Destiny featured six voice actors that portrayed the Guardian, each representing a gender/race combo like an Exo male or Awoken female. Although the playable protagonist technically did have a voice, it featured sparingly and didn’t do much to convey the character of the Guardian. The game was well-received, but some of Destiny’s aspects were criticized, and the voice acting came under scrutiny. Peter Dinklage — the voice of Ghost — was even replaced by Nolan North after his performance was described as one-note and repetitive. Bungie decided to move away from portraying a Guardian with a voice in Destiny 2, except for one or two notable exceptions which have baffled and confused fans.
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Giving A Voice To The Guardian
For the majority of Destiny 2 — and up until the release of Destiny 2: Forsaken in 2018 — the Guardian that gamers play as is mute. Whereas the Guardian in Destiny had a few sporadic lines of dialogue, Bungie chose to move away from this completely during the sequel’s first year. However, this decision was again reversed in Forsaken, as the previously silent Guardian finally speaks up after the death of longtime Destiny NPC and ally Cayde-6. This emotionally charged and story-defining moment during Forsaken was the perfect time for the Guardian to finally find their voice as they vow vengeance, but it seems strange to introduce so long after the game’s launch.
In addition to this momentous moment, the Guardian does have a few sparingly used lines throughout other expansions like Shadowkeep, but the inconsistency and infrequency of such interactions beg the question of why they have been included at all. Using voices only a handful of times in key moments (such as Cayde’s emotional death) does help to give them gravitas and helps with their overall impact. However, when they’re so infrequent, it can feel jarring for players when mostly voiceless characters suddenly speak, and it could undermine the emotional weight that developers are trying to achieve for certain cutscenes and key moments.
As an online-only game, having a mostly silent playable character does work in Destiny 2’s favor. Players will be more focused on talking to their friends and/or fireteam than they would be on listening to their character comment on the action. Having a talkative Guardian could be at best a distraction, and at worst an annoyance, if it was implemented more widely, and some players may be glad that their character is mostly mute.
The Case For A Mute Protagonist
Whether or not a game has a chatty protagonist can be a divisive issue for gamers, with people usually falling on one side of the argument or the other. On the one hand, having a silent protagonist like Half-life 2’s Gordon Freeman can help players to fully immerse themselves in the gameplay and story without the distraction of random character dialogue. Players can project themselves (or their own version of a character) on the silent protagonist without lines of dialogue and various quips getting in the way. When a game’s writing is slightly clunky this also helps players to stay in the action instead of focusing on the awkward interactions or comments on the environment.
However, many gamers prefer to play as characters with a voice and feel like this helps to add layers to a game and encourage emotional connections. In the first installment of the Dragon Age series, the main character didn’t have a voice.
This felt unbalanced and strange in a game that relies on party banter and interactions between characters to create connections, as well as a lore-heavy fantasy game where the story is mostly revealed through dialogue. Dragon Age II gave the protagonist Hawke a voice, and this definitely made the romance scenes much less awkward and bizarre. Dragon Age: Inquisition added even more customization and even voice options for players to choose between, improving the role-playing elements and the game overall.
Destiny 2 is available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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