Say Less
It’s important for a player to be able to relate to or even project themselves on the playable character. Personally and seemingly less popular, I prefer to do so with a blank slate or “silent protagonist.” That’s not to say I don’t enjoy games where I play a pre-defined character on a pre-defined journey, but every time a protagonist speaks there’s a risk of rubbing the player the wrong way. This is why in many cases, if given the choice, I would prefer to have a silent protagonist.
One of the most famous silent protagonists, Link of Legend of Zelda, earned his name for being the connection between the player and the avatar, per series creator Shigeru Miyamoto. Although this justification may have been good marketing for a technical limitation of the time, Link remains silent to this day. This continues to serve the series well for two main reasons:
Exploration, level design, and puzzles are the heart of the Zelda series, not so much Link himself.
Link is always on a standard Hero’s Journey. On the occasion we choose dialogue for him, nothing significantly changes and he always helps. This doesn’t exactly need a nuanced voice or spoken motivation, and anything Link would say would add little effect.
That’s not to say a silent protagonist is always the right option. On the other side of the spectrum, it is just as engaging to play as a written character on a set storyline. One of my favorite protagonists, Ichiban Kasuga from Like a Dragon, is anything but silent. He wears his emotions on his sleeve and will help anyone no matter how big or small (or ridiculous) the issue is. Even though I can’t relate to joining the Yakuza, running a confections shop, or having that birds-nest haircut, Ichiban is simply a lovable protagonist to play and there was never a point where the gameplay or story made him feel like an inconsistent character.
I share similar sentiments for Chai in Hi-Fi Rush, whose endless charm and badass (if cheesy) one-liners made me smile every time.
“You got a killer track, but every song’s gotta end!”
-Chai, Hi-Fi Rush
In my experience, I’m most likely to lose connection to the character when the narrative style falls somewhere between these two styles. Despite my love for the game overall (it being one of my few Platinum trophies), I’ve never felt more at odds with a main character than I did with Jin Sakai in Ghost of Tsushima. If you’ve somehow missed playing this game, the premise is quick: Mongols invaded a feudal, samurai-run Tsushima. The defending samurai are nearly wiped out as a result with seemingly only Jin surviving the massacre. The core conceit of the story is that Jin is forced to use dishonorable tactics (i.e. become the Ghost) and break the samurai code he holds dear to topple the Mongolian invasion and claim back his lands.
The premise is great, but here’s the problem: I, the one holding the controller, did not need and did not prefer to use “ghost” tactics. Unless it would result in automatic mission failure, I started nearly every encounter I could with a standoff then peeled through each enemy personally, one at a time; so every time Jin laments the loss of his honor and moral code I as a player feel less validated for having just honorably slaughtered twenty enemies all by myself moments ago.
Why leave the gameplay open to handle every combat situation as the player sees fit if one method (and the more straightforward one at that) is completely at odds with the story being told? If everyone I interact with predeterminately praises me or chides me for breaking my code, whether I did or not, why not make it overwhelmingly difficult to fight head-on? Would it not have been truer to the story to have Dishonored type gameplay where even if you somehow succeeded in fighting everyone head-on and completely disregarded stealth, you at least got a bad grade?
In games like Ghost of Tsushima, I can’t help but feel that a silent protagonist with some tweaking of other character’s dialogue would have served just as well. Whether you primarily opt for stealth and become the ghost, or try and do Lord-Uncle Shimura proud by making eye contact with every enemy you kill; you decide how you did it, why you did it, how you feel about it, and what you think of everyone’s thoughts on it.
Player-choice or “Choices matter” RPGs are another popular story-telling that would seemingly solve the bill of complaints I make, but these often feel more shallow than the imagination left to playing a silent protagonist. It may be a “me problem,” but given dialogue options rarely hit the mark I’m going for. So often it seems your dialogue options are reduced to:
Unwarranted hostility
Nice to a fault
Cringe or “RaNDoM” humor
Cool guy coded, but not cool
However, there are great and well-done examples of dialogue options too. Baldur’s Gate 3 is the most recent and best example that comes to mind. Even if dialogue options don’t always fit in with what you would say, your stats may justify the dialogue options you choose. You can even fail horribly at what you’re saying which adds a living element to the story and characters; but even the plethora of BG3’s dialogue options and how well they’re implemented pail in comparison to the game it emulates: Good ole’ tabletop Dungeons & Dragons, where every player character is silent until the player gives them life.
FromSoftware excels at the silent protagonist, giving modern examples of why games don’t need, or even benefit from a spoken one. As a Tarnished in Elden Ring, you are free to express yourselves through the stats you choose to excel in, the outfit you wear, emotes, and the way you interact with the multiplayer systems. There couldn’t reasonably be enough dialogue options that would support the specific vision players have of their characters without occasionally distancing that connection at times.
FromSoftware also made my current favorite silent protagonist. Who could forget the classic hero, RB-23 AUGMENTED HUMAN C4-621, CALLSIGN: “RAVEN” from Armored Core VI: The Fires of Rubicon?
621 (pronounced “six-two-one”) is a mercenary that doesn’t speak one bit the whole game. No screams, no “HIIIIYAAAHS,” no cussin’. All dialogue is sourced from comms with your handler, Walter, and the 4-5 factions you work for, play against each other, and operate independently from. Your actions do the talking for you. The way everyone speaks of you as you continue to conquer greater and greater feats makes you feel more like a force of nature than a mere player in the war. By the end, everyone fears that whatever side you’re on is the side that will win. There are no words or voice 621 could have that would add to the Goliath image I have of them; it could only serve to maintain their reputation at best, and risk discrediting it otherwise.
“I AM the Fires of Rubicon”
-Not 621, Armored Core VI: The Fires of Rubicon, because that’d be stupid as hell
When a protagonist is a written character they put themselves out there to be loved, hated, or loved-to-be-hated. This can be done to great effect but it can also serve to disconnect the player from the game. When the protagonist is silent, it leaves the intricacies of the character up to the player’s imagination which will often be in favor of connecting with the character more.
Now that the introduction is over, in this essay, I will convey why R2-D2 is more beloved than C-3PO […]
