Music

The background music of Aground changes depending on location and time of day. The full game also has more tracks than the demo, including giving some locations unique music. Not every song on the official soundtrack matches the version in the game. The soundtrack was composed by Chase Bethea.

Boundaries between islands are discrete and correlate with changes in music as the player crosses to the next one. There is also a "skipping" visual effect as the player essentially spawns on the other side of the boundary.

The songs will be listed in approximately the intended gameplay order.

Track Listing:

No Sky Limit: The soundtrack for the main menu

Intro scene: The soundtrack of the opening cutscene as the player escapes their sinking Lifepod and swims to the Starting Island. The track is short and only plays once per save file without looping.

No Boundaries: The soundtrack for the Starting Island and the Undeveloped Island (on the surface during the day). It also plays in the Yeti Cave of the Starting Island when the player is on the surface of the cave's "island".

Primitive Technology - Underground: The soundtrack for the Starting Island and Sunset Haven when the players goes underground. It plays in the Starting Island's dungeons except for a special case in the Yeti Cave. In the demo, this track is used when the player goes underground in Sunset Haven's desert or swims underwater.

Nightly: Nighttime soundtrack for the Starting Island, Eastern Island, Sunset Haven, and the Undeveloped Island. This is the only music that plays on the Ice Island and Minotaur Island.

Industrial Tech: The soundtrack for Sunset Haven's town on the surface; the final version in the game (as of 2020-2021) is slightly different from the OST released by the composer, which is from 2018. In the demo, this music also plays when the player is in the desert of Sunset Haven.

Cigam Oodoov Lleps: The soundtrack for Eastern Island during the day. It also plays in the secret maze of the Unnature Sanctuary, which can only be found by digging through a layer of the hardest mineable rock in the game.

Dance with Dragons: The "bossfight" music that plays in the demo when the player sees the Wyrm Queen, fights the Mirrows, or battles the Old One. In the full game this track also plays when the player sees a Kraken, fights the Dishonored One, or battles Splicer and her Chimera.

Songs farther down in this list are only available in the full game.

Brave Crusader: The soundtrack that plays when a player in the full game mounts a flying vehicle (other than a spaceship) or either of the two types of Boat. Instead of the music of the nearest island, a player on an Adult Dragon will now hear this. The "skipping" visual effect that appears when a player enters the area of another island is the only clue that the boundary between islands has been crossed.

Desert Biome: The soundtrack for the desert of Sunset Haven and the Minotaur Maze in the full game. In the demo, the final version of Industrial Tech is used for the surface, while Primitive Technology - Underground is used for below the surface. In the Wyrm Tunnels, if the player enters and then leaves Sunset Haven, this music will play while they are in the tunnels.

Grimoire Architect: The soundtrack of Cultivator Island. On the magic path, it will first be heard in the game when the player journeys there from Eastern Island, as the Alchemist advises you to do once you've defeated the Old One.

The Passage Between: A heavily remixed version of this track plays when the player is on The Heights or Divider Island (the melody has been changed from the official soundtrack version). In the full game, Divider Island can be reached by flight from either direction (although you cannot cross the mountain without an Upgraded Jet or Elder Dragon), or by boat through the whirlpool from the east. Reaching The Heights, including the summit, is first done by using the Submarine to access the water maze below the island; in the submarine, the track "Ancient Aquatic Energy" will be heard first before hearing "The Passage Between".

Ancient Aquatic Energy: Underwater soundtrack in almost all areas of Unoiks 428c and all oceans of the CaptAIn's Colony planet (in the full game). The Fish Village has its own theme music.

Subaqueous Metropolis: The soundtrack of the Cultivator Island Fish Village, and the Starting Island's bedrock cave once Bombardment is triggered and the Alchemist turns the cave into its own area.

Technically: The soundtrack inside human-made spaceships, including repaired Colony Ships. On the science path, this music is first heard after boarding the newly repaired Fighter Escort from The Heights.

Tarragonavion: The soundtrack inside all dragon ships, including Mecha Dragon Ships. On the magic path, this music is first heard after evolving and boarding a Dragonship on Cultivator Island.

Wild Encounter: Theme music of enemy Dragon Bombers. It plays during Bombardment on the Starting Island and Sunset Haven if there is no Bombardment Shield to protect the planet, and in orbit while the enemy bombers are present (unless they are destroyed and drop items or freed and fly away). The longer the player stays on the Starting Island or Sunset Haven while the planet is unprotected, the more damage the enemy Bomber will do to structures, crops, and fertile ground.

Advent Cosmic Odyssey (A.C.O.) Part 2: When the player fights Dragon Fighters or Dragon Cruisers in orbit and Bombardment is not occurring, the second half of “Advent Cosmic Odyssey” plays. This "spaceship fight" music ends when the enemy ships are defeated, disabled, or freed. On either path, the player is most likely to first hear this track when entering the orbit of Unoiks 428b where a Dragon Fighter guards the planet. Using the in-orbit radar, you can see where the Fighter is and easily avoid it if you wish. The track begins at the 3:54 mark of the video.

Advent Cosmic Odyssey (A.C.O.): The first half of this track is the music of outer space when no enemy spaceships are present, as well as the soundtrack of Unoiks 428b. The player may hear this the first time by either flying a spaceship into orbit before Bombardment or by reaching the surface of Unoiks 428b. The song loops before the transition into part 2, ending at about the 3:52 mark of the video. In-game, there are no clues that these are two parts of the same track.

Maars Metaalchemist: The soundtrack of the planet Mars, including the underground ocean. On the magic path, after the player unlocks the second tier of spellbooks, the Librarian gives you a quest to visit the red planet.

The Blue Marble: The soundtrack that plays in Earth Orbit and in the Earth City. On the science path, progress after building the Fighter Escort and Com Station will only happen once the player visits Earth to check for the source of a distress signal from there.

Remains: The soundtrack of the Earth Desert and the dungeon where the Scavenger lives. If the player has a Com Device in their inventory, entering Earth’s atmosphere will trigger the com device to display the exact location of the distress signal, leading you to a submerged entrance of the Scavenger’s dungeon and to the chronologically first appearance of this music track.

Taiga - Forest Theme (From "Deity Quest"): The soundtrack for the platformer arcade game. This is one of two recreational mini games that can be played in the Mobile Lab and pose no relevance to the main game or plot.

Onslaught (From "Deity Quest"): The soundtrack for the shooter arcade game. This is one of two recreational mini games that can be played on the Mobile Lab and pose no relevance to the main game or plot.

Door to the Spirit World: The soundtrack of Spirit realm locations. It plays in the Beastmaster's Colosseum, the Spirit World that is accessed from Mars, and in the realm known as Death's Door. The player can access the Colosseum on Eastern Island by crafting the Queen Drill in the Forge or the Laser Drill in the Advanced Lab. The magic path questline requires that the player open the eponymous door to the Spirit World, meaning that the track would first be heard at this point.

Colonial Function: The soundtrack of the CaptAIn’s colony ship and the islands on the planet below. The CaptAIn may rescue you himself if you build the Mobile Lab before finishing the game and create the Alien Locator to find Enemy HQ from the outside. After entering and then leaving Enemy HQ orbit, the player will be led to the CaptAIn’s Colony by a fleet of human spaceships.

Abyssal Depths: The soundtrack of the backer planet The Depths and the planet Unoiks 428d. The quest that the NPC Tindle gives to go to The Depths is optional, but the hybrid path requires the player to visit Unoiks 428d in a Mecha Dragon Ship in order to get the peaceful ending of the game. Finishing the Depths quests first will add some minor bonus content when the player visits Unoiks 428d and does the quests there, as well as providing context for an NPC's backstory.

Natura Sanctorium: The soundtrack of the backer planet Unnature Sanctuary in all areas except the secret maze. This planet's questline is optional, and unlike The Depths it has no relevance to the hybrid path ending. However, it could be considered part of the science path because the Com Station will pick up the distress signal from this planet and give you a lead to go there. Completing the quests will earn you the friendship of the Ranger, who can join you on the Mobile Lab as a researcher. You will also get a set of bonus equipment unrelated to magic or science.

Neila Enemui Bar ambar: The soundtrack of Enemy HQ in most areas. Enemy HQ is first accessed on the magic path after opening a door to it from the Spirit World, while on the science path it is first accessed by FTL jumping from the CaptAIn’s colony and using a virus to open HQ’s wings, allowing the player to fly down to the surface. On the hybrid path, coming here is optional, and you would do so not to fight the final boss but to obtain an HQ Dragon Chamber Seed (using the Book of Translation first), in order to evolve a Dragon Cruiser on any other planet and then land it in the Holographic Projector.

Hive Dive Havoc: The soundtrack of the Enemy HQ nursery pool. This area is where They are hatched from eggs and raised by the Nursery Crab. CaptAIn will request that the player kills the crab after invading the HQ on the science path and coming across it. Doing so doesn't seem to affect the chance of nullifying the hybrid path, but it will incur disappointment from The Exiled and rage from the Final Boss. If the hybrid path is completed and the Nursery Crab, eggs, and Alien Hatchlings are all still alive, the crab will become untargetable and lose its damaging arms and no longer shoot spikes while the eggs and hatchlings will not actively harm the player as long as they were still at full health beforehand.

Wrath of the Preeminence, Pt. I: This track plays when the player digs down to the lowest part of Enemy HQ and gets within range of the final boss. Like the Kraken, the final boss has music actually warn the player that he is close. If the player fights him and brings his health to zero, he will transform into a more dangerous form instead of dying and "stage 2" of the fight will begin.

Wrath of the Preeminence, Pt. II: This music plays during stage 2 of the final bossfight, when the final boss starts chasing the player to attack them. This fight is the most difficult one of the entire game, and finishing it will close off the hybrid ending option.

Aground Trailer Remix: This track is similar to if not the same as the music that plays once you win the game by any of the three paths and the credits roll. After the credits finish, you can continue playing to discover any other game content and establish a new homeworld for humanity.