Stray Souls Is Bringing In Some Big Guns With Akira Yamaoka

Stray Souls

We have a release window for Stray Souls now along with the announcement that Akira Yamaoka will help score Stray Souls

Two new announcements are here for Stray Souls fresh out of the ID@Xbox showcase. One of them is about what we would be expecting from the game and the other is a fun little thing that is going on with Jukai Studio and a legend in the industry. Well, a legend that some out there might know when it comes to composing music and scoring in our video games. We will start with the first, though, as it looks like Versus Evil is ready to let us all know that Stray Souls will be hitting the PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC this Fall. Not a shocker given the time of year and horror titles, but it is worth noting so we can get ready for it all.

The next big announcement for Stray Souls, if the headline did not spoil it already, is that Akira Yamaoka will be helping out with the music and score of the game. Those not overly familiar with Akira's work would better know titles like The Medium or Silent Hill in their resume. Yes, it looks like the game that looks heavily inspired by the Silent Hill line will have someone else on the team from the game to help it along. You can hear some of this music in the following trailer for Stray Souls. Even if some of it feels like it comes from the Lollipop Chainsaw version of the work too. Not a terrible mix, but something I feel like pointing out for those that needed to know more of Akira's work out there.

Stray Souls — Akira Yamaoka

Independent game studio Jukai Studio and Versus Evil have revealed that their upcoming mystery-driven psychological horror game Stray Souls will feature new music by legendary Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka.

Akira Yamaoka is best known for his work scoring the first several Silent Hill games, though his work has also appeared in such acclaimed titles as Shadows Of The Damned, Lollipop Chainsaw, and The Medium. You can hear a sample of his Stray Souls collaboration in the new trailer, which features his piece, “Splintered Mind.”

Dive into the mind of Daniel, a teenage boy who inherits a home from his estranged grandmother. As he moves in, Daniel meets the enigmatic Martha who knows more about the house than he would expect. As night falls, dark secrets hiding within the dwelling and Daniel’s past come out of the woodwork - secrets Daniel cannot seem to outrun…

Stray Souls combines beloved elements of Japanese survival horror games with an array of new tricks, including a variety of randomized systems where enemy encounters, item placement, paranormal activity, and even weather patterns are always changing so no two playthroughs are exactly the same. Using the power of Metahuman technology and Unreal Engine 5, characters and environments are authentically brought to life, throwing you straight into the dread and dismay of the narrative.

Stray Souls will launch this Fall on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

Key Features:

  • Explore the town of Aspen Falls and surrounding areas to uncover a malevolent plot set in motion at Daniel’s birth.
  • Immerse yourself in Daniel’s story. Choose responses at key moments through branching dialogue options, shaping Daniel’s tone and personality.
  • Fight hordes of nasty creatures or run for your life. Simplified combat without massive load-outs puts the focus on strategizing combat tactics and resource management.
  • Solve dozens of clever puzzles with out-of-the-box solutions to test your wit.
  • Randomized systems ensure that enemy encounters, item locations, changing weather patterns, and strange phenomena all occur at various places, making each playthrough unique.

Given all of this, it does sound as if Stray Souls will be getting the atmosphere and setting feeling perfectly dark and twisted out there. Just like the monsters and horrors that we will need to face off against with Daniel in the game. It does beg the question if the music will be just as random as the enemies and environments, though. By that I mean, will it be using a solid AI to grab the correct music or score to tie in with the randomized events and scenes we will have in Stray Souls? While the story may be a little more linear, it is stated that the gameplay events will be random to keep the fear levels high. It would be odd to not have the tone and music fit those themes out there.

Did you expect to see Stray Souls land in a different time of year or does Fall make perfect sense for this one? Do you hear the similar setting music between all of the titles or have we just been primed to hear all of that now with this announcement? How random will the music and score be in the game or will it only be used for the scripted scenes that will need to take place in the game? Take to the comment section and let the discussion flow out there for this one. There should be much more for Stray Souls in the coming weeks now, so please keep a close eye on the site for all of those updates and many more.