Video game soundtracks rarely get the orchestral treatment they deserve, and fewer studios have earned it through sheer musical ambition like Supergiant Games has. The independent San Francisco studio is taking that step now: Ballads of the Underworld, a live concert featuring music from Hades, is underway at London’s Royal Festival Hall, with composer Darren Korb leading a performance alongside the London Mozart Players orchestra conducted by Austin Wintory. The concert is live streaming at 1:30pm BST / 8:30am EST.
The concert brings together vocalists including Ashley Barrett, Judy Alice Lee, Erin Yvette, and Colin Ryan to perform the score that underpins one of roguelike gaming’s most celebrated soundscapes. Hades, the roguelike dungeon crawler where you play as the immortal Prince of the Underworld fighting your way out against the god of the dead himself, pairs its fast-paced combat and hand-painted environments with what the studio describes as a “blood-pumping original score” that has become inseparable from the game’s identity.
For players who have spent dozens of hours pursuing escape attempts and growing stronger through the Mirror of Night’s permanent upgrades, the concert represents something rare. It’s an acknowledgment that the music binding those runs together deserves a stage of its own. The performance is streaming live on Supergiant Games’ Twitch channel, making the experience accessible beyond London’s venue walls.
The event shows how far roguelikes have come in establishing themselves not just as games, but as complete artistic experiences worthy of orchestral interpretation.