Cities in Motion Soundtrack

Cities in Motion is a transit strategy game developed by the Finnish studio Colossal Order and published by Paradox Interactive in 2011. Colossal Order was the actual client here: this work covers the trailer music and the score for the game's Third Era, an in-game period with its own 80s-inspired setting.

The soundtrack reflects that period through synthesised textures and atmospheric compositions, building mood and sense of place across the in-game experience. Other music for the series came from other artists; this covers the trailer productions and the Third Era content specifically. The trailer music in particular had to do two jobs at once: set the pacing for the visual cuts and stand on its own as something worth listening to outside the game. The final arrangement leans on analogue-style synths and a restrained rhythmic backbone, aiming for the kind of atmosphere that makes a transit system feel cinematic rather than functional.

The video above is the trailer for Cities in Motion 2, which reused music originally written for the first game.