PS1 hardware pushing out atmosphere this thick should not have been possible. "Encounter" is still one of the most heart-attack-inducing alert themes in gaming, all stabbing synths and panic percussion that made getting spotted feel like a genuine disaster.
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"Mantis' Hymn" goes full unsettling ambient, this creepy choir-like texture that perfectly scored one of the weirdest boss fights ever made. The real gut punch is "The Best Is Yet to Come" closing everything out with Gaelic vocals that feel ancient and sorrowful against what you just survived.
TAPPY composed something that transcended what anyone expected from a 1998 stealth game. If you played this as a kid and never revisited the soundtrack on its own, you owe yourself that.