‘I’d love to do a proper sci-fi score one day’ — Control Resonant composer shares what kind of game he’d like to work on next, says ‘one thing is sure: I’m not much good for a My Little Pony game’ Demi Williams | usagoldmines.com

• Control Resonant composer Petri Alanko shares what game he would like to work on next
• He says he would “love to do a proper sci-fi score one day” and enjoys “emotional psycho-thrillers a lot”
• Alanko says he would pass on any “cute cartoon-like games” like My Little Pony

Petri Alanko, the composer for Remedy Entertainment’s Control, Control Resonant, and Alan Wake 2, has revealed which genre of game he would love to work on next, but insisted that “cute games” are a hard pass.

In an interview with TechRadar Gaming, Alanko said that with “synth” being part of his musical arsenal, he would “love to do a proper sci-fi score one day,” and shared his enthusiasm for thrillers.

“Just gimme a project and free hands, thank you,” Alanko said. “I enjoy emotional psycho-thrillers a lot; they offer so much writing ground, but combining that with some other, say, sci-fi flavours, now that would be something I’d love.”

As for what he’s working on right now, the composer said he’s moved on to another game soundtrack, which he couldn’t reveal, and also the movie Häyhä, which is about a WW2 Finnish sharpshooter, Simo Häyhä (aka The White Death).

He explained that “scoring movies is relatively easy, really,” as “you have the linear media unchanged in front of you,” and compared to the average game, ” you need only a handful of music for it.”

“I certainly don’t want to look down on any film composer,” Alanko added. “I know several of them, and they are very dear to me, but in some ways, I feel like that posse has it pretty easy in their line of work.”

Alanko went on to share which genre of game he would absolutely avoid if offered the chance to compose music for, including cozy games, because they don’t align with his personal tastes.

“One thing is sure: I’m not much good for a My Little Pony game,” he said. “Or cute cartoon-like games. Or rally games. Nothing against them, but I don’t have that in me. I’m from a Northern faraway country, and I live with a forest behind my house, and Nordic Noir is more or less a code of conduct in my whereabouts (laughs), so that pretty much stamps my life with [a] ‘psycho-thrillers ahoy’ badge.”

Elsewhere, Alanko suggested studios should value music more if they care about their games and avoid AI at all costs, saying, “Love your game, love your handiwork. Respect the client: the gamers, the fans, dammit.”