Hi-Fi Rush is a unique action game by Evil Within 2 director and produced by former Platinum and Capcom member Shinji Mikami. The game came as a complete surprise, with no previous announcements, and so did its licensed soundtrack. This is a rare treat for a non‑rhythm game, though fans question whether this rhythm-based action title could count as one.
Bethesda has put out a Spotify playlist featuring every licensed song in the game, so fans can find this whole side of the soundtrack in one place. Hi-Fi Rush also has an original soundtrack, though players won’t find it on Spotify. There are even songs to go in place of the licensed music hidden under the Streamer Mode, meant for content creators that don’t want to be hit with a copyright strike.
7 Wolfgang’s 5th Symphony – Wolfgang Gartner
Wolfgang’s 5th Symphony is a cool little bit of sampling that starts as a Beethoven reference but fails to come into its own. It’s the only song in the game to heavily feature sampling, on top of being quite different from the (mostly) rock soundtrack.
While the constant rhythm and general predictability do make Wolfgang’s 5th Symphony a perfect song for Hi-Fi Rush, they don’t make it the perfect song. The acid bass mixed with an iconic orchestra hit is fun, and so are the voices erupting from it at weird times. Still, the song refuses to bulge from its 4 bars-long hook and never comes together in the end.
6 1,000,000 – Nine Inch Nails
1,000,000 is a weird choice for this game. The driving distorted guitar and energetic drums are lively and easy to tap your feet to, sure, but only in isolation from the lyrics. The incessant repetition of “I don't feel anything” and intrusive suicide thoughts referenced throughout turn the obsessive rhythm into something quite hard to dance to, let alone play video games.
This isn’t the first time that Nine Inch Nails music found its way into a video game soundtrack. The whole of Quake was scored by Trent Reznor of NIN, though their style is hardly recognizable there. Many of the band’s songs were also featured in Tap Tap Revenge, an early mobile game inspired by Guitar Hero.
5 Invaders Must Die – The Prodigy
One could wonder why Invader Must Die was included in this soundtrack. The reason is (probably) quite simple: it just sounds like video music. The four-on-the-floor beat, an incessant kick locked with the metronome, also makes it a good fit for a rhythm game. Still, being one of few electronic songs in the OST, both licensed and original, it does feel slightly out of place.
Speaking about the song itself for a moment: it’s pretty good. Invader Must Die is an instrumental piece from a band that doesn’t do a lot of instrumental music. If the game had more electronic music, Invader Must Die would seem to belong in the unlicensed soundtrack, in a good way. It almost sounds like video game boss music, all high energy and with no breakdowns longer than a couple of bars.
4 The Perfect Drug – Nine Inch Nails
The Perfect Drug is a great fit for a game like Hi-Fi Rush. Verse, chorus, and breakdown couldn’t be more different from one another, going from erratic guitar lines and crushed, lo-fi drums, to a simple but catchy pop-punk hook. It all ends with a classic NIN break-and-noise drop.
The Perfect Drug first appeared in Lost Highway, the 1997 David Lynch movie that includes music from, among others, Twin Peaks’ Badalamenti, Lou Reed, and David Bowie. Nine Inch Nails isn’t new to this sort of incredible collaboration: as recently as 2019 a cover of their top hit Head Like a Hole was featured in an episode of Black Mirror. Long story short, NIN ended up writing a Miley Cyrus song, Ashley O.
3 Whirring – The Joy Formidable
The occasional missing beat and angular leading vocals make this a weird choice for a rhythm game, but one that certainly pays off in the end. Whirring from The Joy Formidable is an extremely emotional song, sonically if not in its lyrics, without feeling out of place in the game.
Going from a lonely bass and voice to the full intensity of two guitars swimming in reverb, Whirring is quite the journey. Even if the energy level is all over the place, the incessant drums make sure that there is never a moment where it feels like the song just stops. Good news for Hi-Fi Rush, since this means that the big set pieces won’t be accompanied by silence.
2 Lonely Boy – The Black Keys
Lonely Boy by The Black Keys manages to stay fresh after over 10 years and 150 million views on YouTube. It’s one of the most widely-known rock songs of the last few years. Anyone who managed to learn about Hi-Fi Rush doesn’t need an article to explain Lonely Boy to them.
Lonely Boy has all that Hi-Fi Rush needs: an organ-driven hook, powerful drums and guitar, and a chorus stuck on the same two lines, so anyone can join in by its second appearance. It’s also a great fit with the (mostly pop-rock) non-licensed soundtrack.
1 INAZAWA CHAINSAW – Number Girl
Number Girl is probably the most well-known punk band from Japan, and even they aren’t very famous after all. That’s a shame: first because Japanese punk is great, and second because Number Girl is great. But that only means that this is the perfect chance to catch up on Number Girl.
INAZAWA CHAINSAW has some incredible energy, courtesy of the dirty drums and guitar. It also manages to grow into a drop that’s as natural as it is surprising. Most importantly, this song has to come as a complete surprise to anyone outside of Japan. It makes one wonder what would have happened if the Hi-Fi Rush soundtrack wasn’t an all‑time hits collection, but rather a playlist tailor-made for the game.