If you look at the credits of video game composer Wilbert Roget from 2024 alone, the contrast and depth of his work is shocking. Roget composed the stirring, over-the-top songs heard when he was reviving democracy in Helldivers 2but also the haunting soundtrack for the indie survival game “about your car” Pacific tripRoget’s work will also be heard in Star Wars Outlaws Later this month.
Polygon asked Roget a few questions about his process as part of Polygon FM, our themed week celebrating the intersection of music and games.
Polygon: Was there a game soundtrack or song that inspired you to start composing game music? Can you describe how that felt for you and why the music was so impactful?
William Roget: I have played classical piano since I was a child, and although I loved the arcades, I didn’t have any video games at home until I got the PlayStation 1 in high school. I had always assumed I would have a career in music, but it wasn’t until I played Final Fantasy 7 that I knew I wanted to be a video game composer specifically. Uematsu’s soundtrack was brilliant in its own right, of course, but it also seemed more “inviting” than any other music I’d ever heard before – its clear and direct composition, mixed with Uematsu’s signature melody, seemed to say, “Hear this score? You can do it too!”
So I immediately started writing my own RPG-inspired music throughout the rest of high school, took on indie projects, and the rest is history.
Can you describe one of your own songs and its influences? Was it inspired by game soundtracks, other music or something else?
I would like to discuss the main topic to Helldivers 2“A cup of Liber tea!”
The piece was written to represent the Helldiver soldiers themselves, so the goal was to write an anthemic tune that could inspire players to be part of an epic, heroic effort. As with the game itself, the most obvious inspiration is probably Basil Poledouris’ timeless score to Starship Troopersalthough I was most influenced in terms of orchestration by Michael Giacchino’s music for military video games, like Medal of Honor And Secret weapons over NormandyThe melody itself is reminiscent of Johan Lindgren’s catchy theme from the original Hell Diver also several times throughout, especially at the climax at the end.
As for classical music influences, my decision to write the piece in 5/4 time was a nod to Gustav Holst’s Mars, the Bringer of War. The entire second half of the piece was inspired by the use of dramatic counterpoint from Paul Hindemith’s Symphony Mathis the Painter. I took the melody from the bridge section of the solo violin, Lindgren’s above-mentioned Helldivers 1 Theme and the four-tone descending Helldivers 2 motif to create a powerful climax, and an appreciative nod to the players of the original Helldivers.
What instruments are mainly used to record the soundtrack? Pacific trip? How did you choose these instruments?
Pacific trip was unique for me in that it was the first score where I designed and invented the instruments before I even wrote any music. I had two sound principles: the concept of beautifying ugly or grotesque sounds, and the sound of isolation. So I recorded construction drills and squeaking rusted doors, played a metal sieve with a double bass bow, played a washer-dryer like a drum kit; anything that I found cacophonous in an interesting way I recorded and processed into synthesized pads and leads.
As for the more traditional instrumentation, I played guitar with ebow and brass slide and worked with vocalist D’Anthoni Wooten and double bass virtuoso Sam Suggs. Their performances had a haunting and yearning quality that conveyed the concept of isolation beautifully.
Is there anything else we should know about your approach to composing video game music?
I like to think of game music in terms of first-person and third-person when I’m designing each piece. Most pieces fall into the latter category: third-person input acts as a detached commentary on the scene, focusing on the story and larger narrative themes. But in some situations, I get inspiration from imagining myself standing next to the character, observing the environment and situation—for example, the eerie, silent fear of being in the middle of a war zone at night, hidden among distant gunfire. I call this “first-person scoring” because music is no longer a commentary, but rather just reflects the character’s emotional state.
