AGOS: A Game of Space

• Composed by Austin Wintory
• Ubisoft / 35m

An ambitious-looking VR game, AGOS: A Game of Space tasks the player with exploring space to find a new home for humanity, forced to leave Earth. The music comes courtesy of Austin Wintory whose contemplative, introspective score is typical of his work – don’t expect any big John Williams space music here. Instead the composer has crafted an electronic soundscape which is extremely calm and soothing – gentle synth pulses dreamlike over washes of retro 1980s keyboards, an almost-continual slow pace reflective of the game being physics-driven, not blowing up aliens.

It’s certainly beautiful – the textures the composer uses shimmer and sparkle – you can picture sunlight glistening through celestial objects in tracks like “Blue Giant” and “Hybrid”. At times the pace does pick up and at times the mood darkens – both of these happen in the pop-like “Binary” and later in the (very slightly industrial) “Pulsar” – and I love the dramatic thrust of “Discovery”. But mostly this is really dreamy music which will delight fans of 80s electronic sounds – it’s hypnotic, so calming and while it’s not one of the composer’s more substantial offerings, it’s a delightful way to spend half an hour.

Rating: ***

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