Summary
Technically, nearly every protagonist in video games was silent during the medium’s early days, save for the occasional text box. But by the 16-bit days, it became a storytelling choice where the player was supposed to fill in the blanks with their reactions at home. It’s why Link fromThe Legend of Zeldais still technically mute, even if he gained some clever dialogue options in recent games.
It can be odd though as some games, likeMother 3, show their leads talking up a storm, then going mute as soon as they’re in the player’s hands. This is why some games like to make the lead’s muteness part of the storyline. For one reason or another, these are some video game protagonists who are silent for storyline reasons.
BothPortalgames are full of dry witticisms that flooded the internet from the first game’s release until a few years ago when other trends popped up. Though people know that if Valve announced aPortal 3,comments about the cake being a lie, the joy of the Companion Cube, and Cave Johnson’s lemon-based threats would be all over social media and comments sections once again.
Yet they’re all quotes from either third parties or the antagonistic AIs GLaDOS and Wheatley.Chell, the playable lead, says nothing but a few grunts and cries. In practice, it’s for the usual space-for-player-reactions reason. For lore, it’s because Chell doesn’t want to give GLaDOS or anyone else the satisfaction of their sharp lines getting to her. In other words, she doesn’t want to feed the trolls.
7The Playa, Saints Row
FromSaints Row 2onwards,the Playa(or Boss, or even President depending on the game) has no shortage of exchanges with their crew and rivals alike. Players could pick from three male voices, three female voices, and one gimmick voice (e.g. Zombie inSR3, Nolan North as himself inSR4) and hear them rattle away. Before the devscame up with those custom options, the originalSR1’s Playa was male-only, and had only five lines of dialogue or so.
In the storyline, it’s because they knew their place as a newbie in the Third Street Saints and didn’t want to speak out of line. It takes beating the last mission for each gang to get them to say something, much to everyone’s surprise. After nearly dying in an explosion and waking up from a coma inSR2, they found their voice (“I’ve learned that bein’ in charge is better than bein’ a b**** who keeps his mouth shut and does what he’s told”).
6Caim, Drakengard
It’s hard to imagineNier Automatabeing (technically)a very distant sequel toDrakengard. TheNiergames were solid action games with quirky controls and some weird storytelling.Drakengardis an intentional slog with some messed-up characters in a world that’s literally upside-down. For example, the hero,Caim, is a violence aficionado who’s extremely hostile towards dragons after one killed his parents.
But when he’s on the verge of death and comes across the mortally wounded dragon Angelus, they save each other’s lives by forming a pact. It’s a magical bond that, like the movieDragonheart, unites their life forces. If one dies, so does the other. UnlikeDragonheart, the human loses one ability or the other in the process. In Caim’s case, it was his ability to speak. Unless players get Ending C, he doesn’t say anything after the pact is made.
It took the Norwegian developer D-Pad Studio 9 years to completeOwlboy. From 2007 until its eventual release in late 2016, the game went throughretweaks, rebuilds, and an odd hiatus. But once completed, it received strong acclaim from fans and critics alike for its search-action platforming and charming cast of characters, including the titular Owlboy himself,Otus.
In the game, he’s out to save his village from pirates and rediscover the secret behind his ancient forebears. Otus himself was born mute, but he’s able to communicate with gestures, even if he’s a little clumsy sometimes. It doesn’t stop him from making friends, like the human Geddy or the ex-pirates Alphonse & Twig. Nor does it keep him from being a hero.
TheCrysisgames could be fun, futuristic,Far Cry-esque shooters once players could get them running. The original PC game was so hardware-tasking that it became a meme that’s still occasionally mentioned today. Its lead, Jake “Nomad” Dunn, could speak, as would his Squad leader Laurence “Prophet” Barnes. But neither would be heading upCrysis 2.
Instead, the Nanotech suit would be passed toJames “Alcatraz” Rodriguez. Left at death’s door after a failed insertion, Prophet saves his life by putting him in his Nanotech suit. It’s the only thing keeping Alcatraz alive, but it can’t heal his shredded lungs fast enough to let him speak. Not that he would’ve had much to say tothe Ceph aliensas his guns would get the point across well enough.
3Nina, Breath Of Fire: Dragon Quarter
Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarterwas the fifth installment in Capcom’s RPG series, and the last one to reach consoles. The games are technically set in different worlds from each other, but their characters tend to share the same names with each entry.DQ’sNinahas it particularly rough as, when humanity was forced underground, she was used as a test subject on ways to purify air.
Each breath she took could clean the air for everyone else, but the process would eventually kill her, so the powers-that-be cut her vocal cords to keep her from talking. Freed by Ryu, the two seek to reach the surface and make a new living where Nina can live a full life and breathe freely.
2Winters, Headlander
Made by Double Fine Productions,Headlanderis a search-action game with a twist. Humanity has left their bodies behind and have uploaded their minds into cloud storage, using robot bodies for physical tasks. But the AI Methuselah has locked them off from control of the robots and has enslaved them all. Their only hope isWinters, the last cryogenically preserved human.
Except the process only saved his head, and even then, he’s suffering from amnesia. Using a special helmet, Winters can float around and swap between different robot bodies by using a tractor beam to lop a robot’s head off and stick his own head on them instead. He can fight back with a laser beam, or use the robot’s combat functions. But he can’t talk. That’s pretty hard to do without lungs, so he makes do with his actions instead.
Lastly, fans were a little shocked that one of the most famous mutes in gaming got a voice inDoom Eternal.From the old-school games to the new, theDoom Slayer, or Doomguy, didn’t need to communicate. All he needed to do was let loose with the firepower and show his shifty eyes on the HUD. Still, it wasn’t like he couldn’t speak. He wasn’t born mute, experimented on, or made silent just because.
Doom Slayer was mute because there wasn’t really anything or anyone in his games to talk to. Why waste one-liners on monsters and demons when all he needed to do wasbang, blast, and firehis way through them?Doom 2016would trade in his facecam for furious gestures that let fans know exactly what Doom Slayer thought about Mars, the demons, and anyone else involved with the two.
