Bethesda almost gave Starfield a voiced protagonist

A lot of thought has to go into a game at the size that Bethesda makes them - especially when they’re a new IP. We were under no impression that developing Starfield would be a simple undertaking, but as we started to learn more about the near-endlessness of the galaxy waiting for us in the game, it now appears as though it must have taken a lifetime to conceive these concepts and ideas, let alone execute them.

And thankfully, one idea remained on the cutting-room floor.

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Starfield considered using a voiced protagonist

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Bethesda has had to do a lot of learning from its past, and thankfully there’s one feature they chose simply to not include in their new game.

A recent interview with Polygon has revealed that Starfield almost used a voiced protagonist, but eventually decided against it despite hiring an actor and watching it unfold before them.

"We hired an actor, we got the voice, we listened to him and we were like, 'You know what, this guy is too specific,'" recalls lead designer Emil Pagliarulo about the process. He continues - "We realised 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."

This news will come as a massive relief to a huge host of fans - especially as we’ve seen how Bethesda’s voiced protagonists have panned out.

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What’s the big deal with Bethesda’s voiced protagonist?

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Fans are particularly vitriolic towards voiced protagonists at this stage in RPG games thanks to their application in Fallout 4. The game offered two different voices for both its male-presenting and female-presenting character models, but players felt too often that the voices were so specific that they couldn’t effectively step into the character’s shoes, defeating the purpose of the game being designed around role-playing.

It was a shame to see Fallout start and end their attempt at voiced protagonists with the game that was supposed to be a true return to form for the series - so it’s fair that players are sceptical about it coming to Starfield. Thankfully it’s not something we’re actually going to have to deal with. Phew.