The opening chords to Exist’s Whatever kind of remind me of an atmospheric soundtrack to a Metroidvania or a roguelike, right before everything goes to hell.
The rest of the song isn’t too shabby, either; I’m especially fond of the drums and keyboard, which is both minimalistic yet, together, conveys the full spectrum of emotions that the instruments can manage.
But I just keep coming back to Whatever’s opening chords; they bring me back to playing the first act of Gris, one of the prettiest, melancholiest games of last year, or perhaps the starting levels of dungeon roguelikes like Moonlighter or The Binding Of Isaac.
You know what I’m talking about; the easy levels, with weak enemies and calming forest/crystal cave themes, the ones where you get the sense that you’ve just scratched the surface of something big. It’s interesting how evocative a song can be with just a single phrase, and how powerfully they can serve as markers in the sand of shared experiences.