Introduction by Hilary Andreff

RPGFan's music coverage was always one of the main draws for me back when I was much younger and reading the site. Not only did it make me feel less alone in my love of VGM during a time when the genre was widely unknown, but the reviews themselves were insightful, musically and otherwise. The very idea that I'd be writing this introduction someday — reintroducing Music of the Year after an absence, nonetheless — is honestly surreal. No doubt many of us have found at least some game music personally meaningful over the past twelve (okay, fourteen) months.

We were, with some amount of humor, using the subtitle "MOTY Revengeance" while drafting this feature. However, after some thought, it may actually be fitting. There had been a lot of emphasis on soundtracks and music/sound design in 2018, with some surprise stellar compositions. More directly, 2018 also marks the return of this feature after its absence in 2017. It's returned strong with two written sections, rather than individual awards and a podcast. First off, we present our customary individual Editors' Favorites! Seven of our music-adoring staff members put together lists — yes, complete with music samples — of their favorite tunes from 2018.

As an accompanying piece, we have a new addition this year: An Overall Best of 2018 list. The RPGFan staff voted on 2018's releases via a two-tiered voting process, the first of which included over 125 album choices, so there was a lot to choose from! In the end, we managed to narrow it down to our top 20 selections for the year, and hope you both enjoy our choices, and hopefully discover some new favorites!

Here's hoping for an abundance of music coverage going forward — wasn't our Managing Editor talking about a music podcast last fall? — especially after reflecting on all of 2018's great music worth spotlighting.