Drum and bass and video games: from Devil May Cry to Forza Horizon
Noisia wrote a game soundtrack and a Counter-Strike music kit, and Hospital Records has put out a Forza Horizon 6 compilation. A short history of the sound in games.
Photo: Angie Linder, CC BY-SA 2.0. Illustrative where it does not show the subject of the story
Video games have been one of the most reliable routes by which people discover drum and bass. A player who hears a fast, heavy, bass led track over a chase or a boss fight is hearing a style that suits the form: it is fast, it is energetic and it holds attention. Here is a short account of where the two worlds have met, with only the facts that are on record.
Noisia and the soundtrack
The Dutch trio Noisia, from Groningen, are among the clearest examples. Wikipedia records that they created music for video games, including the soundtrack for DmC: Devil May Cry, a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Music Kit in 2014 and the original soundtrack for the game Armajet. Their sound design, which involves tight drums and heavily processed bass, fits action games naturally.
The music kit is a particularly interesting case. In Counter-Strike, players can choose which music plays during a round, and a drum and bass kit puts the sound in the ears of a large number of people who might never go to a club.
Hospital and Forza Horizon 6
In July 2026, Apple Music listed a compilation called Hospital Records: Forza Horizon 6, in the Jungle and drum and bass genre, which includes the Nu:Tone and Solah track Clarity. Racing games are an old home for dance music, and a driving game with a drum and bass soundtrack brings the genre to an audience that follows cars rather than clubs.
That Hospital, a label with thirty years behind it, has a game compilation says something about how the business has changed. A label can no longer rely only on record shops and radio. It has to reach the places where its listeners spend their time.
Why it works
There are practical reasons that drum and bass suits games. The tempo is high, which matches the pace of action. The structure, with builds and drops, maps easily onto moments of tension and release. The sound design is dense, so it holds attention while the player is busy. And the genre has a large catalogue of instrumental music with no vocals to distract.
There are cultural reasons too. Many drum and bass producers grew up with games, and many players grew up with the music. The overlap is natural.
What to listen for
If you want to explore, start with Noisia's soundtrack work and compare it with their club records. Listen to how the same sound design is used for different jobs. Then try the Forza compilation and notice how the label's melodic, rolling sound fits a race.
The relationship between games and music will keep growing. For fans of the genre, it is another way to find new records, and for producers, it is another way to be heard.
