Description
RE//\EMBER is a fictional game about a young girl named Roja, who has set out on her own to save her planet from a mysterious mechanical evil. It combines orchestral sounds (strings, woodwinds, and brass) with electronic synths and drums for an intense aesthetic that spans past and future.

She comes across a crashed space-ship, within which lies Cobalt, a mysterious stranger from the future. Trapped together and faced with insurmountable odds, the pair teams up to fight off the forces threatening her planet, becoming close friends along the way.

This soundtrack was a collaboration between Aran P. Ink (@nesciosquid) and Alexander Petrov Sanchez.

See the project page for track descriptions!

Note that the Bandcamp and Soundcloud versions differ slightly from those uploaded to the Itch.io page, with the following changes:

- All the tracks are re-rendered and mastered.

1. Home
- No significant changes

2. Blue Shift
- A synth solo that got cut out during last-minute rendering was added back in
- The ending was shortened slightly to fit better as a solo track

3. All Fired up
- Fixed some copy-paste errors
-- Bass was in the wrong octave for the second half of the track
-- a few stray MIDI notes were copied at the wrong pitch, and were clashing weirdly
- Tamed some shrill flute sounds

4. Oil & Water
- Drums were turned off by mistake, and were also WAY TOO LOUD
- I think the bass also cut out at one point? I don't remember.

5. La Despedida
- Track was exported at the wrong length, and has now been trimmed correctly

6. Reflection
- Original file was lost somehow (thanks, Ableton), so the vocal chops were re-done (very sloppily)
- A scratch vocal take at the end of the rap verse was mistakenly included, and has now been removed

Theme

a journey to remember.

Picture theme

How does it fit the theme?
RE//\EMBER contains two characters that are similar, but also very different: Roja (red) and Cobalt (blue). We thought it would be interesting to interpret the red and blue blobs as helmets, and take our main characters from two different timelines -- past and future -- to show how their perspectives and experiences shape their interaction with a common threat -- the buzzing bass synths of the technological evil that threatens Roja's homeworld.

The plot of the game follows Roja's path up the mountain, to confront the dangerous mechanical beast at its heart. She follows a path that splits ahead of her in different directions, and Cobalt is there to guide her on her journey, drawing from his own lived experience.

To play with the idea of "similar but different" and embody the difference between past, present, and future, we blend between two genres: classical orchestration and modern EDM/hip-hop.

Roja's instrumentation uses flutes and violins to convey youthful enthusiasm and wistfulness, and she responds to danger (bass synths) with determination and anxiety.

On the other hand, Cobalt has learned to use this technological power for himself, using brass and synths to shape the darkness into the steady, pulsing force that powers his time-traveling spaceship.

As the soundtrack goes on, the two meet, quarrel, bond over shared adversity, and are forced to say goodbye again after an experience neither of them will ever forget.

The credits track finally reveals Cobalt's inner monologue -- he was the grown up version of Roja the whole time! The two characters borrow motifs from one another as the soundtrack goes on. In fact, Cobalt's theme uses samples of Roja's instrumentation, chopped up and reversed, as though remembered through the distance haze of time.

The two of them are reflections of one another -- where Roja is on a journey she'll never forget, Cobalt has come back to confront his past, remembering how he became the person he is now and providing his former self with the guidance and support to succeed where he failed.