Music of Grim Fandango  The music for the video game "Grim Fandango" was composed and produced by Peter McConnell and published by LucasArts in 1998. The soundtrack is a mix of South American folk music, jazz, swing and big band sounds, for the game story filled with adventure and intrigue set in a unique combination of film noir and Mexican folklore's Day of the Dead. The soundtrack garnered critical acclaim and remained subject of positive reviews and inclusion in critics' rankings for the two decades after its first release. The soundtrack was praised both as a stand-alone musical experience, as well as for its outstanding contribution to the overall game experience; capturing the spirit of the game, "gluing" the story together, and becoming "integral" to the success of the game. A Compact disc (CD) soundtrack was released simultaneously with the game in 1998. The soundtrack was remastered and orchestrated, and re-released in 2015. In 2019, celebrating its 20th anniversary, it was also released in vinyl format. The score was awarded "GameSpot" 1998 "Best PC Music Award". It was also nominated for the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences' "Outstanding Achievement in Sound and Music". Years after its original release, the soundtrack has also been included in lists of all-time best video game soundtracks. "Grim Fandango" is a graphic adventure video game directed by Tim Schafer and released by LucasArts in 1998. Set in the Mexican folklore's Land of the Dead and with a strong film noir twist, the story follows Department of Death's travel agent Manny Calavera who acts as a guide for recently departed souls as they travel through the Land of the Dead on their way to their final destinations. This land, meant to be only a place of passage to the final heavenly destination, has been settled by undeserving souls turning it into a land full of film noir-inspired crime and corruption, and making the travel of many departed souls more difficult and treacherous. The player follows Manny on a mission to save Mercedes "Meche" Colomar, a good soul thrust into and trapped in this corrupted world. The game is one of the most acclaimed adventure games of all time, considered the last great adventure game to be released during the golden age of the adventure game genre. While composer Peter McConnell himself credits the outstanding directorial work of Tim Schafer, critics emphasized that one of the key components in the excellence of the game was McConnell's outstanding soundtrack. Tim Schafer, Peter McConnell and other members of the development team had had long and overlapping careers from previous projects at LucasArts.