Starfield had plans for a voiced protagonist, but scrapped them

We’re closing in on the final days until Starfield finally arrives. By now, you’ve probably read everything about the game (maybe even filled in your own unofficial character planner). However, did you know that the game was originally going to have a voiced protagonist?

So says Emil Pagliarulo, lead designer for Starfield. In a recent interview with Polygon, Pagliarulo was asked about the fact that Fallout 4 had a main character that was given voice, yet the upcoming space faring RPG from Bethesda does not. Well, as it turns out, Starfield was initially going to follow in the same footsteps.

The team even hired a voice actor, but were unsure about whether or not it would work. Pagliarulo said there was some tinkering with the idea about having a voiced protagonist, but the team decided that a silent main character was the way forward, adding that it was “the only way to really do it and let the player be the person they want to be.”

“Early on in the game, we did have a voiced protagonist,” Pagliarulo explained. “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.”

Silence is golden

Aside from 2015’s Fallout 4, Bethesda typically favors unvoiced heroes and heroines, so it’s unsurprising that Starfield took this approach. There’s something immersive about letting the player leap into the digital shoes of a game’s protagonist, and the likes of Skyrim have done well enough with a silent player-character.

As Pagliarulo says: “maybe fans will actually enjoy the game even more” if the main character is silent. After all, there’s over 200,000 lines of dialogue, and not having a voiced protagonist “allowed us to create such a big world.”

Starfield releases on September 6 for PC and Xbox Series X|S. You can also get it on Game Pass from day one, though you won’t be able to sign up for the $1 trial anymore.