With the talented voices of Jean Paul Baeck (Borderlands 3, Ghost of Tsushima, The Last of Us 2), Anja Taborsky (The Last of Us 2, Hearthstone), Oliver Wronka (Final Fantasy XV), Vincent Fallow (Cris Tales), directed by Tim Hennemann (Rainbow Six: Siege, Watch Dogs 2) and the guidance of German localization specialist Linda Weikert, we explore the journey, the process, and the people behind the scenes who helped bring the game into full sync.

Adapting an originally English voice-over to a more verbose language like German presents something of a challenge. Anja Taborsky, who lends her voice to the female units, puts it succinctly: “When I adapt, I stick to the original as much as possible. And if it’s good – and it always is – I can just ‘hang on’ to it, and it goes by itself.”

Jean Paul Baeck takes the same positive approach, stating that while adaptation can be challenging, “but is twice as much fun in the end“. Oliver Wronka adds, “that it actually makes the creation of a character much easier because there is already a voice actor who has taken the trouble to give the character a voice“.

But how does director Tim Hennemann go about directing these talents in their new roles, bringing the units and heroes to life in a new language for the game? Tim explains that a lot of this work goes into casting and selecting voice actors. “You look at the roles and what characteristics they have. At CONQUEROR’S BLADE it was particularly important that the roles differ from each other in attitude and voice, even if they have very similar texts. That’s why we needed particularly versatile voice actors who could cover as wide a range as possible.”

With voice actors and a director who have worked on various titles like Rainbow Six: Siege and Ghost of Tsushima, the range of genres, settings, and themes that these various games encompass is huge. So how did the people who provided their talents feel working on Conqueror’s Blade compared to other titles?

Oliver Wronka, who worked on Final Fantasy XV, describes the difference between the voicing of fantasy characters and historical characters as almost non-existent, saying that “every character must be believable in their own way and sound accordingly, whether they exist in a fictional universe, in a parallel world, or in the past“.

Jean Paul Baeck describes his experiences from the point of view of a voice actor, explaining that “these different works are actually not that different from each other” and that he prefers “to be guided exclusively by the information that the director and the developers give me about the game and my characters.”

Directing is an important part of getting the best out of the voice actors, and Tim Hennemann was the right man to bring the German voice acting to life. Having worked on futuristic or new-age games like Rainbow Six: Siege and Watch Dogs 2, he knows full well that adapting the language to the time requires a great deal of care and attention. “We take care to avoid anglicisms that are firmly anchored in today’s vernacular, and in return leave some phrases that would rather not be used today“, explains Tim. “However, we also have to intervene in some things that would sound completely silly in today’s parlance.”

German localization specialist Linda Weikert also lent her expertise and was present at every recording session to give the team and actors answers to questions about the game or lines of text. Linda also suggested re-recordings of voiceovers when necessary, and praised the “great atmosphere during the sessions“.