Knack 2 is a great game, certainly better than its predecessor. A lot of the credit for Knack 2 often goes to Mark Cerny, but I’ve personally always tried to give credit to Mark Cerny and his team. The action-platformer was clearly not a one-man development process. One of the people behind Knack 2 is composer Anthony Willis who wrote and recorded the Knack 2 soundtrack. “I was brought on to the project because of my background in orchestral animation and adventure films. So, I’m excited to have brought something from that aesthetic to support Knack’s story,” Willis confirms the exact feeling I got from Knack 2 when I played it. It’s a playable animated adventure film.
PlayStation LifeStyle is excited to be able to work with Willis to release three tracks from Knack 2 so you can have an opportunity to hear his work outside of the game. “The Adventure Begins,” “Targun Ruins Exploration,” and “Marius’ Legacy” each give a different taste for the styles he was going for throughout the adventure.
Willis talked a little bit about how Knack’s changing size could change the personality, and in turn, the music from moment to moment. “Knack as a character is at times heroic and muscular, and at other times playful and fun. It was important to be able to balance and modulate between those intensities musically.”
Finally, as a composer usually working on film and static media, Willis wanted to address creating music for the interactive medium. “I particularly loved creating the ‘in game’ music, which has a rather more modular, percussive style. The game takes us through some diverse environments, and so I had a lot of fun exploring the palettes for each of these, from Monastic Mountains through to Arid Deserts. There are also some beautiful cinematic sequences in the game which I absolutely loved bringing to life.”
Did you enjoy these selections from the Knack 2 soundtrack? If you want to hear more of Anthony Willis’ work, Knack 2 is available now on PS4. You can see Willis’ other credits on his iMDB page.
