As pioneers fleeing in desperation to avoid the ore mine drafts, we didn't expect anyone to find us. And for generations, no one did. After some time, we had begun to develop the land, finding a suitable water source, plenty of lumber, much building stone, and bountiful game. Eventually, we had built a life in the valley we had sought refuge in. Then the Sky Dominion envoys arrived. They were agreeable at first, praising the work we had put into our fields, our waterworks, and our homes. After seeking the premier, they had soon established an agreement to trade some produced goods for a new type of fertilizer that one of them claimed was being developed at the Spire. Within a moon, green barrels of the stuff were being shipped into the town and the fields at breakneck pace via railcart and skyfrigates. We were barely able to keep up with production, but the representatives assured us that the gaseous material was able to spurn growth in our crop and livestock as we had never seen before. At one point, one of the farmers began to complain of feeling sick. We had weathered other sicknesses before with mild difficulty, having plenty of nourishment to combat the disease, but it was immediately evident that this was much worse. Within two days, the farmer had completely succumbed. The entire town held a brief funeral for him in the community cemetery. Life went on. A week later, another farmer began to complain of illness. Before we could determine if it was the same issue as the previous farmer had suffered, another had been weakened. One of the lumber cutters found him in the grain next to the ever-growing fertilizer stock, choking and hacking on what appeared to be a mixture of saliva and blood. Next to him, he had said, one of the green barrels had burst wide open, an "unholy green smoke" covering the dirt. It wasn't long before the fallen farmer and the same lumberman fell to their deathbeds. By now, the province was aware that an epidemic was on the fringe of occurring. More field workers had begun to fall ill, and at this point it was beginning to spread into the town as well. The cemetery was beginning to fill fast, and the premier commissioned a number of extra tombs and graves to be preemptively created. The merchants from the Sky Dominion had begun to wear masks by this point, apparently concerned about the disease that was becoming more prevalent with each passing day. When they were discussing how the fertilizer functioned with the townsfolk, they had made it very clear in demonstrations that only a miniscule quantity was to be used per row of crop in order for it to have the desired effect. The barrel that had burst had already provided evidence of this, leaving a crater of rotting plant carcasses and black, slick soil in its wake. Townsfolk became suspicious of the shipments from the Dominion. One of the traveling townsfolk claimed to have found countless crates, its contents consisting of the crop we had sold to them, rotting in droves in a pit of the abandoned pagan temple a day's travel south of us. The food we didn't sell, though not quite noticeable at first, was beginning to take on a green tint and a slightly sour flavor. At the time, we had passed it off as a side effect of enhancing the crop's growth, but it was becoming clear that something was peculiar about this new fertilizer. And then, one fateful day, it happened. A skyfrigate was drifting over the fields near sunrise, initiating another trade of the green barrels with our cultivation crew. As it sailed over the cemetery, having completed its delivery, a massive wind tore at its sails, causing the elegant wooden ship to list in the clouds. Crew members, food crates, and hundreds of those verdant barrels fell from the deck and leveled the hill upon impact, sending a behemoth miasma of green fog swirling into the sky and over the fields. A rescue party had been sent to search for survivors, but none had returned from the murk as the sun abandoned the day behind the nearby mountains. We dared not send another man out there. Even into the wee hours of the night, patrolmen were still standing by the entrance to the town with torches and longbows in hand, guarding the entrance and waiting for their search party to return. As the dawn began to break, however, one of the infantry claimed to have spotted several forms trudging through the haze. Despite all of the shouting and signaling the squad made, however, it served no purpose as they strode onward and out of sight. Their gait was the most unnerving part of the sighting, one soldier had stated that afternoon, having described their motions as "those a sleepwalker might make, slow, unbalanced, and in unpredictable patterns of sudden jerkiness". As the town was holding an emergency meeting about new curfew protocol, another patrolman began shouting from near the gates, running as though hell was on his heels. "There's an army outside! Hundreds of men walking through the fog in our direction from the fields! Barricade the perimeters!" The townsfolk, in a frenzy, had sealed all entrances to the province center, disassembling part of the stable in the process. Archers had taken to the peripheries, guarded merely by a man-height stone wall as they watched first one, then several, and then countless figures stumble out of the green cloud and into view. They were not normal men. Their skin was a filthy grey, the skin torn in various places as if it was too tight to contain their skeletons properly. Their march was a stuttered one, just as the infantryman had described. Growling and gnashing their jaws, they slowly dragged their bodies in various stages of decomposition towards the guardians. One man screamed as they emerged, flinging his longbow and running for his life along the creek that led away from the town. The bell tower began to howl, a signal of desperation to the nearest skyfrigate, but none would ever arrive to the Forsaken Province again. Arrow after arrow was launched in the direction of the growing horde, easily more than two hundred emerging from the direction of the cemetery now, more still pushing inward from the fields. Some had fallen, but many resisted being struck with shaft after shaft, the arrows sticking through their grunting bodies seemingly only mild annoyances as they made their way to the walls of the town center. A pair of brave lumbermen had rigged the railcart with spearheads and a supply of gunpowder explosives, hurtling into the crowd near the rails and sending bomb after bomb into the distorted beings. Eventually, only the cart had returned, its momentum the only thing pushing it forward through the town as it continued shredding everything in its path. A scream could be heard from the local bar. One of them had found a breach in the wall, and was grasping an older woman by the arm as it bit into her side like a wild animal. Several more followed, tearing her to bits as the remainder searched the now invaded town for more prey. Panic ensued as night fell. Screams could be heard across the entire province as people were slowly chewed to gore by the horde, filling the perimeter and slowly working their way inward. Several townsfolk had taken matters into their own hands and begun pelting them with blunderbuss rounds, taking down several invaders but ultimately only slowing the inevitable. The bell tower had continued to ring, its rope having been attached to the waterwheel-driven motor before the ringer himself jumped to his death. Another pilgrim had lured dozens of them into her home before setting it ablaze with all of the lantern oil she could find. In a twisted game of follow-the-leader, several other houses had developed fiery plumage near their roofs, swarms of the dead crowding through the doors. The church was one of the last buildings to withstand the onslaught, the few remaining townsfolk bracing the doors fast with heavy pews as the night dragged on. As the hammering of a thousand fists slammed on the thick wood, the hopeless few survivors held a last vigil by the pulpit. Dozens of white candles flickered feebly in the darkness as the stained glass windows began to crack.

God, this game had one of THE GREATEST fucking soundtracks of ALL time

Such a beautiful, atmospheric piece! If you're here on this video, you clearly have great taste.

gauntlet is such a under loved game on the internet and that makes me sad ;/

I feel that the composer of some of these tracks was heavily inspired by metal music, especially black metal.

Has that Halloween vibe. Love this so much.

Use to play this game with my Dad on the original Xbox when I was a kid, the music in this level always creeped me out even when I was with my even scarier but protecting father. He took his life but I still feel myself running around with his blue wizard character when I go back and play this game or just listen to the music.

never noticed the trains in this track (pun!), this track is one of the more ambient and creepier tracks

this might actually be the best track in this game.

That stinking train whistle is what makes this song so haunting.

This is/was my childhood. I miss this game and playing it. I'm glad I got introduced to this game when I did. Such a masterpiece.

Perfect music for Halloween

there's a piano track going thru the pub area and I can listion to that for a LONG time as its catchy sounding a pity nobody has a OST for it

its games like these that im glad my dad gave us a ps2 instead of a ps4

This is my favorite track in this entire game.

This has always been one of personal favorite songs out of the whole game.

Holy hell, this track is sick.

This game made my whole child hood with my few friends that come and play and loved the undead levels!. So once a year I put the track to play during the fall time just to remember the good times!. Hearing wizard you are about to die!. Or Barbarin you are about to die. You need food badly!.

some games have great music,others have great atmospheric sounds...few have both at the same time..this is one such game

I want this on my PS4, I had it on my PS2 when I was little

I remember this was my favorite level to grind heals and money on when I was getting into the later levels and buying health between levels was getting too expensive. There was a way to get one of the best healing items in the game relatively early in the level by solving a relatively easy puzzle.

I remember when I was a kid the music in this level made me feel uncomfortable, to the point where I was legitimately looking around my living room because I felt like I was being watched.

I still love this game so much. brings so much nostalgia back

The bois go hard when I put this on the aux

3:06 is the best part when the countermelody comes onto play.

Transitions at 0:48 and 1:42 are insane. They don't make soundtracks like this anymore.

This game has 64 different original songs to it!!!

Always loved the piano area of thiz stage

I have been playing this game again recently. I used to play this a long time ago. Never knew there was even an east wing. Now I'm a level 63 warrior. I still go to the beginning levels to grab food and gain health

As the 100th commenter for this wonderful soundtrack, i grant myself the position to make a cover of this amazing soundtrack with my bass, guitar and keyboard. Ofc, with a little bit of mixing too 😊

I still play this game on emulators ! It's such❤ a good game

Such an underrated track, and OST, AND GAME.

GREEN KNIGHT has gained a level...

The music to this game was amazing they did a bad ass job I wish I could find some metal versions on here but there’s not much. Only one good one

Harmonica section at the beginning has to be from the soundtrack of "Once Upon A Time In The West." The man known as "Harmonica" in the film plays that theme, usually right before he's about to do some shootin'.

Hint: *Death to all those who dare steal from the hangman!!…*

Ah yes... I farmed this stage so much 😂

I'm getting a Terry Funk vibe with this theme...

Grab coins before time runs out.

Man with harmonica.

Triste y desolada, así es como se es escucha este soundtrack, perfecta para este nivel.

This is the level that i would just sit and listen. Doesn't this sound like a version of Moonlight Sonata? 😌❤

Its beautiful from 0:50

Any blue archers still listening to this masterpiece?

uh does anybody know a guide for the coin levels to unlock the secret characters

The chord progression is sort of similar to Valentino by 24kGoldn

My shiiiit!!!

This game had the most kindergarten names for the stages didn't it? 😂 Such an incredible game still though ♥

is it me or does this sound a bit like nebel by rammstein anyone?

2:10

0:51

3:05