The Art of Voice Acting in Video Games
As an actor, Doug Cockle is no stranger to unsettling workplaces. From battling Nazis in Spielberg’s Band of Brothers to rubbing shoulders with Christian Bale in dragon romp Reign of Fire, disappearing into a role on set – whatever the set may be – has become second nature. Yet when he landed his first video game role in 2001, Cockle found himself suddenly standing completely alone in a vocal booth.
It is bizarre, he says. > You just have to be in the character in that moment in that world, in your brain. On stage and screen, you have other actors, you have props, costumes … all these things that are helping you do this thing called ‘acting’. When you’re a voice actor, it’s just you in the booth and the director and the engineer on the other side of a glass wall, eating Jelly Babies.
Doug Cockle, the voice of Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher series
Cockle got into video game work while filling in his Hollywood downtime by contributing additional voices to PS2 games such as Timesplitters 2. Inadvertently he was laying the foundations for acting in this fledgling medium. He has now appeared in more than 45 video games, including last year’s megahits Baldur’s Gate 3 and Alan Wake 2, though he is best known for voicing the gravelly Witcher, Geralt of Rivia.
There weren’t a lot of voices in video games when I started out, Cockle recalls. > The kinds of voices that were in games then were Mario, where you just get a ‘wahoo!’ … We were only just starting to see the really deep narrative storytelling that games are now known for.
With no big name voice actors to emulate, Cockle channelled the gruff charisma of his childhood acting hero, Harrison Ford, in turn influencing a new generation of actors. > I think you’re like Harrison Ford, Doug,
interjects a smiling Ben Starr, the voice of Clive, Final Fantasy XVI’s stoic protagonist, > you’re my Harrison Ford.
Ben Starr, the voice of Clive in Final Fantasy XVI
Sharing my Zoom window with Cockle are a smiling Starr and Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s Harry McEntire. Both Starr and McEntire have scored major roles in popular TV shows and West End productions. Yet following their respective lead turns in massive RPGs, the trio have joined forces to embark on a new kind of RPG adventure, Dungeons and Dragons improv series, Natural Six.
Putting down the dice and damage sheets, the three actors enjoy a rare opportunity to inhabit a less fantastical world and talk shop together.
You very rarely get to play a protagonist, explains Starr. > I think in this industry, a lot of people are famous for the quantity of the work that they do, rather than the characters themselves. Often you find people that have played 40 or 50 characters. Whereas I haven’t … I’ve played one. And what a gift to be given something to put your flag in the sand and say, ‘I got to shape that for people!’
Harry McEntire, the voice of Noah in Xenoblade Chronicles 3
While you’d expect most professional actors to covet the glitz and glamour of TV and film, the fantasy-loving trio all relish the freedom to experiment they’re given in the booth. > There’s a horrible feeling when you’re on a TV or film set, and the day is getting away from you, and you can’t bring it back,
explains McEntire. > But with VA, you can really hyper focus on your performance, because you’re not worrying about whether or not someone’s hair is in the wrong place. Or if the other actor leaned into your shot.
We get to make mistakes, adds Starr. > There is a huge amount of pressure, obviously - but on a film set, [you’re rolling] however many 100,000 pounds worth of camera equipment so you can’t just ask to keep trying takes.
Yet for all the imagination-stirring perks and experimental freedom that comes from working with games, they also bring their unique set of challenges. > I’ve only ever worked on one game where I got a full script. The rest of the time, you’re sent tiny little chunks of context,
says McEntire. > It’s an exercise in losing your ego. I really enjoy just having to trust that no one’s gonna let me look foolish. At one point, I was doing a scene and they said, there’s this monster, it might be a man, it might be a woman, or it might just be lots and lots of eyes. Could you maybe just give us some versions of all of that?
Natural Six, the Dungeons and Dragons improv series featuring Doug Cockle, Ben Starr, and Harry McEntire
Though some gaming roles require full motion capture nowadays, many still just harness the performer’s voice; McEntire is grateful for this break from typecasting. > I am 5ft 5in, and I look how I look, and for my entire stage and screen career, I was playing 5ft 5in people who looked like me, and suddenly I can play anybody,
he says. > The characters I played in Xenoblade, I would not have got anywhere near them on screen if they were making a TV adaptation.
Video games enable stories that just can’t be told anywhere else, Starr says, reflecting on possibly unfilmable epics such as Jedi Survivor. > You just do not have the budget [in film and TV] to tell the scope and scale of these stories.
