Dev Blog: The Voices of the Lex

Hey Everyone,

With the introduction of Arbitrators to the Mourningstar and to celebrate the upcoming release of our new DLC we’re going to talk a bit about the voice work. Matthew Ward, Michael Knight and David Wahlund tell us what it’s like working with Darktide’s cast and the process we go through to get the performances just right.

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What does the audition procedure look like?

Matthew Ward: The casting process for Darktide never really stops. We’re always adding new characters to the game, which means that we’re always in contact with new talent, either for specific roles or with an ear to getting them involved at some point in the future when something suitable arises.

As to how we find our actors, it’s always a mix. Some are from blind casting processes where our studio partners source self-taped auditions in line with a casting brief that we provide. Others we approach based on their past work in one medium or another, and more via recommendations from the recording studios or existing cast members. It’s a broad spectrum approach that over the years has given us a great mix of industry veterans, rising stars and the odd member of video game royalty.

In almost every case, the casting process ends with a directed live audition session at one of our studios, where we hone the actor’s interpretation of the character and hopefully hit that sweet spot of what works for them and matches what we’re looking for.

Of course, sometimes we hear something we didn’t know that we were looking for, and that’s really where the magic happens.

Michael Knight: I’m constantly blown away by the talent we manage to draw to our game. I think it speaks to the effort that’s always been put into the voices we feature in the Tide games.

Are there many Warhammer: 40,000 fans among the contenders?

MW: It’s not something that we stipulate, but it’s always a bonus when it comes together that way, as the accompanying knowledge and enthusiasm always shows. Greg Jones and Alex Jordan are some examples from our longstanding cast, Michael Geary from our more recent intake. And of course, we have several actors who are familiar with the Warhammer: 40,000 setting from their work on other projects.

MK: We also often find people who’ve never interacted with the IP being fascinated by its depth (and darkness!)

How specific are the VO directions? I’ve seen footage of actors holding prop guns and running on the spot to get the right dynamic and exertion sound for the lines. Is there any more like that?

MW: Some of our actors - and they know who they are - would probably refuse to record if they didn’t have their stand-in weaponry to tote around. I’m almost entirely sure that’s healthy, and I’ll always say that if there’s any chance that they might be listening. Or armed.

But seriously, everyone’s method is different. We record almost exclusively with head-mounted microphones, which allow the talent to roam - or literally throw themselves - around the recording booth if they want. Others get the motion and inflection we’re looking for while standing still or perched on a chair. Whatever gets the results, gets the results.

What’s the weirdest direction that has been given to a VA for this game?

MW: I don’t know about “weirdest”, but something that always gets good results is directing the actor to shout at the recording engineer. It’s nothing personal (at least I hope not) but that always gets a great result. As far as I know we haven’t yet traumatised an engineer. In fact, most of them tend to end up grinning. People are strange.

David Wahlund: A maybe unknown and odd part of voice work is the exertions, efforts or grunts. It’s the vocals that are not verbalized. In an action game we have a lot of these. When you swing the sword or get hit by a bullet for example. We have 15 different categories. Some efforts or grunts can be used in several different situations. For example a jump grunt can be used when you get pushed etc. These are all quite private sounds. Sometimes, especially when time is short, you might need to give an example yourself. That’s certainly weird the first time you do it. But by doing it yourself you might also take the edge out of the weirdness in the situation for the actor.

How does the performance process for the monstrosities work? How do you decide, or communicate to the actor “that’s what we want this thing to sound like”?

DW: As Matt mentioned earlier, the actor’s interpretation is super important. We need to give them as much details and context as possible so that they can be creative. When it comes to creatures or monster-like humans, animations and graphics play a big part. So if you can give as much visual information as possible that will certainly help. What does the mouth look like? How does the creature move? All details matter.

What’s the average length of a recording session?

MW: Because we ask for a lot of shouting from our actors - “Darktide Conversational Level” has become a bit of a running joke because it’s really not that conversational - most sessions run for an hour, although some of our hardier actors are happy to record for longer sessions. It’s a style of performance that’s very demanding on not only the voice but the whole body.

How many lines on average are recorded in a session?

MW: We plan for around a hundred lines a session. Often that goes higher - when the actor’s in the zone - and sometimes it goes lower, especially when it gets very shouty. It’s always a balance between speed, quality and the actor’s comfort, with the latter being the absolutely most important of the three.

We’re always adding new voice lines. How often does Fatshark have recording sessions?

MW: It varies depending on what we want to capture. The Arbitrator sessions have been pretty full on (roughly 150 recording hours since the start of the year), but for other updates where we only need to add more NPC lines, it might just take a couple of hours.

We might not invite an actor back into the booth for months (or even years), or sometimes they’ll be in for a couple of hours for several weeks (or months) in a row. It’s all about matching our needs to their availability. Most are very busy individuals, so we try to get our asks in early.

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Thank you for reading our dev blog on what goes into the performances and the work behind your new Arbites Class, releasing on June 23, 2025 on all platforms. We’ll be looking out for any questions and we’ll do our best to answer them.

This is the Will of the Lex.

We’ll see you on the Mourningstar.

Wishlist the Arbites Class today on Steam.

– The Darktide Team

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hi,Are there any new maps in this update

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When will we find out about the class itself? We know next to nothing about the gameplay

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  • There will be a presentation by the arbitrator on June 12th
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Fascinating.

Actual infos about the class, potential new maps and most important of all: balance patch notes when?

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caption-12

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Can you show us some behind the scenes footage of the staff’s performances during the recording
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The behind the scenes performances of two voice actors that leave a deep impression on my memory

Alix Wilton Regan as Karillian in Vermintide II - Drunk

Bioshock Infinite - “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?” by Courtnee Draper & Troy Baker (Ending Credits)

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Next to nothing?
We Know
-new shotgun weapon, its pump action
-the dog is a constant companion and will act independently
-the dog can be opted out of for a character buff
-the companion will try to free it’s owner from hounds
-there is a shield and revolver weapon
-there is a shield and baton weapon
-you can command the dog by double pinging enemies
-it will stagger but not pin enemy ogryn
-it wont take damage so babysitting it wont be part of your gameplay.

Its not alot but thats pretty far from nothing.

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None of this is about the skill tree, and we still don’t know how the shield weapons work, just that they exist

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Those must be some expensive mics for the quality they’re putting out. I feel like most BTS footage you see on entertainment industry it’s almost always floor or ceiling mounted mics.

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Since the gameplay will be revealed tomorrow, there’s a good chance the new class’s skill tree will be released either tomorrow or sometime this week.
Then, next week, we might get a blog about the story overhaul and difficulty adjustments.
What I’m most concerned about is the possibility that no balance changes will be made at all.

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We will see what’s revealed on June 12, 2025 for the next Arbites reveal

More gameplay footage and presentations of the new weapons are sure to be featured

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This is really cool to read! Glad to see the bts of everything developed and for the further exposure of the Arbites characteristics, weaponry, and gameplay leading up to release!

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Sounds awesome, literally! :laughing:

I hope we get a bunch of penances to complete with this roll out too

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I’d like to hear about updates to the rest of the game more than I want to hear hype about something I’m not planning on buying.

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Love these behind the scenes blogs! It didn’t occur to me just how intense and constant this whole scouting/interviewing/recording/editing/etc. process must be.

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smore about the design process but interesting I guess. you should have had the judge schooling the Arbites on their version of the lex and imperial law.

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Epic Coal

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Wish I could thank each of the voice actors and show them appreciation for their work. Every one of them has done such a good job. :face_holding_back_tears:

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Yeah, they will show more we just gotta have patience. They are revealing stuff over time :slight_smile:

I for one was more interested in the dog then then skill tree and am glad they did that one first

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