The OST won Best Score at the Game Awards 2017. As the below examples prove, it was more than well deserved.
- Keichi Okabe of MONACA is returning once more. "Possessed by Disease",
the song in the first gameplay trailer, does NOT disappoint and features incredible choral work by Emi Evans and Nami Nakagawa. It's used to incredible effect in the boss fight against So-Shi. It also plays during the second-to-last boss fight of the Final Fantasy XIV raid "The Tower at Paradigm's Shift", the False Idol, who is one of the N2 Terminals fused with a Seed of Resurrection. - All of the songs in the prologue are amazing. Standouts include "Alien Manifestation", which has four variations, two vocal and two instrumental, which effortlessly fold between one another depending where on the field you are, the regular field theme, and "The Sound of the End," which is used as the boss fight music that plays during the last segment. It's also used in the Final Fantasy XIV crossover in the third boss of The Tower at Paradigm's Breach, especially when it's against the Red Girl, the avatar of the Machine Network.
- "City Ruins", the theme of the title area, is both calming and dynamic. An official remix of this song also doubles as Heartwarming for Tekken fans, as Okabe reunites with Akitaka Tohyama, AKA AJURIKA, for the first time since Tekken Tag Tournament 2.
- "Peaceful Sleep", which plays in the Resistance Camp, is (appropriately) the calmest song in the game, and really highlights Emi Evans' great voice.
- "Amusement Park", the theme of said park, is an overly cheerful and pleasant song, with the accompanying lyrics only reinforcing the fun-loving nature of the robots inhabiting it. And when you return to Route C to find that the logic virus has turned all the partying machines into zombified robots, the track changes significantly; the lyrics haven't changed a bit, but most of the instruments have been removed and the few left are much slower and sadder, resulting in a haunting but still beautiful melody.
- A Beautiful Song, one of the first songs heard in the trailers, plays against the boss Beauvoir (Simone in the English Version). It is an epic rock song with opera-like vocals that captures the tragedy of Beauvoir/Simone's goal to win Sartre/Jean-Paul's affection. Bonus points for the opening lyrics, despite being gibberish, almost sounding like "This is not love, this is madness."
- "Birth of a Wish" plays during some key battle segments. All of its variations, like "THIS CANNOT CONTINUE", include a deep, ominous chorus, which adds to the intensity of the battles. Heck, even the version that plays when you fight the DLC CEOs is epic, despite the comical Gratuitous Japanese inserts.
- "Pascal", the theme of the title character's village, is appropriately upbeat with great choral work.
- For a fairly minor area, Copied City is absolutely beautiful.
- "BECOME AS GODS" is creepy, beautiful, and surprisingly metal, which fits the situation it is used in: an entire factory filled with machines who have formed a murder/suicide cult, to "become as gods".
- Grandma - Destruction, an energetic remix of the Nier song that plays during several of the more intense moments of the game, like Eve's birth, the fight with the lone Engels and 9S' fight with the 2B clones. It gets used in the Final Fantasy XIV crossover as the first boss of the Puppet's Bunker, 813P-operated Aegis Unit, and the first phase of its last boss, The Compound/2P.
- Dark Colossus - Kaiju, a remix of the Knave of Hearts' theme from NieR, here used for the fight against the Mechanical Monster Grun.
- "End of the Unknown" plays during battles with Adam and Eve. Its techno Tekken-esque sound clashes with the rest of the soundtrack, which is ironic considering it is associated with two of the most human-like machine lifeforms. It also gets used in the third boss fight in the Puppets' Bunker in the Final Fantasy XIV crossover with the 905P-operated Heavy Artillery Unit, which has the personality data of 21O implanted into it.
- "Atonement" is a remix of "Song of the Ancients - Fate", already one of the best songs of the first game. It's used in multiple fights throughout the game, and finally gets vocals in the scene where Devola and Popola come to 9S's aid. It also gets used as the boss music for the first two bosses in the Copied Factory in the crossover in Final Fantasy XIV.
- War & War, an upbeat, powerful theme that inspires you to finish this goddamn war once and for all!
- In contrast to the bleak, somber, and bittersweet tone of much of the score, "Treasured Times" is a deeply heartwarming, and utterly adorable lullaby-like piece with child singer vocals and a gentle backing piano. It plays during some of the most heartwarming sidequests in the game after you perform tasks for the children in Pascal's village, almost as if the game is rewarding you for your acts of kindness.
- "Wretched Weaponry" plays during some of the boss battles and tense moments. Its vocals and beautiful melody sounds very somber and almost haunting at some points.
- "The Tower" plays during the eponymous Very Definitely Final Dungeon. Its somber tone complements the eerie sedateness of the dungeon.
- "Mourning," a somber and utterly haunting, funereal song that gets played in two sidequests and Ending C as A2 hacks into 9S to fix his logic circuits, and then stays behind in the collapsing Tower in a Heroic Sacrifice. It becomes the main theme of The Tower At Paradigm's Breach in the Final Fantasy XIV crossover.
- Dependent Weakling, which plays during the Climax Boss fight with Eve. An intense track that shows the sorrow and fury that have consumed Eve's sanity, turning him into a snarling beast with giant metal fists.
- Emil - Despair plays while fighting the Emil clones in the desert. A remix of "Emil/Sacrifice" from the first game, it's fast-paced enough to be an effective battle theme, but the soft choir in the background still reflects the sorrow and pain that Emil has had to live through in his long life. It gets used in Final Fantasy XIV's crossover as the first boss, the Knave of Hearts.
- The credits song, "Weight of the World", is a beautiful little piece that conveys the more tragic elements of the plot. And depending on your ending, you'll hear the English, Japanese or Chaoticnote versions. Its use during Ending E, with the song alternating between the English, Japanese, and Chaotic versions after each major stanza, and then swelling into a choral version that quickly flips between all three on the chorus once you accept help from others during the nigh-impossible section, really can only be described as epic. All three, sung live, can be heard here. "Weight of the World" was remixed for the NieR Crossover event with Final Fantasy XIV, which puts the track into battle mode and works in the classic Final Fantasy "Prelude" for good measure. It's essentially The Anti-Nihilist in song form. Years later, the song would end up covered by 2B herself, Yui Ishikawa.
- The DLC credits song, Inochi ni Fusawashi (Deserving of Life) by amazarashi, is a hauntingly beautiful piece that plays over some creepy imagery.
- Voice of No Return, the track that plays at the end of many sidequests, is simultaneously relaxing and bittersweet depending on the context. People have described the lyrics as "what French sounds like to people who don’t understand French."
- Broken Heart, a depressing and vaguely frightening theme that plays at the end of sidequests that went badly.
- Bipolar Nightmare is a suitably epic battle theme that plays during multiple key boss battles (most notably the Dual Boss battle against Ko-Shi and Ro-Shi as A2 and 9S ascend the Tower). Bipolar Nightmare (Calm) is a minimalistic but still amazing version of the theme that only plays during the fight with A2.
