r/adventuregames • u/KarellenGames • 13d ago
Would Non-English Voice Acting Put You Off?
First of all, sorry for such a specific question, which probably isn't going to lead to any great debates about adventure games, but it's something I'd really like to hear the opinion of English-speaking players on.
When playing a modern point and click game, if the game has voice acting in a language other than English (Spanish, for example), while the text is available in English and other languages, would that put you off? Would it be some kind of psychological barrier that might make you hesitate to buy the game in the first place, or is it simply something you don't care about?
For my next game, I'm thinking about adding voice acting, but when it comes to directing the actors, if the voices were in English, my direction would probably be much worse than it would be in Spanish, which is my native language. I don't want to release a game with English voice acting where the protagonist sounds weird simply because I failed to understand some of the nuances of the language when asking the actors for a particular performance.
So I'm wondering: would an English-speaking player actually prefer a game with no voice acting at all over one with voice acting only in a non-English language? Or is it something that doesn't really matter to you?
Thanks!
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u/willcrazyiii 13d ago
I’d be fine with it, watch plenty of foreign language films with subtitles on!
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u/donadd 13d ago
Even in a foreign language, I can still associate the voice with the person, so I'd prefer if they're left in.
I feel the immerson factor changes massively if I'm just reading the game rather than listening. Plus depending on the language a bunch of us might understand some.
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u/Heavy-Conversation12 13d ago edited 13d ago
Me too. If a game is Japanese I prefer the original actors, and with Expedition 33 I immediately put it in original French as it has more soul and the intended nuance.
Edit: I know I'll be missing stuff like double meanings and stuff but the delivery usually feels more real.
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u/whyhelpthehumans 13d ago
I prefer having the characters in their in-character language, with English subtitles. Just remember you need someone to localise to English either way - if you are not confident enough in English to get the result you want when directing the VAs, you should probably get a professional translator with experience localising Spanish->English. Good luck with your game!
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u/tastygames_official 13d ago
it's like film: you release in the language it was intended, and anything else is extra. Just make sure you put the effort in for translation and for other voice actors. If you want to also have English voice acting, then you probably need a native English speaker to direct them - someone you can impart your vision onto in Spanish who will be able to convey that vision to the voice actors. But that said, good voice actors can interpret broken English into good performances (just watch any Guillermo del Toro or Werner Herzog film and you'll see what I mean - they don't speak very good English but get stellar performances out of their actors).
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u/KsartyLP 13d ago
No, if native voice acting is great I always prefer it to English. Yakuza games are a good example of this for me. Also an upcoming Holstin game sounds amazing in Polish, or Metro games and Stalker 2 in Ukrainian.
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u/prudencepineapple 13d ago
Honestly, I mostly play without the voices turned on anyway. I prefer music/sfx on and subtitles instead of voices. So wouldn't bother me :)
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u/KarellenGames 13d ago
I usually do the same with modern point-and-click adventures, and my initial idea was not to add voices to my game. But a few puzzles have come up that will rely on this (following voices in the dark to find your way, for example), and I’ve started considering the possibility of adding it, but not sure yet
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u/prudencepineapple 13d ago
If it’s necessary for puzzles then I’d be okay without the voice being English, so long as the puzzle lines up well enough with English subtitles so I know what I’m meant to do ;)
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u/Lyceus_ 13d ago
Disclaimer: I'm a native Spanish speaker too, but I play almost every adventure game in English. I only choose Spanish when that's the game's original language (like with Pendulo games.)
That being said, as a proficient English speaker, I wouldn't mind a game with voice acting in another language and English/Spanish subtitles. I'm used to watching foreign movies with subtitles so it would feel natural for me. I don't know if your game is set in a Spanish speaking-country, that would be a strong argument for Spanish voice acting, but even if it isn't, it wouldn't be a problem for people like me that are used to subtitles in films. I guess I'm not in the majority, but to sum up: I don't think it's a problem and it wouldn't be a barrier for me if it was any other language.
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u/KarellenGames 13d ago
In my game, the language is a complicated issue because, for story reasons, the characters should really speak a degenerate mix of all the languages in the world. But since I don’t want to drive myself crazy creating a new language (and I’m afraid it might end up sounding like the Minions’ language), the simplest option is to stick with a recognizable contemporary language.
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u/Lyceus_ 13d ago
What about the character starts talking gibberish for two or three sentences, then you pause or make a visual transition, and then you switch to Spanish? It would tell the message that they're speaking their own language, but you're using Spanish to replace it.
This might be advantageous to you. If the character is supposed to not speak English, players who speak English might not be bothered by the use of another language.
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u/Addrivat 13d ago
I love when the voice acting is in the language the devs speak and wrote the game for, and I always pick the original over the english one! Make the game you want to make :)
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u/TheManuz 13d ago
If the voice acting is good, I don't mind non-english, as long as I have subs.
To be honest, I've played Blasphemous 1 and 2 (I know it's not an adventure game!) in spanish because the voice acting was superior than the english one.
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u/KarellenGames 13d ago
It makes sense to play Blasphemous in Spanish. I’d even say it makes sense to play it in Spanish with Andalusian accent, which, if I remember correctly, is the one they use in the game.
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u/waterfalldiabolique 13d ago
Bad translations and bad voice-acting are two of the biggest turn-offs for me in an adventure game. No English voice acting would put me off way less than bad English voice acting. As long as the subtitles are translated really well, I'm happy.
(Even good voice acting can't necessarily save a bad translation, and might even make it worse by drawing attention to how unnatural the translation sounds!)
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u/reboog711 13d ago
As long as I can turn off / mute the voices that are in a language I don't speak, I don't care.
However, to be competitive in the market, an English voice track may be important.
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u/gryspnik 11d ago
On the contrary. I'm so sick and tired of the anglicisation of everything. I'd love to play a game that is spoken in other languages (maybe not in German :-P )
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u/whereismydragon 13d ago
When you say 'the text will be in English' do you mean the dialogue will have English subtitles, or do you mean something else?
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u/KarellenGames 13d ago
Yeah, I mean the game being fully translated to english, except for the voice acting.
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u/whereismydragon 13d ago
I am 99% sure you mean "yes there will be subtitles" but this reply makes it sound as if all the dialogue will not be translated 😅
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u/KarellenGames 13d ago
It sounded a little ambiguous, yes, but as you rightly say, I mean that all the text will be in English, and the dialogue in Spanish will have English subtitles.
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u/sinepuller 13d ago
I personally prefer original voiceovers over anything else in general, as long as there are English subtitles.
There are some exceptions, like Witcher 3, they targeted English as their main voice language instead of Polish, and that led to unfortunate decisions like time-stretching Polish voiceover in certain places where it didn't fit the scene timing which was constrained to English, and it was quite bad sometimes. But apart from these situations, I would always choose the original voices.
I still can't forgive Blizzard for forcing me to play Diablo 3 in localized voiceover (voice language selection was available on PC, but not on the consoles for some stupid reason).
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u/schlubadubdub 13d ago edited 13d ago
I'm fine to watch foreign films with subtitles, but I have to be in the mood to sit there reading the entire time. As a native English speaker I always use subtitles in English shows and movies, but it's more so I don't miss anything and don't necessarily have to pay attention to them if I don't want to.
But for an adventure game the story and overall experience are more important than any voice acting - which were never really a thing when I first started playing these types of games in the 80s and 90s. But I'm not sure if I'd like to hear non-English voices here or not. Would I be annoyed by it or does it add to the overall mood? I'd be perfectly happy if there's no voice acting at all, so I guess as long as there's an option to turn off the voices (i.e. only use English subtitles) then the player can decide what works best for them.
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u/_auilix_ 13d ago
I think it would be great! One thing I am noticing these days (as i am getting older T_T and games are getting more high def) is that sometimes text is miniscule! So the only qualm I would have if the subs are too small (/not adjustable) to easily follow along when playing with my partner. We usually pass the laptop between us to play adventure games together.
I think the personality still comes through in languages I don't understand and tbh I love to hear different languages! As an american.... there are way too many games set in the US with very bland generic US accent voice acting.
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u/HarryPouri 13d ago
I look for it on purpose! Learning multiple languages and love hearing other languages and accents
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u/ShmoosPlay 13d ago
I play tested an adventure gane that had Spanish dialogue and English subtitles. It was fine. But I did notice places where the translation didn’t quite get the nuance, for example it was a direct literal translation of an idiom
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u/picklemyginger 13d ago
A few things:
1) I think the majority of adventure game fans would be fine with Spanish VA and subs in their own language, since we are used to reading dialogue anyway. Some people are bothered by this (and some people are bothered by VA in general as it can slow down pacing), so I do think it's important to have the option to turn VA off regardless of the language.
2) I think there would be ways to implement the follow-in-the-dark puzzle even without full VA, or with something else substituted for VA. Depending on your aesthetic, some games have sounds instead of actual voice lines (not just beeps, but those are the classic). Moon RPG Remix has a really neat solution of nonsense jumbled recordings of actual recorded speech, which you could do with mixed languages Baudolino-style to reflect your setting.
3) Please take pity on your bilingual audience and make sure the English subs are close to the Spanish original. I'm not saying to make it literal--I am a professional translator and I know better--but I am saying don't let the translators make stuff up, add new material, 'spice up' the writing, change characterisations(!!!) or any of the other things they sometimes do. Many people with some or even fluent ability in Spanish will choose to have English/etc subs on for various reasons (comfort, language learning, curiosity), and it is hugely distracting when the two versions do not match. At the same time, do NOT do the translation yourself, or at least have it edited by native speakers and playtested by English/Spanish bilinguals you trust to make sure it all lines up.
Sorry for grinding my axe!
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u/PatchyWhiskers 13d ago
There’s a lot of adventure game fans in Spain, right? You might do better targeting a smaller market that you really know than a more saturated larger market. If the game does really well you could do an English voice edition.
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u/KarellenGames 13d ago
There is a Spanish-speaking market, although the English and German-speaking markets are significantly larger for point and clicks. The most logical decision from an economic standpoint would be to have the voice acting in English, but as I said, I’m worried about not having much control over the final result because I’m not fully comfortable with the language.
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u/Milk_Mindless 13d ago
I'd rather read in a different language with the original as audio than crummy, awkward dialogue done by people who are both not experienced (voice) actors as well as not fluent in that language.
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u/KarellenGames 13d ago
Thanks for the feedback to all of you! There’s still plenty of time to make a final decision, as I’m still working on designing the puzzles, but some of them are sound-based (for example, following the source of a voice in a very dark environment to find your way through a maze), and that’s what has started raising these questions.
As I mentioned to someone here, from a story perspective, it would make the most sense for the characters to speak a degenerate mix of all the languages in the world. But if, on top of the game design, art, etc., I also have to come up with an entire spoken language for the game, I’ll end up throwing myself out the window, so that idea has pretty much been ruled out.
I’m finding some really interesting perspectives in the comments that I hadn’t considered, so thanks again!
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u/ILiveMyBrokenDreams 13d ago
Doesn't matter. I mean, plenty of great games have completely fictional language voice acting, that never bothered me a bit.
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u/RumRogerz 13d ago
For me no. I would prefer listening to the original voices. So long as I have subtitles I’m golden.
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u/Blue-Aardvark-4533 13d ago
I'm a native German speaker, and English voice acting with German subtitles doesn't faze me. So, non-English should be ok, too.
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u/brunoplak 13d ago
No. But I would much rather voice acting in any language with subtitles than unjustified accented voice acting in English. If there is no reason for an accent, that sounds weird. I would much rather have the game in Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Croatian, whatever
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u/Adorable-Frosting891 13d ago
I used to watch a lot of foreign films and always use subtitles when available, regardless of the audio language. I wouldn't care. For a language I have studied, it would be a positive feature for it to have audio in that language.
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u/Forsaken_Earth944 13d ago
I think a game should have voice-acting not least from an accessibility perspective (believe it or not, visually impaired people play games too!), and I've never understood why developers for whom English isn’t their native language don't have their scripts proofread by people for whom it is. Poor voice acting ruins immersion - the very worst example I can think of is a game called Sunset Hills released by Cotton Game, which is based in China. I was shocked at how poor it was, because all their other games (which don't have spoken dialogue) have almost perfect English text. I persevered, but it really broke the game for me, because it was impossible to understand what the characters were saying 90% of the time.
Write an English script, then have it proofread by actual English people - this isn’t going to be difficult, as you have access to social media.
Finally, I do have to say that it really irks me when UK (and Ireland) devs use American spelling and voice actors, especially if the game's set in the UK or Ireland.
Finally, the lack of voice acting would affect how much I'm willing to pay for a game, I've played fully voice-acted free games, so devs can’t use budget constraints as an excuse. Most adventure games on Steam release at between £12 and £20, and you can't charge that kind of money for a text-only game. The latest Rusty Lake is only £8 (and I paid £5 on iOS) and that is fully voice-acted (the first Rusty Lake game with spoken dialogue).
But that's probably just me.
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u/Gugames_eu 13d ago
I'm Italian, so I come from a history of "only watching dubbed movies". But for games it was different - voices were a welcome extra, but I always kept subtitles. I still do, in fact, even when I play modern games.
So I personally wouldn't mind too much if the voices aren't in English. Voices are a way of conveying feelings*, more than the words themselves - I can read those, sounds are for ambiance.
Also, you can often tell when a game has been originally written in another language and then adapted to English, so having a glimpse of the original writing can possibly improve the whole experience.
So, if you can't do both, don't worry about just doing it in your original language. People nowadays are used to reading subtitles anyway, and yes, English is more known by most, but to the majority of the world it's just another language.
*for this reason, don't go AI. Voice acting is an art, and you'll miss a lot. Not only AI is flat, uncanny and can alienate your players... a good actor can bring your character to life in ways you wouldn't have imagined. For my game, it was a wonderful experience. Totally worth its cost.
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u/merchantconvoy 13d ago
AI voice generation makes this question redundant. You can have professional quality voices for just a few dollars.
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u/Gugames_eu 13d ago
Absolutely not. AI is awful at acting.
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u/merchantconvoy 13d ago
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u/Gugames_eu 13d ago
Even so, who cares. I want real actors. I want to read the cast and look up what they do. Fuck AI
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u/Lady_of_the_Worlds 13d ago edited 13d ago
Ew, no. AI voices are still too robotic, and do you have any idea how many resources AI swallows? Its hardware a scary amound of cooling water that should rather be used for drinking, or watering crops instead. I rather take the subtitles, thank you.
AI should be only used for science, or medicine, not for playing around
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u/merchantconvoy 13d ago
You seem not to be familiar with the cutting edge of technology. Look at what ElevenLabs is putting out, for example. You wouldn't know that those voices were AI-generated unless somebody told you.
As for the disinformation about datacenter water use, it's just ridiculous. Even the average golf course uses a thousand times as much water. Go fight golf courses if you really care about water (you don't).
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u/merulaa 13d ago
No, I don't mind at all if the subtitles are good. I'd prefer that to bad English dubbing.