ReMix:Flashback: The Quest for Identity "A Quest for Identity" 5:29

Really cool synth-driven cinematic arrangement of Flashback from Astral Tales (Ernesto Bernal):

"This is a tribute to the game Flashback: The Quest for Identity by Delphine Software. Flashback is one of my favourite games from the 16-bit era, and I wanted to pay tribute to it in some way. It's a rework of the title screen and a love letter to this game. The original is pretty minimalistic, but the Sega CD version has a more elaborated version of the song, which helped me to develop it further. My approach was to give it an atmospheric vibe with a few modern touches and some synthwave/spacesynth elements. I hope you enjoy it. :) Cheers!"

I love the glitchy, animated percussion/shaker line here, which adds motion to the more pulled-back & grandiose kick/snare pattern; I could have seen this busting out into a full-on synthwave affair, but Ernesto keeps it more squarely in a cinematic futurescape kinda vibe. I played Flashback on Genesis (not the CD version) back in the day, and while I remember it being hard, I think I still got further than I did with its spiritual predecessor Out of This World; wonderful rotoscoped character animation on both, reminiscent of Prince of Persia. Judges were unanimous; Emunator writes:

"This is immediately serving up Deus Ex vibes. Those detuned FM bells that enter at 1:22 are juicy. The production here is immaculate across the board, full of texture and richness. The pacing of the arrangement is exceptional as well, absolutely nailing the slow build without ever lingering on one idea too long before introducing something new for the listener to enjoy. The fakeout ending at 3:40 was such a treat too, and the glitchy percussion that enters is tasteful and impactful.

I can see myself coming back to this a lot - great work!"

MindWanderer adds:

"It's almost like an HD remaster, but that doesn't do it justice, as it goes well above and beyond. It's clearly a loving homage, retaining the character of the original but making it deep and rich, with lots of additional elements added and remove at different points to retain interest. Lush Tron-like synths, mutated instrument samples, just good stuff all around."

I'll second that; absolutely retains & even amplifies the offworld sci-fi vibe, pairing some creative percussion with shimmering core synthetic textures. Great stuff from Ernesto, full of atmosphere, from a game with a similar emphasis!