Summary
- Some silent protagonists do talk in key moments, improving story engagement.
- Isaac from Dead Space 2 and Jak from Jak 2 are examples of this trend.
- Silent protagonists in games like Omori and Genshin Impact still communicate through other means, maintaining character depth.
Silent protagonists are a staple of video games, especially RPGs. The idea is that they allow audiences to project their own thoughts and feelings onto them. This trend has come under criticism in recent years; if anything, the main character having nothing to say breaks the immersion.
The trope is often implied to be for the audience's benefit - these protagonists do communicate through dialogue options, after all. But here are the times that the silent protagonist straight up talked, often surprising us in the process.
8 Dead Space 2
"Nicole."
- Released
- January 25, 2011
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
- Visceral Games
- Publisher(s)
- Electronic Arts
- Engine
- propreitary engine
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Local Multiplayer
- Franchise
- Dead Space
- Genre(s)
- Survival Horror
- How Long To Beat
- 9 Hours
- X|S Optimized
- No
- File Size Xbox Series
- 13 GB (October 2022)
In the original Dead Space, Isaac never uttered a single word. Some fans think he was too scared to speak, being trapped on a spaceship with the things that should not be. Others insist that he was the strong and silent type. You never see his face outside of the very beginning and very end of the game, so he does serve as a very effective avatar. Whatever the reason, Isaac broke his silence early in the sequel.
This was good for the story: although the original Dead Space was a great scare-fest, it often felt like the other characters were giving you chores. Dead Space 2's talkative Isaac served as a much more proactive protagonist. When the first game was remade, Isaac's silence was discarded for good.
7 Jak 2
"I'm gonna kill Praxis!"
Jak II
- Released
- October 14, 2003
- ESRB
- t
- Developer(s)
- Naughty Dog
- Publisher(s)
- Sony Computer Entertainment
- Engine
- Proprietary Engine, Kinetica
- Franchise
- Jak and Daxter
- Genre(s)
- Action-Adventure, Third-Person Shooter
- How Long To Beat
- 18 Hours
Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy didn't suffer from its silent protagonist. As a platformer, there wasn't the need for a dialogue-heavy storyline, and Daxter did enough talking for the duo anyway.
Jak 2, however, is a very different game in a different zeitgeist - it's darker and more urban, with the vehicle sections showing a clear GTA influence. The rise of moody, emo protagonists had to play a role as well. When Daxter asks him to speak just once, Jak lets it all out
6 Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice
"Nothing will stop me."
In the entirety of the Pursuit Force saga, the Commander has a grand total of three lines. In the first game, he doesn't speak at all - preferring to act as your avatar in the extremely fun vehicular combat gameplay. The games were originally PSP exclusives, though PS Plus members can now enjoy them on PS4 and PS5.
In the second game, the Commander finally breaks his silence. When told that one of his squadmates has betrayed him, he finally says something. He remains a man of few words after that, and given that Bigbig Studios has shut down, it's unlikely we'll hear him talk again.
5 Chrono Cross
"I'm just fine, Kid."
Squaresoft was well aware of the silent protagonist trope when they made Chrono Cross - Serge's in-game character description explicitly calls him one. This came in handy for the game's second best-known plot twist (the infamous Chrono Trigger connection being the first). Explaining the story is tough, but we'll try our best.
When your party fights the antagonist Lynx, he uses an artifact called the Dragon Tear to swap bodies with Serge. The following moments, where you control Lynx instead of Serge - who suddenly starts talking - make for a very unsettling realization.
4 Omori
"I have to tell you something."
OMORI
- Released
- December 25, 2020
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood, Strong Language, Violence
- Engine
- RPG Maker MV
- Platform(s)
- PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
- Developer
- Omocat
- Publisher
- Omocat, Playism
- How Long To Beat
- 21 Hours
Omori is a deeply moving indie game split between dreamscapes and real-world segments. The protagonist, Sunny, is assumed by his friends to have gone mute from the shock of his sister's death.
Sunny's real reason for silence goes much deeper than that. For four years, he's been hiding a dark secret. In the end, he manages to confront his demons and break his silence. Coming clean is never easy, especially for a truth as heavy as Omori's, but it's better than getting the bad ending.
3 God Eater: Resurrection
"Don't run away from living!"
God Eater: Resurrection's character creation allows you to select from a whopping 40 custom voices, each with their own distinct personality. However, these voices are limited to combat lines.
In cutscenes, your character doesn't talk - until the Fall of Mankind mission, where they suddenly break their silence to make a rousing speech worthy of any climactic anime battle. This would become a pattern throughout the series: your character doesn't say much, saving all their energy for the big shounen speech.
2 Doom Eternal
"No."
- Released
- March 20, 2020
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence
- Developer(s)
- id Software
- Publisher(s)
- Bethesda
- Engine
- id Tech 7
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Franchise
- DOOM
- Platform(s)
- Xbox One, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Nintendo Switch
- Genre(s)
- FPS, Action
- How Long To Beat
- 15 Hours
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- File Size Xbox Series
- 82 GB (December 2023)
- Metascore
- 87
- PS Plus Availability
- Extra & Premium
Doom's protagonist is decidedly a man of action, not of words. 2016's Doom showed he wanted to skip the cutscenes as badly as you do and get down to business: killing demons is all that really counts. However, Doom Eternal does feature him speaking in flashbacks - espousing his core objective of killing demons.
His only dialogue after joining the Sentinels is one word. When the Dark Lord asks if he has nothing to say before killing him, Doomguy keeps it to a succinct, "No." He doesn't even give the fellow time to call him out on the double negative.
1 Genshin Impact
All the time.
- Released
- September 28, 2020
- ESRB
- Teen / Alcohol Reference, Fantasy Violence, In-Game Purchases (Includes Random Items), Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- HoYoverse (Formerly miHoYo)
- Publisher(s)
- HoYoverse (Formerly miHoYo)
- Engine
- Unity
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
- All platforms
- Cross Save
- All platforms
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- yes
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC, iOS, Android
- Genre(s)
- RPG, Action, Adventure, Gacha, Open-World
- X|S Optimized
- yes
- Metascore
- 86
- Platforms That Support Crossplay
- Mobile, PC, PS4 & PS5
- PS Plus Availability
- N/A
Genshin Impact's Aether and Lumine are well-implemented silent protagonists in a time when the trope has decidedly fallen out of favour. They talk in important cutscenes, though they usually limit their communication to grunts, gameplay chatter and dialogue options.
However, if you open the Profile tab in their character menu, you'll find scores of fully voiced discussions between the traveler and Paimon. They give their thoughts on everything. Maybe they stay quiet during gameplay simply to give Paimon more time to shine: she is the best travel companion, after all.