Haydee II

Haydee II is a sequel of the hardcore metroidvania game with a third-person shooter and Survival Horror elements. Like in the first part, the player and the main character have to get out of the abandoned complex, full of mysteries, puzzles, and traps. The gameplay is measured and is more about exploration rather than confrontation with enemies.

Obviously, the female protagonist of the sequel is not inferior to the predecessor’s appearance. 🙂 But do not let her curvy appeal mislead you: Haydee II is more complex and serious than it may seem at first sight.

Unfortunately, in 2022, we discovered that one of Haydee’s key developers supported russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Due to his absolutely unacceptable position, we no longer work on this project and do not receive royalties from the soundtrack sales on Steam.

Our team will never cooperate with this developer in the future, and we donate all the funds from the soundtrack monetization on streaming platforms to the needs of the Ukrainian army.

Sound concept

We were happy to return to work on Haydee after a four years break between its first part. During that time, we have learned a lot and improved our game audio creation approach.

From the beginning of the project, we realized that the soundtrack would be much more replete and emotional than the original game. Simply because this time, the game has an embedded narrative.

We talked to the developer, got all the information we needed, and used it to develop the game’s audio concept. We determined which mood the music should have, what it should tell the player, and which instruments and textures should be used. After that, we started to work on the main theme, which sounds in the game menu.

Track You Don’t Belong Here is not only the quintessence of everything that happens in Haydee II, but it is also the project’s audio DNA. It defines the sound of the whole game soundtrack.

The music of Haydee II is a mixture of orchestral sound, electronics (in particular, the synthesizer Korg Minilogue that was used to compose most of the soundtrack), post-rock guitars, and experiments with various samples.

As in the original game, the abandoned complex is divided into zones, and each has its own musical atmosphere. Unlike the first part, these gameplay tracks are more melodic than ambiental. All of them tell stories of the complex’s sections where they sound. And often, the music tells players even more than they can learn from the environment.

Besides «sectional» tracks, there are two other outstanding gameplay compositions: Will It Aid? and The Emergency.

The first one is the safe room theme, and its main task is to reduce the player’s degree of emotional heat. However, it’s hard to call this track pleasant or soothing because it continuously reminds players that this is a temporary break and the dangerous journey is not over yet.

We can’t tell you much about the second track, The Emergency. Otherwise, we’ll spoil you the game’s plot. 🙂 Let’s say, initially, we thought we would work on a classic battle theme, but then the developers’ plans have changed.

As for the final credits theme and its «loud» title, Every Story Needs to Have an Ending, that is also not so evident. It is the lyrics of the Raider II song by Steven Wilson, and it does not guarantee the end of the Haydee II story with the game’s ending.

Our team has also created part of the sound design, mainly it was functional sounds like movements on different surfaces and interactions with particular environmental objects. Fun fact: because of the game style, sound effects sometimes are much more informative than the animations they’re linked to. The same as in the soundtrack case sounds literally tell the player more than visuals.

Furthermore, the whole complex «talks» with the voice of actress Aimee Smith, with whom our team has been collaborating for the past few years.

Challenge

During sound design, the main challenge was exactly the «unmatch» of sound effects with animations, which we mentioned above. Almost for every effect, we had to think in detail about what could happen «behind the scenes» and reconcile it with the developer’s vision. There were many experiments, but in the end, we had the desired result.

And in terms of the soundtrack, we had simply to accept all the risks that carried the idea of ​​abandoning generic ambient sound of gameplay tracks in favor of more melodic compositions. 🙂

This tough decision was inspired by the game’s story, the work on the main theme, and the successful experience with the FoxTail soundtrack.

Besides, we had to listen carefully to all the material to avoid self-repetition. All music had to remain cohesive and, at the same time, reveal the narrative in different ways.

Result

Haydee II soundtrack is now released in digital format on all major streaming platforms.

You can listen to all ten tracks below:

Haydee II trailer:

Haydee II gameplay video: