The composer behind one of the most legendary experiences in gaming details the changes in its upcoming PS4 remaster. Plus, a beautiful vinyl soundtrack release from iam8bit.

A big part of what makes Shadow of the Colossus such a memorable experience is its soundtrack, composed by Kow Otani.

We recently had a chance to sit down with Otani-san and ask him about the game’s beloved score, gaining insight into the subtle ways the new remake enhances the musical presentation:

“When it came time to update the music, while we were unable to redo every track, we wanted to add more depth to the opening and ending, so we increased the number of musicians and added more string instruments to the original recordings. The goal of this recording was less to change the track themselves and more to make the sense of scale even bigger.”

He also offers some insight into the inspiration behind the soundtrack’s haunting style:

“The music feels like you might have saved someone you love, but you couldn’t save everyone you loved. For example, in the track “End of the Battle,” you would think the music would be triumphant after winning. But as a whole, this soundtrack has more in common with a prayer or a requiem.”

Watch the full video for more details about the music of Shadow of the Colossus!

In order to celebrate this amazing musical score, we’re teaming up with iam8bit on a special 35-track Shadow of the Colossus 2-LP vinyl soundtrack, now available for pre-order at iam8bit.com for $40.

The soundtrack features composer Kow Otani’s score of sweeping, transcendent and awe-inspiring music on 180-gram translucent colored vinyl. The soundtrack is expected to ship in Q2 2018.