Videogames use music to immerse players in their worlds and guide players’ emotions throughout their playtime. Simply, catchy 8-bit tracks were responsible for giving millions of players earworms back in the retro gaming era, but the modern gaming landscape is a canvas of variety, with sweeping orchestral scores being commonplace in the more cinematic, AAA experiences of the current generation. Thrashing metal scores our unstoppable march through Hell in?Doom, tinkly piano numbers embrace us within the relaxing island life in?Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and modern pop and rock tracks get us pumped up to take on the world in?FIFA.

Conqueror’s Blade beckons players to fight and shape their own legend in a world at war, and Booming Tech created a suitably epic soundtrack to accompany it. Players’ journeys through cities like Turul Város are met with orchestral, medieval-inspired refrains, and siege battles rage to the beat of furious war drums. When we introduce new factions and cultures to the game, we also look to their historical counterparts for aural inspiration.?

Season VII: Wolves of Ragnarok introduced the Northmen, including the Sons of Fenrir, Berserkers, and Shieldmaidens units, all clearly inspired by Vikings and ancient Scandinavian lore and culture. Many string and wind instruments from the Viking Age have been discovered on archaeological digs, but with written musical notation only being made possible centuries later, we had no direct way to know what Viking music, likely played at small gatherings or among friends, family, and kin, may have sounded like other than written records.?

Thyles and skalds, essentially the jesters and bards of the Viking Age, would compose spoken poetry, much of which still survives in sagas and books like the Poetic Edda and Prose Edda. Some historians?speculate?their compositions may have enjoyed the accompaniment of a harp or lyre. As for how they sounded, when the 10th century Arab merchant Al-Tartushi visited Denmark, he wincingly?described?the local Vikings’ singing abilities as “a rumbling emanating from their throats, similar to that of a dog but even more bestial.”?

This was the perfect launching point for Ye Chenyang, a Composer from Booming Tech working on Conqueror’s Blade, who was looking for an animalistic approach to the Viking sound. “It was my goal to convey feelings of savagery and excitement,” said Ye of the new music he composed for Season VII: Wolves of Ragnarok. “I took much inspiration from the band Heilung and used many ancient instruments. I added orchestral influences to rather simple melodies to give it a more epic feel, and to make it grander and more exciting without losing the ancient feel.”

Indeed, the band Heilung was an instrumental part of shaping the soundtrack of Season VII. Their name means ‘healing’ in German, and their mission statement is to leave their listeners “at ease and in a relaxed state after a magical musical journey that is at times turbulent.” Heilung’s use of uniquely era-appropriate instruments and different vocal styles, combined with music and lyrics based on Scandinavian history and legend, made them the perfect fit for Ye’s vision for the soundtrack, and the creative vision for the season overall.?

Their song?Galgaldr, taken from their 2019 album?Futha, can be heard in the opening cinematic for Conqueror’s Blade throughout the latest season. The harsh, throaty vocals, apocalyptic atmosphere, and lyrics inspired by?V?luspá, the prophecy of Ragnarok, set the tone for a dark yet epic saga to come.

Also introduced in Season VII, Heilung Fjord is a new Viking-inspired siege map named after the band. This new locale features another of their atmospheric compositions:?Alfadhirhaiti, an ode to Odin performed in Old Norse. “I divided Heilung's music into several sections and added a section to different parts of the siege battle,” said Ye of Heilung Fjord’s soundtrack, intended to take players on a journey through a chaotic battlefield, and perhaps even to the gates of Valhalla.

Season VII: Wolves of Ragnarok is available to play in Conqueror’s Blade now, with Heilung Fjord available in current Siege rotation.

This feature is brought to you as part of Music Week, a special week of content running from May 10-16 celebrating the history of Viking music, and modern-day compositions by Heilung and Booming Tech. Keep an eye on the Conqueror’s Blade website for more features, a contest, and other surprises!

電子游戲使用音樂(lè)將玩家沉浸在自己的世界中，并在整個(gè)游戲過(guò)程中引導(dǎo)玩家的情緒。簡(jiǎn)而言之，引人入勝的8位音軌負(fù)責(zé)使復(fù)古游戲時(shí)代的成千上萬(wàn)的玩家重拾worm蟲(chóng)，但是現(xiàn)代游戲界卻是多種多樣的畫(huà)布，清脆的管弦樂(lè)樂(lè)譜在當(dāng)代的更電影化AAA體驗(yàn)中司空見(jiàn)慣。催眠的金屬為我們?cè)凇稓缡澜纭分械牡鬲z之旅打下了不可阻擋的音符，小巧的鋼琴數(shù)字將我們帶入了《動(dòng)物穿越：新視野》令人放松的島嶼生活中，現(xiàn)代流行樂(lè)和搖滾樂(lè)使我們勇往直前，在FIFA中走向世界。

征服者的Blade招募玩家在戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)中戰(zhàn)斗并塑造自己的傳奇，而B(niǎo)ooming Tech則創(chuàng)造了適當(dāng)?shù)氖吩?shī)配樂(lè)。玩家穿越圖魯爾·瓦羅斯（TurulVáros）等城市的旅程遇到了管弦樂(lè)隊(duì)，受中世紀(jì)啟發(fā)的束縛，而圍攻戰(zhàn)則激怒了狂熱的戰(zhàn)鼓。當(dāng)我們?cè)谟螒蛑幸胄碌呐上岛臀幕瘯r(shí)，我們也希望從他們的歷史對(duì)手那里獲得聽(tīng)覺(jué)上的啟發(fā)。

第七季：《仙境傳說(shuō)》的狼人引入了北方人，包括芬里爾之子，狂暴者和Shieldmaidens部隊(duì)，這些人顯然都受到了維京人和古代斯堪的納維亞傳說(shuō)和文化的啟發(fā)。在考古挖掘中發(fā)現(xiàn)了許多維京時(shí)代的弦樂(lè)器和管樂(lè)器，但是直到幾個(gè)世紀(jì)后才使書(shū)面音樂(lè)符號(hào)成為可能，我們無(wú)法直接知道維京音樂(lè)的音樂(lè)，可能是在小型聚會(huì)上或在朋友，家人，家庭中演奏的。和親戚，聽(tīng)起來(lái)可能不像書(shū)面記錄。

錫克斯和斯卡爾德斯人，主要是維京時(shí)代的小丑和吟游詩(shī)人，會(huì)創(chuàng)作口頭詩(shī)歌，其中大部分仍然存在于薩加斯人和象詩(shī)意的埃達(dá)和散文集的書(shū)中。一些歷史學(xué)家推測(cè)他們的作品可能與豎琴或七弦琴相伴。至于它們的聲音，當(dāng)10世紀(jì)阿拉伯商人Al-Tartushi訪問(wèn)丹麥時(shí)，他冷嘲熱諷地將當(dāng)?shù)鼐S京人的歌唱能力描述為“從他們的喉嚨發(fā)出的隆隆聲，類似于狗的聲音，但更具有野獸性”。

這是Booming Tech作曲家，征服者之刃（Benging Tech）的作曲家葉晨陽(yáng)（Ye Chenyang）的理想出發(fā)點(diǎn)，他一直在尋求一種對(duì)維京人之聲的動(dòng)物化處理方法。在談到他為第七季創(chuàng)作的新音樂(lè)：《仙境傳說(shuō)的狼》時(shí)，葉說(shuō)：“傳達(dá)我的野蠻和激動(dòng)的感覺(jué)是我的目標(biāo)?！?“我從Heilung樂(lè)隊(duì)中汲取了很多靈感，并使用了許多古老的樂(lè)器。我在相當(dāng)簡(jiǎn)單的旋律中增加了管弦樂(lè)的影響，以使其具有更史詩(shī)般的感覺(jué)，并使其更加宏大和令人興奮，而又不失古老的感覺(jué)。”

的確，Heilung樂(lè)隊(duì)是塑造第七季配樂(lè)的重要組成部分。他們的名字在德語(yǔ)中的意思是“治愈”，他們的使命宣言是讓聽(tīng)眾“在經(jīng)歷了一段動(dòng)蕩的神奇音樂(lè)之旅之后，保持放松和放松的狀態(tài)”。 Heilung使用獨(dú)特的適合時(shí)代的樂(lè)器和不同的聲音風(fēng)格，再加上基于斯堪的納維亞歷史和傳奇的音樂(lè)和歌詞，使它們非常適合Ye's的配樂(lè)和整個(gè)季節(jié)的創(chuàng)意。

他們的歌曲Galgaldr（取自其2019年專輯Futha），在整個(gè)最新季節(jié)的征服者之刃的開(kāi)場(chǎng)電影中都能聽(tīng)到。刺耳的嗓音，世界末日的氣氛以及受《仙境傳說(shuō)》預(yù)言V?luspá啟發(fā)的歌詞，為黑暗而又史詩(shī)般的傳奇奠定了基調(diào)。

在第七季中也引入了Heilung Fjord，這是一張以維京人為靈感的全新圍攻地圖，以樂(lè)隊(duì)命名。這個(gè)新的場(chǎng)所具有另一種大氣成分：Alfadhirhaiti，這是對(duì)在老挪威進(jìn)行的奧丁頌歌的頌歌。 “我將Heilung的音樂(lè)分為幾個(gè)部分，并在攻城戰(zhàn)的不同部分中增加了一個(gè)部分，” Heilung Fjord配樂(lè)的葉說(shuō)，他的目的是引導(dǎo)玩家穿越混亂的戰(zhàn)場(chǎng)，甚至到達(dá)Valhalla的大門(mén)。

第七季：《仙境傳說(shuō)》的狼群現(xiàn)在可以在征服者之刃中使用，而《希隆·峽灣》目前可以在《圍攻》中使用。

此功能是作為“音樂(lè)周”（Music Week）的一部分提供的，該周是5月10日至16日慶祝維京音樂(lè)歷史的特別一周，內(nèi)容包括Heilung和Booming Tech的現(xiàn)代作曲。請(qǐng)隨時(shí)關(guān)注“征服者之刃”網(wǎng)站，以了解更多功能，競(jìng)賽和其他驚喜！