Featuring 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 guided by German localization specialist Linda Weikert, we explore the journey, process and behind-the-scenes people who helped to fully dub the game.

Bringing characters to life in a new language

Adapting an originally English voiceover 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 'stick' to it, and it goes by itself."

Jean Paul Baeck takes the same positive approach, explaining that while adaptation can be challenging,"it ends up being twice as much fun." Oliver Wronka adds that"it actually makes creating a character much easier because there is already a voice actor who has gone through the trouble of giving the character a voice."

But how does director Tim Hennemann go about directing these talents in their new roles to bring the units and heroes to life in a new language for the game? Tim explains that a lot of that work is in casting and selecting voice actors."You look at the roles and what characteristics they have. On CONQUEROR'S BLADE it was especially important that the roles differ in attitude and voice, even though they have very similar lines. That's why we needed particularly versatile voice actors who could cover as wide a range as possible."

Working on Conqueror's Blade

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 different games encompass is huge. So how did the people who lent their talents feel about working on Conqueror's Blade compared to other titles?

Oliver Wronka, who worked on Final Fantasy XV, describes the difference between voicing fantasy characters and historical characters as almost nonexistent, saying that"every character has to be believable in their own way and sound appropriately, whether they exist in a fictional universe, in a parallel world, or in the past."

Jean Paul Baeck describes his experience from a voice actor's point of view, explaining that"these different works are really not that different from each other" and that he prefers to"go solely by the information the director and 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 implement the German voiceover. 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 lot 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," Tim explains."However, we also have to intervene with some things that would sound completely silly in today's vernacular."

German localization specialist Linda Weikert was also on hand to offer her expertise and was present at every recording session to provide the team and actors with answers to questions about the game or lines of text. Linda also suggested re-recordings of voiceovers when needed, and praised the"great atmosphere during the sessions."