Videogame music purist refuses to mute even maddening tracks

Pcgamer's Mollie says she will not mute videogame music, even when repetition becomes maddening during long Final Fantasy 14 raids or while practising the same Tekken 8 stage for days.

She describes one raid theme as "surfer-dude-2000s-Tony-Hawk-pro-skater-BMX-pop-punk-core" and quotes the lyric, "Look in the mirror, look in the mirror, look in the mirror and tell me what you see. Saw the me that I wanna be in the mirrooooooor, right where we oughta be." Mollie says she let the song burrow into her brain until she cleared the fight and then spent three days muttering the line despite her partner's protests. She notes that some players overlay their own music or, in moments of fear, turn game sound down—saying Amnesia: The Bunker is more palatable when accompanied by "Barbie Girl"—but that she generally keeps game sound because the soundtrack is part of the experience.

She asks readers whether they insist on hearing every videogame note or mute the game's music and play their own tracks. Mollie spent her early childhood playing Killer Instinct, Toontown and Audition Online, joined the outlet in 2020, and now writes features, guides and reviews while often raiding in Final Fantasy 14.

Key Topics

Culture, Killer Instinct, Mollie, Barbie Girl, Toontown, Videogame Music