Well-voiced characters are an important factor for the immersion of a game, meaning how well you can dive into them. For MeinMMO author Benedict Grothaus, this is enormously important for full enjoyment of the game, which is why he usually plays in the original voice-over because it sounds more authentic. However, he has still truly fallen in love with five games in the German translation.
Why is voice acting so important? When characters talk to me, I want them to sound natural. As if they were actually speaking to me and sharing their worries and life with me.
For me, this is one of the biggest conditions to really dive deeply into a game, especially in role-playing games, but also in other genres. However, one needs to be able to understand the respective languages.
As I speak English fluently and many games come from English-speaking companies or are voiced in English originally, I usually play in English as well. However, there are a few gems that are simply so good in German that I don’t need the English version.
What games are those and how did you choose them? My list consists of multiplayer games and MMOs that I have personally played for a long time, some for many years, or still actively play.
They are chosen based on personal preference, so it is not a completed or sorted list. However, all games have in common that they were installed in German by default and I only switch the language under certain circumstances. In most cases, the games have captivated me so much that I didn’t need the original audio anymore.
Overwatch
What is Overwatch? The hero shooter from Blizzard has been on the market since 2016 and caused quite a hype back then. Although this has waned over the years, the game still has many loyal players.
Currently, the developers are working on a sort of successor: Overwatch 2 is supposed to bring better graphics and exclusive game modes, but otherwise be compatible with the original game. Even cosmetics are supposed to be transferable.
Why is the German voice acting so good? The core feature of Overwatch is the variety of heroes, most of whom come from real countries on Earth, such as Germany, Japan, or Australia.
They are diverse and represent diversity, which is also reflected in the language. For me, at this point, Reinhardt the Swabian, Mercy the Swiss, and Sigma the Dutchman are the reasons why Overwatch sounds overwhelmingly good.
Reinhardt and Mercy simply have a “German accent” in English. However, in German, they actually speak Swabian and Swiss German, respectively, with a Swiss accent. The same goes for Sigma. An example of my favorite voice lines from Overwatch:
These heroes alone make me love to play Overwatch in German, while all heroes have top-notch German voice actors, some of whom are famous names, such as:
- Soldier 76 – Martin Keßler, the German voice of Nicolas Cage and Vin Diesel
- Torbjörn – Stefan Gossler, known as the voice of Jackie Chan
- Junkrat – Manuel Straube, known as the voice of Stewie from Family Guy and Martin Freeman (Bilbo Baggins) in the Hobbit films
- Sombra – Lara Trautmann, better known as Lara Loft
In English, some of the home languages of the heroes are better (like Korean for D.Va or Chinese for Mei), but I simply fell in love with the German voices four years ago. Even competitively, I play here in German.
World of Warcraft
What is WoW? The largest and one of the most popular MMORPGs in the world has been on the market for nearly 16 years now. World of Warcraft found its place even in our Top 15 of the best MMOs and MMORPGs.
The eternal conflict between Horde and Alliance underlies the game. The game offers popular PvE content with dungeons and raids, and variety for PvP fans with arenas and battlegrounds.
In numerous expansions, the story is continued with different themes. The latest expansion is Shadowlands, which was released on October 27, 2020.
Why is the German voice acting so good? Like in Overwatch, it’s the love for detail in World of Warcraft that I fell in love with. The characters sound natural, and even the characteristics of the different races were maintained in the translation:
- Blood Elves always sound a bit arrogant
- Night Elves always sound a bit gentle and sleepy
- with Goblins, the greed is particularly well highlighted
- Gnomes express their almost childlike curiosity and thirst for knowledge with their voices
This is particularly evident in Battle for Azeroth. The new race of Kul Tirans has a perfect Hamburg dialect on their tongue, which fits perfectly with the port city. In addition, Blizzard always manages to give me shivers with the German cinematics and short films:
Nowadays, I usually play in English, but that’s due to a bug in the (missing) voice output in Legion as well as a few addons that I no longer want to play without and which sometimes require an English client.
Remnant: From the Ashes
What is Remnant? The surprise hit from 2019 mixes a post-apocalyptic setting like in Fallout with the hard action gameplay of Dark Souls and Bloodborne – just with guns. The Earth is threatened by the “Seed”, tree-like beings that want to bring everything to a standstill, and players must prevent that.
With an offer from Epic to get Remnant for free, the game boomed again in the summer of 2020. Shortly thereafter, the second and final expansion Subject 2923 was released.
Why is the German voice acting so good? In Remnant, it’s not necessarily the details like dialects that make German so good for me, but how well the voices themselves match the characters.
Each character is individually voiced, and there are no “standard voice lines” or anything that all merchants share. When something happens in the world, which is usually the player’s responsibility, the NPCs react to it and talk to me about it. And they always do it in their own way: McCabe is annoyed by everything I do, Reggie is outrageously cheerful, and Whispers doesn’t speak at all but writes everything down on a small chalkboard. Here’s a little excerpt from the voices at Station 13, around minute 9:07:
Even the player character is partially voiced, and there are different voice options available for men and women. This leads to wild screams like “Reload!” or “I need cover!” in heated combat, which on one hand enhances immersion and on the other helps teammates know what you’re doing.
The voice output is one of the reasons why I sometimes maybe play Remnant a bit too long.
League of Legends
What is LoL? One of the most successful MOBAs is League of Legends, which regularly attracts millions of players and tens of thousands of spectators to major esports events. You play as one of the many champions in a team of 5 players and try to destroy the main building of the opposing team. New playable characters are constantly being introduced.
Currently, the qualifiers for the World Championship, the biggest spectacle in LoL, are ongoing. The probably most famous player in the world, Faker, recently messed up the qualification with his team.
Why is the German voice acting so good? Like in Remnant, League of Legends has fully voiced characters. Each has its own style, which also works well in German. The best part, however, are the interactions between the characters.
Numerous champions, like Vi and Caitlyn, linguistically interact with each other by teasing one another. Such wordplay is excellently translated into German, and the quality is not lost. A particularly good German sync was also given to the champion Jhin:
The only downside is that there are few such contextual voice lines; most are randomly selected confirmations and sentences. Moreover, there usually isn’t enough time in battle to really appreciate the voice output.
Hearthstone
What is Hearthstone? The card game from Blizzard was released in March 2014 and quickly became a hit, especially with the Mobile version following shortly after. One reason for this may be that a quick round can be casually played in under 20 minutes and “in between”.
Roughly speaking, it can be compared with the famous collectible card game Magic: The Gathering, at least in terms of deck principles, but it has completely different systems and mechanics.
Hearthstone is constantly being expanded with new sets and events, including solo adventures that tell exciting and funny stories. Currently, a new reward system is in the works.
Why is the German voice acting so good? Hearthstone benefits a bit from the top-notch voice acting in World of Warcraft because many voice actors play multiple roles: for iconic NPCs in WoW and for their and sometimes other cards in Hearthstone. One example is Harrison Jones, voiced by Wolfgang Pampel, the German voice of Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones).
This is a nice detail for WoW players when they recognize their favorite character there. Additionally, trailers and cinematics clearly show that much effort has gone into the German translation and voice output:
However, the best part about Hearthstone is probably the innkeeper, who comments on pretty much everything, always has a great line ready, and who sounds like the nice guy behind the counter in German, who explains on the side how to truly be happy while tapping your beer.
