#NMRIH: Music and Environmental FX as a Storyteller

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woeful glen
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NMRIH’s music holds a critical role in the player’s experience. Since the game’s release, the various composers’ music has aided in the game’s mission and end goal; what is it like to be in a lethal epidemic. NMRIH’s music and environmental fx enhances the atmosphere, has players feel hopeless, and makes us put ourselves in a survivor’s shoes during this apocalyptic moment.

Both music and environmental fx are fine details that cannot be negated. Music has always had such a unique effect to capture and convey a wide range of emotions. In the case of NMRIH, the music pulls you into a depressive setting and ambiance. An example of this would be the track, Arpley Ambience. While this track is unique to the Arpley map, it also plays in the objective map, Suzhou. In Suzhou, you spawn in an empty subway. As the round starts and you gather your limited supplies, the track begins to play. The track itself is only 36 seconds long, but once it plays, and you reflect on where you are, an overwhelming feeling of loneliness sets in. The silence of overall inactivity makes you realize the impact of this epidemic. Trains aren’t running, people are nowhere to be found, the subway announcements are switched off, and the only thing that is left is you with a small amount of hope that you can survive and escape. However, as much as music can help us feel a bit hopeful, NMRIH delivers its feelings of hopelessness with constant environmental reminders.

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Birds chirping, wind blowing, radio chatter in military or police vehicles, emergency broadcasts being played on repeat at hospital intercoms, tv’s in homes, the distant sounds and screams of zombies, etc, all deliver the emotional impact of feeling hopeless.
However, these examples of environmental fx are only the tip of the iceberg for how brilliant the sound design in this game is. NMRIH keeps enforcing us with how we should feel being in an zombie epidemic. The hopelessnes is incredibly contagious with tracks such as Empty, Dark Nights, No One Lives Forever, etc. Recent examples of this hopelessness include NMRIH 2 OST tracks such as Dragging, Acceptance, Perserverance (my personal favorite), We're Too Late, Loss, Daylight, and several others. This is what we, as survivors, feel in the moment, and because of this, we effectively put ourselves in other people's shoes.

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Surviving is critical, and the people around you are desperate to live. As survivors, we know we have one shot at escaping and we must calculate each step we take. Otherwise, we will wind up dead, or worse, become infected and turn. The game's music effectively makes us empathize with our teammates. We are nothing special; we are just ordinary people wanting to live, and we must get together if we want to make it out alive. This is the story of us, as survivors; a story that the game's music effectively narrates to its audience.

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There are no words to tell or narrate. However, they aren't needed. The game's music does this for us and for you. It communicates what needs to be said, and as a result, it demonstrates its power; the power to veer us into a mindset in which we ask ourselves, "Are we going to make it?" Afterwards, the story continues to narrate endlessly for each survivor left on Earth.

woeful glen
woeful glen