Watch dogs Legion was one of the most interesting games revealed at E3 2019. The game allows you to recruit and play as any of the NPCs in the game’s world. Each playable NPC in Watch Dogs Legion has unique skills and backstory but not a unique voice actor as Ubisoft is using voice modulation.
Speaking with Twinfinite, creative director Clint Hocking talked about different aspects of Watch Dogs Legion. He was asked with so many characters in the game they must’ve hired a lot of voice talent.
According to Hocking, the studio didn’t want to record the script “a bunch of times” with different voice actors and then modulate it because it would have increased the game file size significantly.
Instead, the studio went for voice modulation for Watch Dogs Legion. He added that with voice modulation, a single voice actor can be used for multiple characters and players wouldn’t even know the difference.
We didn’t want to record the script a whole bunch of times with a whole bunch of actors and then have to modulate those voices to make different sounding ones and then have all of that data on the disk –it would’ve blown the hard drive away.
With the voice modulation tech, you can hear the actor playing me talking to another character who doesn’t look like me who has the same voice as me talking together and you wouldn’t know that it’s the same person because the voices are so different.
Come to think of it it makes sense for a game like Watch Dogs Legion to use voice modulation. Having to record the script separately with a bunch of voice actors costs a lot of time and money.
With voice modulation, Ubisoft managed to not only reduce the game’s file size but will be able to launch the game on time.
Watch Dogs Legion is set in London but, Ubisoft didn’t reveal if it’s 1:1 recreation of the city or how big the map really is. One fan has managed to stitch together the map for Watch Dogs Legion and the map is bigger than Assassin’s Creed Syndicate.
As I mentioned earlier, Watch Dogs Legion allows players to take control of any NPC in the game’s world. Each NPC has a unique story, animations, skills and more.
While it all sounds good but personally, I am skeptical about Ubisoft being able to deliver what they are marketing. Sure, the studio has saved time with voice modulation but games like this take a lot of time to develop.
Ubisoft’s also has a history of downgrading its games but, I will reserve my judgment until Watch Dogs Legion launches for PC and consoles.
Watch Dogs Legion is an open-world action adventure game in development at Ubisoft. The game is scheduled to launch on March 6, 2020, for PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
Source: Twinfinite
