VGCulture - Music - Christian Gabel

Soundcloud Page: Christian Gabel - Krater
Source: Youtube Channel Christian Gabel

I wanted to revisit a game I mentioned over a year ago called "Krater".  It is a top-down, 3-man party, Action RPG/RTS Adventure game set in a desolate, post-apocalyptic Sweden.  A lot of the atmosphere and influences that went into Krater was due to the inspiration musician Christian Gabel had when coming across a series of concept art seemingly meant for a movie.  He had worked on a soundtrack inspired by the images of Karlstad in ruins and shared his findings and work with one of the developers of Fatshark when he was at a party talking about science-fiction movies with them.  Fatshark had already been working on a post-apocalyptic game at that point and the developer Gabel was talking was fascinated by his story thus the studio collaborated with him on the development of Krater.

The music is very atmospheric with a retro sort of feel.  Gabel was fond of the use of synths and other old audio equipment which in turn made for a nostalgic sounding environment.  Some of the tracks would be then remixed for the game to fit the situation.  The feeling that I get from listening to the music while playing the game is one of familiarity, despite never having heard the song before.  And although I use the word "atmospheric" to describe the music, it's not the generic, cinematic sounding "atmospheric" that I'm against as most of the songs have some sort of recurring theme or hook to them that make them memorable, unique and distinguished.  I'm actually kind of sad this soundtrack wasn't used in a movie.

The reason for revisiting the topic of "Krater" since July of last year is that I eventually bought the game but never found the time to play it.  It went on sale various times and eventually I convinced one of my friends to grab it so we could play co-op on it.  Unfortunately, co-op is just a tiny mode where two players run through one of three very challenging dungeons to grab loot, level up, and earn some money.  The combat system and gameplay is interesting, but lacks content and variety.  There are only 4 classes to choose from and each class only has two skill (there are high tier versions of the skills for the classes later in the game) and characters have level caps to them which means getting higher level cap characters require leveling them up from the beginning.  Since there aren't any resources (mana/energy, whatever you want to call it), all skills are based off cool-downs and how the player cycles through.  The game is pretty fun in its own right, and the music is a huge (and I'm HUGE) plus to the experience; however, it does feel unrefined, unrealized, and full of potential that hasn't been tapped into yet.  The atmosphere and music of the game definitely are the highlights of the game thus far with the combat, class, and skill management being interesting but not entirely fleshed out.  I'm still holding out my definite opinion of the game until I've fully completed it first, but it's still not a game I'd be so sure of recommending to a friend.  The music, on the other hand, I would recommend anyone to listen to.  Click on the top link to listen to some of the track directly from Christian Gabel's soundcloud page.  And if you like it, the soundtrack is available on iTunes, Amazon, and various digitally distributed music sites.