Unlikely Companions

Not only are many games inspired by some of the world's great mythologies, they also set out to create rich mythological type narratives themselves. Elle Osili-Wood reflects this as the latest iteration of the Prince of Persia franchise reaches our screens. Her guests are the game's co-composers - the ground-breaking Iranian musician, Mentrix, and celebrated video game composer Gareth Coker.

Monthly series showcasing music from the world of gaming, today with Elle Osili-Wood focusing on open universe games - where you are free to roam where you like - featuring highlights of scores by Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger), Ilan Eshkeri & Shigeru Umebayashi (The Ghost of Tsushima), Ludvig Forssell & Justin Burnett (Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain) and Gareth Coker (Halo Infinite). And she’s joined by Inon Zur, Israeli-American composer of Starfield, the vast new game in the open world genre.

Louise Blain probes the universe for gaming’s alien beings in pursuit of an 'out of this world' selection of extraterrestrial gaming music. Her line-up includes George Strezov’s ‘Stranded Alien Dawn’, Austin Wintory’s ‘Aliens: Fireteam Elite’, Mick Gordon’s ‘Prey’, Andreas Waldetoft’s and Bert Meyer’s ‘Stellaris’, Winifred Phillips’s ‘Spore Hero’ and Andrew Prahlow’s ‘Outer Wilds’. Louise also focuses on scores for the ‘Mass Effect’ franchise and Destiny 2. Her guest is the ‘Beyond Skyrim’ composer Eric Gordon Berg.

Louise Blain uncovers some of the most imaginative, creative games around - from the astonishing storytelling in What Remains of Edith Finch to the upturned morality of Shadow of the Colossus. And her guest Winifred Phillips talks about scoring Sackboy, Assassin's Creed Liberation and Jurassic World Primal Ops.

Louise explores music for games in which an unusual character makes a striking supporting role. Featuring games such as Ratchet and Clank, Portal 2 and Bioshock Infinite. And in this month's Cut Scene, Louise talks to the hugely successful Japanese gaming composer Takeshi Furukama.

Louise Blain looks at how gaming titles grow in scope and effectiveness and is joined by award-winning composer Stephanie Eonomou for a look at the impact of this on the music. The programme features music by Stephanie composed for Assassin's Creed - Siege of Paris, and the recent Assassin's Creed - Dawn of Ragnarok.The programme also includes scores from Gustavo Santoalalla's The Last Of Us; Brad Derrick's Elder Scrolls-Blackwood; Beyond Skyrim - Morrowind - The New North by Eric Gordon Berg; Bioshock 2 - Minerva's Den by Gary Schyman; Bill Elm and Woody Jackson's music for Red Dead Redemption Undead Nightmare; and Jesper Kyd's Borderlands 2 - Tiny Tina's Assault On Dragon Keep. This month's HiScore is Marcin Przybzlowicz and Mikolai Stroinski's The Witcher - Blood and Wine.

Louise Blain looks at what gaming music brings to the time travelling universe with games such as Chrono Trigger, Dishonored 2 and Braid. She is joined by Deathloop composer Tom Salta, who will be talking about his new game, The Outlast Trials.

Louise Blain explores the lighter side of gaming soundtracks with a look at music for some of the wittiest games on the screen and talks to composer Grant Kirkhope. The programme looks at some of the ways humour appears in games and in gaming scores and features music from Oli Woods' 'Worms WMD', Peter McConnell's 'Psycholnauts 2', River Boy's 'Cult of the Lamb', Christopher Heral's 'Rayman Legends', Ryan Ike's 'West Of Loathing', Dan Golding's 'Untitled Goose Game', Toby Fox's 'Undertale' and the 'Stanley Parable' from the Blake Robinson Synthetic Orchestra. The programme also features cues from 'Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope', 'Yooka-Laylee' and 'Kingdons of Amalar - Reckoning' by Grant Kirkhope and this month's HiScore is Gareth Coker's 'Immortals - Fenyx Rising'.

Louise Blain showcases the best soundtracks for turn-based video games - from Darkest Dungeon to Humankind from The Banner Saga to Into The Breach. Waiting his turn for the CutScene is Louise's guest Tim Wynn, composer of the soundtracks for XCOM2 and the brand new Marvel's Midnight Suns.

Louise Blain looks as gaming music in a post-apocalyptic world and talks to Bear McCreary about his score for the God of War series. The programme includes music from Alexei Omelchuk's 'Metro Exodus', Jesper Kyd's 'State of Decay' and Jessica Curry's 'Everybody's Gone To The Rapture' with a musical nod in the direction of Tom Clancy as well.