| 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
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
akira yamaoka (the main SH composer) was one of my big influences for this so this means so much to read!! thank you!!
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.
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