Entry 733 - Tenchu

Style: Video game music, traditional Japanese 

Primary Emotions/Themes: Sneaking into a fortress unseen to assassinate a crooked villain, utilizing everything at your disposal to maximize your skills and chances of success, the glory of traditional Japanese music

Thoughts: I have been charged with assassinating a corrupt samurai. He has exploited his serfs and has been deemed unfit to rule. I am ninja, I am the darkness. I come in unseen and leave with death in my wake. I penetrate his fortress and with surgical precision I dispatch my foe with none the wiser. The morning will come and only then will my exploits be known. 

That is exactly how I felt the first time I played Tenchu. I felt like I was the night, I felt like I was the elite of the elite. Going into a heavily guarded fortress completely unseen and killing only those who I was contracted to. 

Tenchu was the first of it's kind, at least for me. I had never played a stealth game before that, and it stuck with me for two reasons: the gameplay was epic (though it does not hold up as well in modern times), and the music was so immersive that it drove me back to the games soundtrack even after I was done playing it.

Tenchu's music combines traditional Japanese music with ambient and a bit of western orchestral influence. It's a bit of a melting pot genre wise, but the atmosphere and feel is very consistent throughout. The music is subtle and only starts getting exciting when combat is engaged in. Seeing as the game is a stealth game combat should be minimal, you can't take many hits.... making the subtle part of the soundtrack the main focus.

What the music does exceptionally well is match the setting with the music. When I'm infiltrating a highly defended forest (first level) the music feels very much like a traditional Japanese composition. When going deep into a cave the music is a bit more dank and dark and matches the feel of the cave nearly to perfection. 

Synths, guitar, female vocals, and orchestra are all used to portray the sounds in this album. It really doesn't matter what the genre is, they are all outstanding. Everything matches like I expect it would. Even more so, the album stands on its own when outside of the context of the game. It's a fantastic representation of what the early PS1 games were capable of both game wise and music wise.

Written March 4th 2024