD NOT SAVE HER
THIS TIME,
IT CAN BE DIFFERENT.
From that tagline alone...if this was a real game, I'd already be clicking that PayPal One-Click Checkout. This is a great execution of an ambient soundtrack. All songs fit together well while still having interesting instrumentation. The harp took me by surprise but still fits well with good processing. Now make the game so we can save the daughter.Its very calm, fits well your description. Becoming yourself is my favourite. You can probably work a bit on the mix, its a bit muddy at times and the compositions and orchestration with the strings can also probably be a little bit better, some chords a clashing from time to time with the main cello melody on the last two songs. Otherwise, I really liked the vibe of the whole album, Good job !