Punishing's music is produced by Vanguard Sound (who also worked on the soundtracks for Girls' Frontline and Arknights), some of which actually wouldn't sound out of place in NieR: Automata.
Awesome Music pages are Spoilers Off. You Have Been Warned.
- "The Puppet Qu / 傀儡 曲"
, Qu's boss theme, is a foreboding electronic piece that's mixed with haunting vocals. - "Hikari", Lucia's Theme Music Power-Up that plays when she defeats Qu at the end of Kowloong Metropolis. It's so catchy that it's been reused as a boss theme a few times since.
- "Narwhal", the boss theme for Rosetta, is a powerful and haunting techno-trance track backed by children chanting during the climax. In-game, the song immediately starts with the One-Woman Wail and the buildup leading to the children's chorus. It's such an awe-inspiring piece that it's reprised for the Firn Night event, where it plays during the final boss fight against the Mechanical Abomination that is Amberia.
- "Dust", the battle theme aboard the Akdilek Commercial Alliance's train for Chapter 10. In line with the Alliance's strong "Arabian Nights" Days vibes, the otherwise rave-like song features persistent kanun strums while the One-Woman Wail lingers around, followed by a children chorus once you confront the Rail Heterozygote.
- "Dream with you!", the main theme for the Grand Blue Summer event, is a catchy pop song with vibrant English vocals, bringing Persona songs to mind.
- The comparison to NieR: Automata gets funnier when the two games did an official collaboration in January 2021, and the music that resulted, "Structures", was unsurprisingly, spectacular.
- "LAMIA", which provides the Background Music for the chapter "The Last Spark" focusing on Vera, culminates in another impressive combination of chorus and high-intensity trance music. Within Lamia's boss fight, the track becomes muffled in the second phase as you fight her underwater, adding some immersion to the battle's already phenomenal audiovisual. Cradle Parade, which made Lamia herself playable, came with a remix titled "Lamia -Another Mode-", sounding far more heroic now that Lamia is the focal point and just taking the song to a whole 'nother level.
- Vera's character song, "《Me》", is a brutal rap number with well-controlled vocals narrating how the Cerberus leader doesn't give a shit about what people think of her. Marina Inoue went the extra mile by fully translating the song in Japanese.
- The final boss of Wandering Dream with Whale has Pulao fight a Quirky Miniboss Squad to the sound of Polyblue's "Countercurrent". Given the fight involves throwing a disco ball, pops up synthwaves at the edges of the arena and even turns into a rhythm game with rap in the final phase, the climax to Pulao's introductory chapter is nothing short of a blast.
- "Revelation", which serves as the theme for the final boss of The Ark Beyond, is another entrancing EDM-styled tune that eventually climaxes into lyrics about Haicma's search for Nanami.Sometimes, I think you will follow my pace
To the end of the world
Every time, every time you go away
I'm chasing you, you are my revelation. - The main theme for "Chapter Nineteen: A New Divide" is "Last Resort", a solemn symphony composed of the introductory orchestral movement, electronics currents, Kinoko's wails and the obligatory climactic children choir; all of which hit hard when Karenina duels the Moon Devourer at the climax of the chapter.
- The main theme for the "Blazing Simulacrum" collaboration event is "Evans Gambit", a track full of a combination of rocking guitars, violins, and even a One-Woman Wail here and there. This 7-minute slapper is divided appropriately into the event's menu theme, the standard battle theme, and the two-phase theme for the final battle with Dead Master, all of which sound amazing in their respective context.
