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.
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.
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
