Inon Zur – composer, author of the soundtracks to many cult games. He began his adventure in the industry in 1997 with the soundtrack to the Star Trek: Klingon Academy, and in the following years (twenty -five years) he created, in particular, music for Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, Baldur’s Gate 2: Throne of Bhaal, Icewind Dale 2 and Dragon Age 2. He also contributed to Prince of Persia and Syberia.
For the past seven years, he has been working on music for the game Starfield and in a recent interview told about what it feels like to write music for the game that offers one of the largest open worlds in history and puts the player face to face with all over the galaxy.
Again – this is a combination of feelings. Imagine that you just ended up in space and, no matter how many people surround you, you are left alone in front of the infinity of the universe. And this is the first feeling. Feeling: "This is much more than me; The situation is more than me; Galaxy more than me; The mission is more than me". Everything is much more than life. That’s how it all begins.
But in the midst of all this, the opportunity arises. You are in horror, but also delighted. You are in shock, but also in reverence. On the one hand, you feel very depressed, but on the other hand, you have all the possibilities for creating a new future and even more to discover new worlds.
At the same time, this is how he described the essence of music in Fallout games.
The emotions that I wanted to convey to Fallouts were a kind of combination. On the one hand, everything you knew was destroyed. Many people died. This is a catastrophe. So the starting point is the tragedy. On the other hand – somewhere in the distance there is always a glimpse of hope for a new beginning. This is what I wanted to bring to these games and at the same time avoid cliches of the end of the world: "Oh no, we all die". I wanted to tell the player: "Yes, terrible things have happened, but now your time has come to fix everything and create a new". The combination of these two emotions is the essence of Fallout music.
Fallout and Starfield affect different musical atmospheres, but the ZUR has touched on the basic principles of its style, which is present in each of its projects.
Each video game is completely different. Fallout sensations are completely different from sensations from Starfield or The Elder Scrolls. One thing, I would say, there is a similarity. This is how I create music that turns to emotions.
Each time I try to get into the player’s head and say: "Now you have to feel this". All games are different, but most of them are about people. And people have emotions. We are often asked about three aspects: where, when and why? Question "Why" – the most important. He says that we are motivating us, what is the topic, what is the story.
The composer is very confident in the level of music Starfield and is in a state of anticipation.