Celeste Studio’s Abandoned Earthblade to Feature Music by Renowned Composer Lena Raine
A conceptual album for the now-abandoned Earthblade from the creators behind Celeste has been unveiled by composer Lena Raine.
Back in January, Extraordinarily OK Games called off their “2D explor-action” title, which was meant to be a follow-up to the widely acclaimed platformer Celeste.
A first look at Earthblade was revealed in December 2022 during The Game Awards, but no updates have arisen since. Consequently, this new album from Raine offers a glimpse of what we might have anticipated.
Raine has contributed to the soundtracks of Minecraft, Celeste and Guild Wars 2, along with Deltarune and Chicory: A Colorful Tale.
Earthblade – Across the Bounds of Fate is available for streaming on Bandcamp and can also be purchased in full for $7.
The album showcases Raine’s style, particularly with an emphasis on compelling melodies and a blend of digital and real instruments. The track Verdant Mysteries features a distinctive vocal performance, while the eight-minute piece Lineage is an enchanting piano composition, and the opener Find Your Fate begins with chords reminiscent of Vangelis before transitioning to a more somber tone.
“[Earthblade] was in development for several years, during which I composed many pieces – both conceptual and fully realized tracks – that began to illustrate the game’s world,” Raine stated in the album description. “Given that we will never have the opportunity to convey that story in game form, I decided to compile every piece of music I had created for the game up to the point of its cancellation in order to present my own interpretation of it.”
“Across the Bounds of Fate, more than just a soundtrack, is a conceptual album. The music I wrote for the game is quite dynamic, following in the tradition of what I created for Celeste. I took it many steps further, in ways that time-constrained musical pieces simply cannot do justice. However, I did my utmost to arrange them into the emotional journey of their progression, similar to how I would for any soundtrack release.”
Raine’s inspirations include the aforementioned Vangelis (best known for Blade Runner), as well as Joe Hisaishi’s work for Studio Ghibli’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, and Yoko Kanno’s compositions for the anime series Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell.
Raine remarked: “For now, sit back and enjoy around 30 minutes of music that captures the essence of what I envisioned Earthblade to be.”
Extraordinarily OK Games studio director Maddy Thorson referred to the cancellation of Earthblade as a “significant, heartbreaking, yet strangely liberating loss.”
One of the factors leading to the cancellation was a dispute regarding the intellectual property rights of Celeste between Thorson and Noel Berry on one side, and studio founding member Pedro Medeiros on the other.
However, Thorson