Starfield's protagonist could have had Adam Jensen's gravelly voice if Bethesda hadn't changed its mind
The voices behind the two coolest members of Constellation recorded some lines for the game's player character.
We already knew that Starfield’s protagonist was once in line to be voiced rather than silent - but it turns out that the voice actors who ended up providing Sam Coe and Andreja’s dulcet tones actually recorded lines for the role.
This is according to a Twitter post from one of the pair, Elias Toufexis, which saw the voice of Deus Ex’s Adam Jensen reveal that he and fellow VA Cissy Jones “worked for months” on lending their voices to male and female versions of the game’s player character. Then, Bethesda decided not to repeat what it did for Fallout 4, instead opting for a mute blank canvas.
Thankfully, the studio didn’t simply leave both actors hanging after electing not to have them deliver the dialogue of the Settled Systems’ most famous former miner, instead offering them the chance to portray two key members of Constellation. Yup, this is how space cowboy Sam Coe and lone wanderer Andreja were cast.
Toufexis made sure to emphasise how much he appreciated Bethesda opting to find the pair other roles in Starfield, saying: “Games NEVER do this. Once you’re out, you’re out.”
Yeah it’s true. @cissyspeaks and I were originally the player voices in #Starfield. We worked for months.
— ᴇʟɪᴀꜱ ᴛᴏᴜꜰᴇxɪꜱ 🖖 (@EliasToufexis) November 8, 2023
When they decided the player should be voiceless they gave Cissy and me Andreja and Sam Coe.
Games NEVER do this. Once you’re out you’re out.
Good on Bethesda pic.twitter.com/QpGoC6YmWn
Interestingly, the actor also noted that elements of what he recorded did end up making it into the version of the protagonist that made it into the final game, revealing: “the player effort (sounds) are still mine…so when you’re jumping around with Sam, both (characters) are making the same noises.”
So yes, next time you’re dragging poor Mr Coe halfway across a rocky planet to collect the final few clumps if lead you need to build an outpost in some system thousands of lightyears away from anywhere of interest, make sure to appreciate the fact he’s panting just as gruffly as your character is.
In other Starfield news, the Steam beta update that brings Nvidia DLSS support to the game has just gone live. While you wait for it to install, you can check out our interview with the modder who swapped all of the game’s ships for Thomas the Tank Engine.