Starfield's Groundbreaking Choice: Why a Silent Protagonist Will Revolutionize the Game!

Highlights

Bethesda's decision to have a silent protagonist in Starfield was driven by the massive script and the ability for players to create any type of character.

The studio initially intended to feature a main character with a voice, but ultimately abandoned the idea due to the exploration of alternative methods and feedback from players.

While aiming to enhance emotional storytelling, Fallout 4's voiced protagonist faced issues with the mechanics of dialogue, prompting Bethesda to revert to a silent protagonist for Starfield.

A senior Bethesda developer recently provided insight into the decision to feature a silent protagonist in the highly anticipated RPG, Starfield. This comes a year after the studio confirmed that the main character in Starfield would not have a voice. In the past, Bethesda's AAA role-playing games had silent protagonists, but this changed with Fallout 4 in 2015, which introduced a fully voiced main character. While this shift was divisive among fans, lead designer Emil Pagliarulo explained that the decision to have voiced main characters in Fallout 4 was driven by the desire to tell a more emotionally immersive story than what could be achieved with silent protagonists.

Eight years later, Pagliarulo found himself explaining Bethesda's reversal of that decision regarding Starfield. He had previously described the return to a silent protagonist as "really freeing" in a recent interview with Polygon. Expanding on that idea, the experienced developer revealed that Starfield boasts over 200,000 lines of spoken dialogue. This colossal script, however, would have made it impossible to voice-act the main character's lines if the studio had to record them as well.

Bethesda originally planned to have a voiced protagonist in Starfield, just like in Fallout 4. They even hired a voice actor and conducted recording sessions. However, they ultimately decided to go with a silent protagonist to enhance the immersive experience, as players can create any type of character in Starfield. While player feedback from Fallout 4's voiced protagonist did play a role in their decision, Bethesda thoroughly considered all other options before making the choice. Additionally, the flawed dialogue system in Fallout 4, where abbreviated responses often led to different lines from the character, also influenced the decision. Pagliarulo mentioned that players often skipped their character's voiced lines by reading the entire response before selecting it, making the recording efforts less worthwhile.

Bethesda ultimately chose not to have another voiced protagonist for its upcoming AAA RPG. The impact of this decision on the fandom is yet to be determined, but it is clear that Starfield's silent protagonist will enhance the choice-driven role-playing experience. Starfield will be available on September 6 for PC and Xbox Series X/S.

Source: Polygon