In just around seven days, we’ll be diving into the vast world of Starfield, finally discovering whether this space-faring RPG lives up to all the anticipation it’s garnered. Before that moment arrives, an interesting revelation has surfaced concerning the game’s protagonist and, notably, the reason why they don’t speak.
In a recent interview with Polygon, Emil Pagliarulo, the lead designer of Starfield, explained why the studio chose to forgo a voiced protagonist in the game. He also clarified whether this particular decision drew inspiration from the critique Fallout 4 had received, saying:
Not directly, but it certainly played into it. Early on in the game, we did have a voiced protagonist. In pre-production, the plan was to have a voiced protagonist. We hired an actor, we got the voice, we listened to him and we were like, You know what, this guy is too specific. So then what are the options? Do we have, like some RPGs do, four voices? Do we have one voice, but hire someone else who’s more convenient? But [in Starfield] you can make every different type of person. We realized that the only way to really do it and let the player be the person they want to be was to have an unvoiced protagonist.
Similar to Starfield, Bethesda Game Studios’ Fallout 4 was one of the most anticipated games in 2015. Upon release, many players praised the RPG’s vast lore, the freedom it offered players, and the captivating soundtrack, among other elements.
However, a significant number of players critiqued the game’s voiced protagonist, mainly due to the poor delivery of dialogue. Most people felt that the voices used for Nate and Nora did not fit their player character designs, which took away from the immersive RPG experience.
Pagliarulo also pointed out the obsession of the AAA industry with voiced protagonists, but Bethesda’s departure from this trend enabled it to concentrate on expanding and enhancing the vast universe of Starfield.
There was a time in the industry where every protagonist was voiced. It was a AAA thing. We started realizing, You know what, maybe that’s not the case, maybe fans will actually enjoy the game even more… I mean, we played with different things. There’s a big argument, if in Fallout 4 and other RPGs, players don’t like reading a line of dialogue, a player response, and then they click it and get [a different spoken line].
But the problem is, then you read it, and then you click it, and you have to wait for them to say the same thing. So that’s not ideal either. So then we just arrived at, What if we just go text? and it was just really freeing. And, I mean, we have over 200,000 lines of spoken dialogue in Starfield with no voiced protagonists. And it was not having a voiced protagonist that allowed us to create such a big world.
Voiced protagonists aren’t necessarily a bad thing. Just take a look at the Witcher series, the Mass Effect series, or Dragon Age: Inquisition. The Witcher, for instance, centers around Geralt as the sole character, a setup shared with Mass Effect (although Commander Shepard is voiced by two actors).
Meanwhile, in Dragon Age: Inquisition, you have a protagonist who can be a Human, a Dwarf, an Elf, or a Qunari, and each of these four character options can also be either male or female. The key lies in determining whether a role-playing game truly benefits from a voiced protagonist, and when in doubt, it’s best to err on the side of caution and go for a voiceless protagonist.
Bethesda’s Todd Howard previously shared a similar viewpoint regarding how the inclusion of a voiced protagonist detracts from the immersive RPG experience, particularly in a title such as Starfield, which features a New Game+ mode.
It gives you the flexibility and options to carve out a unique identity, and even adds a unique and exciting twist on New Game+ to incentivise continued and repeat play. The team did, initially, record player character dialogue, like in Fallout 4, but eventually stripped it out – having a preset voice and intonation took too much from role-playing whoever you want to be.
The identity of the actor who was slated to lend their voice to the Starfield protagonist might forever remain a mystery. While he might have done a great job in the role, we can count ourselves lucky that their contribution didn’t make it to the game’s ultimate release.
Starfield is scheduled to launch on September 6, 2023, for Xbox Series X/S and PC via Steam, though a lucky few in the US will start their cosmic journey as early as August 31. Preloading is already available for those eligible.
Do you think Starfield is better off without a voiced protagonist, or should Bethesda have offered the choice for players to decide? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.
