Echoes from 2022: The Game Music That Still Haunts My Playlist in 2026

I still remember the first time I stepped into Limgrave. The wind, the distant erdtree, the sheer scale of it all—but it was the music that anchored every emotion. Fast forward to 2026, and that same swelling orchestral theme from Elden Ring crashed back into my ears while I was doing dishes. Spotify’s algorithm knew. It always does. As the brass and strings swelled, I was twenty-something again, lost in the Lands Between, and I realized just how deeply that original soundtrack had carved a permanent groove into my soul.

In December 2022, Sony Interactive Entertainment hosted the PlayStation Game Music Awards. I remember watching the livestream on the Japanese PlayStation YouTube channel, half-awake but fully invested. It wasn’t some glitzy, mainstream affair. It felt more like a gathering of true believers. The awards aimed to celebrate the most beloved game soundtracks of the year, and they did so in a way that felt genuinely fan-focused. The whole thing was split into three divisions: the Spotify Streaming Division, the Mora High-Resolution Category, and a Special Award section. That year’s tracking period ran from September 15th to October 31st, 2022. For a numbers nerd like me, it was fascinating to see how raw data translated into something so emotional.

Elden Ring took the crown in the Spotify division. Not a shock, really. But looking back now from 2026, it’s staggering how that victory was just the beginning of its sonic legacy. Right behind it? Tsukihime - a piece of blue glass moon -, a visual novel score that punched way above its weight, and then ICO, a game from 2001 whose remastered album still haunts listeners. The rest of the top ten was a beautiful mess of genres: Tales of Arise, Gran Turismo, Horizon Forbidden West, The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero, and Sonic Frontiers. At the time, I remember arguing with a friend about whether Sonic Frontiers deserved a spot. By 2026, that same friend has the Sonic Frontiers main theme set as their morning alarm. Character development.

The Mora High-Resolution Category was where the real audiophiles lurked. Downloads, not streams—quality over quantity. ICO appeared again, alongside Trails from Zero, Tales of Arise, but also Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker and the Chrono Cross Radical Dreamers Edition soundtrack. I remember downloading the Endwalker album in flac and just… weeping. In 2026, when I fire up my still-functional Walkman (yes, I’m that person), those hi-res tracks sound as crisp as the day they hit Mora.

What really stuck with me, though, were the Special Awards. They felt less like categories and more like love letters written by the fans. The Most Attractive Sound Award went to the main theme of Sonic Frontiers—a track that still conjures that feeling of endless possibility. The Coolest Sound Award? That belonged to Samurai Warriors 5 OST, which I still blast when I need to power through a workout. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart snagged the Galactic Sound Award, and honestly, no description has ever been more accurate. The Dramatic Sound Award for Chrono Cross Radical Dreamers Edition made my heart ache in the best way. And Trails from Zero took home the Greatest Spectacle Sound Award, a testament to how a small-town story could sound like an epic.

After the awards, Spotify dropped a playlist compiling all the winning tracks. I added it immediately, and somehow, four years later, it’s still pinned to my library. I remember listening to the “PlayStation presents NT Radio” podcast that December 14th, 2022, where UK acoustic guitarist and massive video game fan MOROHA performed some of the winning songs. I sat in my cramped apartment, eyes closed, letting those acoustic renditions rearrange my brain chemistry. That performance never officially got a re-release, but bootleg recordings still circulate in niche Discord servers in 2026. The internet never forgets.

What’s wild is how these soundtracks have aged. In 2026, with new giants like whatever FromSoftware dropped last year and the inevitable Horizon trilogy finale, I keep coming back to this specific crop of music. My gaming tastes have evolved, but the Elden Ring OST remains my focus anthem. Tsukihime’s glassy, fragile melodies still soundtrack my 3 a.m. writing sessions. And whenever I need a dose of pure, distilled nostalgia, I pull up that old PlayStation Japan livestream archive—fan comments and all—and remember a time when these tunes were brand new.

The 2022 Game Music Awards didn’t just celebrate soundtracks. They built a time machine. Every time one of those tracks shuffles on, I’m back in a very specific moment. The industry has moved forward—new categories, new streaming platforms, maybe even some weird AI-composed scores—but the core truth remains: a great game soundtrack isn’t just background noise. It’s a memory, preserved in midi and strings.

I’ve since curated my own 2026 playlist that blends the 2022 winners with newer bangers, but the original Sony curated collection from that year still holds the top spot in my monthly listeners chart. If you haven’t revisited those albums lately, do it. Let the Lands Between swallow you again. Let a blue glass moon shine. Because even in 2026, those sounds still feel like home.