Divinity: Original Sin 2 was never meant to have voice acting. With more than 1,000 NPCs, developer Larian Studios decided from the off that it'd just be too much work. But it quietly changed its mind earlier this year, hired 80 actors, and recorded more than a million spoken words.
It initially experimented with one-liners and voice barks but "it just didn't feel right", the the developer said in a Kickstarter update.
"We thought there would be no way, either time or budget-wise, to voice it all. So we started small, hoping to improve the soundscape by voicing some one-liners and voice barks. But it just didn’t feel right. We wanted to hear our beloved characters talk. So we crunched some numbers, poured some coffee and decided: Oh heck, why not. Let's fully voice Divinity: Original Sin 2!"
The cast includes Downton Abbey actor Harry Hadden-Paton, who was one of the male Inquisitor voices in Dragon Age: Inquisition as well as Edmund in Divinity: Dragon Commander.
Alix Wilton Regan, who voiced one of the female Inquisitors in Inquisition, is also on board, playing Elven assassin Sebille.
You can watch the team chat about the process and have a listen to the game's rousing orchestral soundtrack in the video below . The game is out September 14.