Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! Whether you’re planning something special with your sweet someone, enjoying the comforts of an aromantic life, or preparing to take the dive again, today is the day to celebrate one of our basest emotions. What better way to recognize those deeper instincts than to discuss the most important part: What pieces of music really make us feel the love tonight?
While romance in games themselves can be hit or miss (there’s a piece about which Trails characters make the best romantic partners floating around my notes folder somewhere), music can always set the scene and help a player feel the weight of the actions on screen. Whether it be a demure kiss, getting busy, or a longing glance, music can place you right into the shoes of a character. So, here’s what I think are some of the best romance themes in games!
Six of the Best Romance Jams in Gaming
![Sayonara Wild Hearts Gold Rank Gameplay [PS4] - Mine](https://i0.wp.com/i.ytimg.com/vi/zZnweuOAYjg/hqdefault.jpg?w=1200&ssl=1)
“Mine” from Sayonara Wild Hearts
Lyrics by Daniel Olsén and composed by Jonathan Eng
While not directed at a singular person within the game itself, “Mine” does a magnificent job of displaying what it is like to love someone while respecting who they are as a person. In the stylish rhythm adventure Sayonara Wild Hearts, “Mine” does a lot in its just over two-minute runtime. It’s all about building someone onto yourself, the ups and downs that come from revealing your true self to that person, and how that love can unlock new parts of yourself.
In the game itself, “Mine” comes during the first stage, when love is still bright and new and raw. The Fool is still unraveling her failed loves, riding the high of that bright passion of new love. While the fall may be coming, for now that love is all hers in its kindest form.
“At Least I Swore This Night” from Trails of Cold Steel IV
Composed by the Falcom Sound Team
Let’s get the requisite Trails addition out of the way right up front, shall we? The Trails of Cold Steel games from Falcom’s long-running franchise bring in a Persona-style harem romance system for the main character Rean Schwarzer. But, whereas each Persona is a standalone title, Cold Steel has the benefit of building out its romances over four games.
Rean and your chosen partner go through the ups and downs of high school, war, post-high school, another war, all to culminate in a starlit confession scene at an amusement park the night before the big invasion. After a day of relaxing and spending time with the characters you love, it’s nice to take a quiet moment to express the long-building feelings toward your partner.
“At Least I Swore This Night” captures that feeling of long longing coming to fruition, with the somber joy that waiting can bring. It’s not big and triumphant, or loud and bombastic. Instead, the music focuses on the sweetness and innocence that can build over years. Bright and lovely, it is a great backdrop to young love.
That One Song from the Waterfall Scene in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Unknown, but likely the game’s composers, Harry Gregson-Williams and Norihiko Hibino
Passion. Raw, unadulterated passion. Those are the only words to describe the energy brought by EVA… ripping a tracking device out of Naked Snake’s back. What, did you think something else was happening?
“Whirlm Romance” fromViva Piñata
Composed by Grant Kirkhope
Nothing is more animalistic than… love. The courtship rituals we undertake, the alluring dances we do to attract eyes. Humans are no different from animals when it comes to… love. And no piece of music has captured that animalistic passion than the “Whirlm Romance” from Viva Piñata. Full of lust, drive, and energy, it draws up every base instinct in the viewer. How could you not be overcome with LOVE watching those two creatures LOVE. It’s beautiful, yes, nature is truly beautiful.
Okay, now that I’ve gotten some humor in, please note that I’m about to get real.
“For River” from To The Moon
Composed by Kan Gao
It wouldn’t be a Gary piece if I didn’t also talk about the sad side. To The Moon is all about the memory of love after the object of your affection has departed. Johnny Wyles is on his deathbed, and he asks a memory replacement company to send him to the moon. The reason at first isn’t clear, even to Johnny, but we learn that his wife River spent their life together telling him that they would see each other on the moon one day. So, as he passes away, all he wants is to fulfill that promise… to see River on the moon.
And as those implanted memories take hold, Johnny takes River’s hand as they fly off to space together. He dies smiling. He finally did it.
“For River” highlights that drive. It is somber and sad but so full of love and memory. It is what Johnny himself wrote as he remembered his wife, his wordless message of undying love. Love isn’t always simply happy. It can be laced with pain and regret and hard to hold because of it. But even in that pain, it can still be beautiful.
“Sweet” from Persona 5
Composed by Shoji Meguro
There are few loves “sweeter” than teen love. Unburdened by the world, old enough to know some things, but young enough to not care. Teen romance is one of the purest forms of love you can find. Some adults spend their whole lives trying to recapture those feelings of sweet innocence from when they were young. But that’s the thing with innocence: Once you learn it, you can never learn it again.
“Sweet” distills those feelings of teen love into its most pure form. It brings a wistful yet bashful aura as Joker and his lady love confess their feelings to each other. Whether Joker’s love is the young doctor plagued with guilt, the student council president that longs to break free (the right choice in my humble opinion), or any of the other suitors, the two finally admit to their growing need for each other.
“Sweet” captures that innocence, that sweetness, of finally opening up and being honest about love for the first time. Maybe it won’t be forever, maybe they’re all just young. But at this moment, everything is just sweet.
Can You Feel the Groove Tonight?
Much like love takes many forms, so does the music that can represent it. Whether it be themes of romance, youth, heartbreak, or triumph, the music of love can capture every beat of our hearts. These are just some of the best out there; shout out your favorites in the comments!
