VIKINGS – WOLVES OF MIDGARD WITH GAME MUSIC BY DYNAMEDION

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Like many others we are looking forward to the release of the upcoming Action RPG Vikings – Wolves of Midgard and want to show you some insights into our work beforehand.

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Renowned German publisher Kalypso Media together with game developer Games Farm announced their upcoming Action-RPG: Vikings – Wolves of Midgard with game music by Dynamedion.

From March 24th, 2017 players can look forward to the new action game that takes you to the Shores of Midgard, a world based upon the mythology and history of the Vikings, but with a fantasy twist. Our hero – either a ruthless shieldmaiden or a ferocious Viking warrior – has to fight against hordes of terrifying undead monstrosities. In addition you have to look after the reconstruction of the home village.

Composing several tracks for a brutal fantasy world has been a lot of fun and it was a new challenge for us at the same time. Why? Read on as our composer Matthias Wolf who wrote the soundtrack (togehter with Jochen FlachArmin HaasDominik MorgenrothNicolai Patricio and Alex Pfeffer) and the main theme reveals some insights:

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WHAT WAS SPECIAL WHILE COMPOSING GAME MUSIC FOR VIKINGS: WOLVES OF MIDGARD?

“It was important that the music reflects the rough and cold Nordic setting. It was not our aspiration to compose orchestral and exchangeable music, thus we created game music with typical Nordic instruments. The music of the game is rather dark and sparse. The only track that breaks out is the main theme. The requirement was to combine these Nordic styles with a catchy hook and orchestral elements. It’s a track that has a recognition value and it should be striking to the listeners. The in-game music has a very acoustic touch and subtly supports the player in his/her action.”

 

IS THERE ONE TRACK YOU ESPECIALLY LIKE?

“Well, actually all tracks are very appropriate in their own way. I think it would be interesting to tell a bit more about the production of the main theme as we put a lot of work into it:

For the main theme I wanted to include a raucous male choir that sings the hook line rather fervently – as a typical Viking choir. For this purpose, we have developed a Nordic phantasy language and wrote specific lyrics on the melody, which was sang by Roman Krotil (Lead Vocals) and me. So both of us sang a lot of different voices in different tonal colors and by overlaying these recorded tracks we could imitate a choir (which actually only consists of two persons). As there is a female main character in the game, we included the voice of our vocal artist Conny Kollet. Her powerful and ethnic voice gave a really nice boost to the final chorus.

In addition, we put a lot of emphasis on the originality and authenticity. To create an original main theme I’ve played and recorded some flutes, a viol, shakers and other percussive elements. A main theme is always a very special task, as it reflects an acoustic watermark for the whole game and it is trend-setting for all other tracks.”

 

WERE THERE ANY CHALLENGES TO MASTER?

“Yes, in the game there are different settings we had to compose music for but the central theme “Vikings” shouldn’t be disregarded at any time. One of the biggest difficulties was to musically distinguish these settings. We had to carefully consider how far we could implement this challenge in a compositional way. We solved this over the instrumentation by featuring specific, striking instruments which stand for the different setting. So the player can directly recognise by the instruments and the type of its deployment in which area or level he/she is located.”

 

ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH THE RESULT?

“Yes, the composers did a great job! Through the very special central theme – the soundtrack becomes versatile and multifarious. So it definitely pays off to listen to the tracks and dive into the world of Vikings.”



Matthias Wolf

Enjoy watching the trailer with music and vocals by Dynamedion: