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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|"''Drawing on my fine command of language, I said nothing.''"|'''[[Mark Twain]]'''}}
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A video game-specific variant of [[The Voiceless]] or [[The Speechless]]. In many RPGs, the main hero doesn't seem to talk ([[Visible Silence]] might be used). The official explanation for this is that the main character ''is'' the player, and dialogue would either interfere with the player's train of thought or knock them out of the viewpoint of that character (compare the [[Featureless Protagonist]]). An aversion of this would be to allow the player to actually talk to the characters through a microphone or the AI be able to comprehend any text entered, but this is beyond current technology, except in online games where you're talking to other players instead of AIs — or through the limited means of a [[Dialogue Tree]].
Some characters might be like this when under the player's control, but perfectly normal and talking characters as [[NPC
Nevertheless, this often results in the fandom discussing [[Fanon|whether or not]] a character is mute. Most of the time when somebody makes a [[Novelization]] or a [[Webcomic of the Game]], odds are that it'll have the character speak in [[Visible Silence]] and be treated as [[The Silent Bob]].
This trope can get very frustrating when the character has, for example, undergone an [[Involuntary Transformation]] or [[Emergency Transformation]], and has allies who weren't there to see it. It's also hard to grow too fond of a
One fairly common variation of this is to suggest that the main character actually does speak, we just can't hear them or see their text boxes. [[Silent Bob|However, the other characters in the game can, and we can sometimes infer what was said from their reactions.]] Another common variation used to compromise between immersion and characterization is to allow the player character to speak, but only during non-interactive cutscenes.
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== Action Adventure ==
* Link from ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'' series never says anything, Some fans have often put forth the possibility that he's a mute. [[The Silent Bob|though other characters sometimes react as if he had]], meaning that his dialogue is possibly meant to be imagined by the player. (In later games, he often has an [[Exposition Fairy]] that speaks in his stead during cutscenes, asking questions and so on.) In ''[[Twilight Princess]]'', there are a few cutscenes that show Link and another character chatting, but none of the words are texted or vocalized. In ''[[The Wind Waker]]'' he would say "Come on!" to a companion NPC in some dungeons as a command to make them return to him, but that was it. Lampshaded in ''Twilight Princess'', when {{spoiler|Midna, when her true form is revealed, notes his silence by saying "What? Say something! Am I so beautiful you've no words left?"}}
** Link can sort of speak, when the player is given decision of "Yes or No" questions, the quantity of supplies he or she want to buy, and etc. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4elLuTGg3Yw Easily explained]
** This became amusing when Link appeared in ''[[Soul Calibur]] II''. Ivy can taunt him with "You're all talk!" ...when he hasn't even said a word.
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*** Generally, ''[[The Wind Waker]]'''s Link seems to be the most "talkative" one, even aside his "Come on!", since much of the games (including ''[[Phantom Hourglass]]'') dialogue works by characters asking questions and the player picking an answer for Link from two choices. The choices are never just "Yes" or "No", but tell rather a lot about Link's true feelings regarding the topic. More than often, both answers would even actually mean pretty much the same, giving Link some actual dialogue, in theory. This also happens, to a lesser degree, in other 3D games.
** Even before ''The Wind Waker'', ''Zelda II'''s Link actually said "I found a mirror under the table" once. He never says anything else, though.
** Link is definitely a
** In ''Phantom Hourglass'', at one point you blow into the mic so that Link can shout through a brick wall to check if anyone is on the other side. It shows a dialogue balloon along the lines of "HEY! ANYONE OVER THERE?", so yeah, Toon Link can talk. He's just usually quiet.
** In ''[[Oracle of Ages]]'', he [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOFJBnNCK3w botches a joke], though we never actually ''see'' the joke he apparently told.
** In ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword|Skyward Sword]]'' Link can be seen "speaking" (with mouth movements) during some cutscenes, but the game displays no text to show exactly what he is saying. Presumably the developers intended that the player would understand the gist of what he was saying, since you would have already seen what he was talking about. Miyamoto and Aonuma have actually stated that the reason the game didn't have voice acting was because they thought having voiced characters would clash with having a
** It has since been [[Word of God|confirmed]] that the Hero's Shade from ''Twilight Princess'' is the Hero of Time incarnation, so his dialogue counts.
** In ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild|Breath of the Wild]]'' Link has no recorded dialogue, but does have scripted statements chosen by the player while addressing NPCs, most of them brief. He can even sneak up on one and shout "BOO!" if the player desires.
*** ''Breath'' actually gives an explanation for Link’s silence, [[Gameplay and Story Integration]] making him [[The Silent Bob]] as well. Supposedly, he was far more talkative as a child, but once he realized his calling and the heavy burden placed upon him, he felt remaining silent and stoic was the best way to put up a strong front while facing his foes.
*** [[Word of God]] has also stated that Link's silence and his androgynous appearance in this era of games is done so the player can identify with him (as the player's avatar) making it easier to relate to him and become more immersed in the story.
** Quite possibly the biggest reason for the failure of ''[[The Legend of Zelda (animation)|The Legend of Zelda]]'' cartoon was because fans liked Link ''much'' better when he ''didn't'' talk.
** Zelda has, much like Link, been silent in most of her appearances in the franchise, though this trend ended in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild|Breath of the Wild]]'' where she was given a voice actress and quite a bit of dialogue. [[Broken Base| Fan reaction was split.]]
* ''[[Cave Story]]'' and its silent robot protagonist, {{spoiler|Quote}}.
** Inverted in the [[Wii Ware]] port: {{spoiler|Curly Story gives Curly Brace several lines where Quote had none previously. Quote is still mostly mute (scenes involving him have Curly speak for him), except for one situation in the Plantation; performing a sidequest required to access the [[Bonus Level of Hell]] actually gives Quote a couple of lines.}}
* Not really a hero (unless you go for the not-so-evil ending), but the new overlord in ''[[Overlord]]'' never says anything either. This continues in the sequels and prequels, with none of the Overlords ever speaking
* Amaterasu in ''[[Okami]]'' never says anything, being a wolf. Instead the sidekick, Issun, [[Voice for The Voiceless|acts as her mouthpiece]]... at length. Ammy's own emotions generally get expressed in appropriately canine ways, including gnawing on Issun when he gets too rude.
** Often, and amusingly, Issun will interpret Ammy's intentions even when she shows no outward indication of a response, particularly when accepting a quest when she is usually just panting and looking around nonchalantly.
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* The protagonist of ''[[Alundra 2: A New Legend Begins|Alundra 2]]'', Flint, is a mute and he only communicates by [[Going Through the Motions|hand gestures]].
* In ''[[Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg]]'' Billy is completely speechless (if you exclude his occasional "ok!" and "good morning!").
* Hat Kid in ''[[A Hat in Time]]'' never vocally speaks in a way the player can interpret, although her diary shows her personality quite a bit through her writing.
== Action Games ==
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== Adventure Games ==
* The nameless protagonist of [[Sierra]]'s ''[[Quest for Glory]]'' speaks only a handful of times in the span of five games: telling the potion maker about the dryad in the first game, grumbling to himself in the first game, and saying "Right", "Just the facts", and "What's a pomegranate" in the second game. Otherwise, he's your standard
** [[Lampshaded]] in the [[Fan Remake]] of ''[[King's Quest II]]'', when King Graham (who was a Heroic Mime himself in the original version) triggers an Easter Egg unleashing the ''Quest for Glory'' hero. "You don't say much, do you? Surely, you might speak to me of your adventures!"
** The fan remake of the second game has an onscreen image of your character baby talking to Simba. The kid shuts you up with a complex commentary about poltergeists.
* In the case of ''[[Angel Devoid]]'', your [[Player Character|PC]] literally [[The Speechless|CAN'T talk]], since you've been given surgery to make you mute and look like the [[Big Bad]] before being dumped into the [[Vice City|mean streets]]. Your "dialog" choices consist entirely of two buttons that allow you to act either intimidating or receptive in response to conversation.
* ''[[
* Roger Wilco in ''[[Space Quest]]'' started out as one; starting with ''Space Quest IV'', he has since been given regular dialogue.
* The protagonist of ''The Crystal Key'' is
* The protagonist of ''[[Spider and Web]]'' is a borderline example: he/she can answer "yes" and "no" to the interrogator's questions in the [[Framing Device]] interrogation scenes. He can also say "tango" and "waltz" (keywords to turn a device on/off).
== Fighting Games ==
* Taken to a ridiculous extreme in ''[[Super Smash Bros.]] Brawl'''s Adventure Mode, where ''nearly everyone'' is a
** In the interest of fairness, the reason for the necessity of [[All There in the Manual]] is due to two scenes that were removed from the final version. ''Most'' of the plot and character interactions can be inferred from their actions... just not the most important ones.
* Def Jam Vendetta has four generic protagonists with the exact same story and cutscenes, and not one speaks a single word except for the occasional "Yeah!" or grunt. ''Very'' awkward, especially considering all the smack talk, threats, and jabbering dished out by everyone around them.
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** [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in ''World at War'' - while crawling through a burnt-out building in Berlin, a bunch of soldiers start complaining about the smoke, at which point Sgt. Reznov tells them to shut up, mentions how he and Dimitri (your character) "crawled through smoke and rubble in Stalingrad", then says "do you hear him complaining?"
*** In the very first mission, when you are playing as Miller, your Japanese captor says to you, "You think because you say nothing, you're strong?"
** Interestingly enough, Soap MacTavish is the player-character's NPC squad leader in ''Modern Warfare 2,'' which means he has actual, pre-written characterization. This in itself isn't all that bad, and indeed is a clever [[Continuity Nod]], but Soap's personality is sure to have conflicted with what some players imagined him to be while playing as him during his
*** ''Black Ops'' also had {{spoiler|Dimitri Petrenko}} return as a NPC with both his face shown and his voice revealed, as well as a semblance of a personality, in "Project Nova."
** For the first time in the series, the Thermal Imaging TV Operator aboard the AC-130 in ''[[Modern Warfare]]'''s "Death From Above" mission could be heard speaking during the mission. ''[[Call of Duty: Black Ops|Call of Duty Black Ops]]'' is also the first game to have every protagonist speak during the mission, allowing them to actually communicate what they see and do to the rest of the group.
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*** In [[MW 1]] you play as a Soap MacTavish, and you spend the entire game mute. Then, in [[MW 2]], Soap is an NPC and your commander, and now is just as talkative as anyone else. Later on, you play through a mission as Soap again, and once again, you're mute.
*** In [[MW 3]], you start the game from Soap's perspective, still mute. Later on in the game you play from someone else's perspective and Soap is now talking again.
*** Several missions have you playing as a character named Yuri. While the character plays as Yuri, he is a
* The ''Battlefield 3'' campaign has both Staff Sergeant Blackburn and {{spoiler|"Dima"}} not say anything when you're playing as them, although Blackburn speaks during the interrogation cutscenes between the levels. The "Kaffarov" level subverts the trope with the "Kaffarov" level, as when you switch to {{spoiler|Blackburn at the end of the level, Dima appears as a speaking NPC}}. The trope is played straight however with Corporal Jonathan Miller.
** Coincidentally, {{spoiler|"Dima"'s NPC appearance at the end of "Kaffarov"}} is the only time he actually speaks; the ending cutscene {{spoiler|only has him doing a voiceover of a possible suicide note}}.
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* Speaking of WWII FPSes, this also applies to the ''[[Medal of Honor]]'' games. In fact, the series' first [[PlayStation 2]]/Xbox/GC installment, ''Frontline'', sort of pokes fun at this: During the mission Nijmegen Bridge, a fellow soldier asks you to disarm some charges placed along the bridge, and quips "Good. I take your silence as a "yes"."
** Joseph Griffin in ''Rising Sun'' gets a physical appearance, yet he's still a heroic mime in the cutscenes.
* Nick Mason from ''Urban Chaos: Riot Response'' is not only mute, but aside from a few photographs that may or may not be him, [[
** So that they could have the enemy characters shouting things like "Eat a bowl of f#@*, Mason!"
* Gordon Freeman from the ''[[Half-Life]]'' series (and pictured up the top) is one of the most famous. Being a [[Valve]] game, there is heavy [[Lampshade Hanging]], with characters remarking that Gordon is a man of few words or offering to do the talking for him. He apparently also makes off-camera expressions that the NPCs will react to (for example, viewing some of the objects in Black Mesa East will prompt different lines from Eli). He does however express concern over getting shot, burned, hitting the ground after a long fall and drowning with moans, grunts and other noises that living creatures use to make others know that they are, as a matter of fact, in pain.
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*** Also that he was radioactive, and how that can't be good.
*** He also informed a Cyberdemon that it was huge, and therefore extrapolated that it's guts must be similarly huge.
*** [[
* In ''[[Quake 4|Quake IV]]'', the protagonist, Matthew Kane, never speaks, not even when reacting to other characters.
** It's possible that he may not even be able to talk normally after [[Nightmare Fuel|what happens to him]] after being captured. This doesn't explain why he's silent before that, of course, and why when he's rescued he doesn't even nod or shake his head. People talked about him basically every time they saw him before or after, and sometimes asked him questions.
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* In a strange semi-subversion of this trope, ''[[Time Splitters]]: Future Perfect'' has wormholes that you can walk through that allow Cortez to interact with his past or future self. While future-Cortez throws out a multitude of one-liners during these segments, and when you play as the future-Cortez he never talks, but the past-Cortez does instead. It gets especially confusing when {{spoiler|Cortez gets backup while hacking a terminal from ''two'' future Cortezes, requires you to play all three, one after the other, muting the Cortez each time.}}
* In ''[[Geist]]'', player character Raimi, who was separated from his body and ended up on a game-long [[Body Surf]], doesn't speak even when he's trying to convince a friend that he's Raimi. Instead he gives the friend a secret handshake, and somehow all relevant information is transferred; Bryson knows that the nurse is Raimi, who is a ghost, who is going to get him out of there. Raimi's not actually mute, though - late in the game he makes a parrot say "Die!" and a dog trainer say "It's okay boy!"
* ''[[Turok (series)|Turok]]'' in the first two games, where the only words he says are "[[
* Present in ''[[Unreal]]'' but avoided in ''[[Expansion Pack|Return To Na Pali]]'' where you character has audio logs between missions. ''[[Unreal II: The Awakening|Unreal II the Awakening]]'''s main character John Dalton speaks quite frequently.
* Averted in ''[[Strife]]''. Being an early FPS/RPG, the Mercenary talks to other character via dialogue windows. All the player ''hears'' him say are grunts, screams, and "Nope" when trying to use things that can't be used.
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== Hack and Slash ==
* Caim from ''[[Drakengard]]'' becomes the
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== [[Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game|MMORPGs]] ==
* ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]'' has a really [[Gameplay and Story Segregation|strange]] version: Communication is vital for players, so everyone is able to chat. Story-wise, however, you're essentially a
* Averted in ''[[Aion]]'', where you can choose your character's voice and they actually do have lines in voiced cutscenes.
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== Puzzle Games ==
* Chell from ''[[Portal (series)|Portal]]'', another [[Valve]] game. Mind you, she doesn't have anyone to talk to but a [[
** It's [[Lampshaded]] by GLaDOS, naturally. Chell's lack of response to her monologues leads her to say {{smallcaps|"Are you even listening to me?"}}
** One explanation may be because of the Material Emancipation Grill, "which may, in semi-rare cases, emancipate dental fillings, crowns, tooth enamel, and teeth."
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** It's actually strongly implied that it is Parker who provides the [[Narrator|Narration]] between missions, but as far as gameplay itself is concerned, he's a Mime through and through.
** Taken slightly further with the ''Soviet Assault'' counterpart Lieutenant Romanov, who never even is present for the cutscenes.
* The [[Blood Ravens]] Force Commander in ''[[Warhammer
** While the first campaign was ambiguous on the matter, ''Chaos Rising'' made certain that he was a "talks but isn't heard by the player" variation, as he makes frequent inquiries during the mission briefings. ''Retribution'' moved away completely from the trope however, as every character except The Ancient speaks and this is due to a vow of silence he made.
* The original commanders in ''[[
* In ''[[Pikmin]]'', Captain Olimar provides exposition and comments on the Pikmin and their properties. In ''Pikmin 2'', this role was taken over by the Hocotate Ship's AI, leaving Olimar (and his new sidekick Louie) silent.
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== Role-Playing Games ==
* ''[[Growlanser]] I, III, IV, V'', and ''VI'' feature a silent protagonist. The player can select many dialogue options, but there is no voice acting for them nor do they speak in cutscenes.
* Crono from ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'' is the big one -- so big, in fact, that this is lampshaded in one of the endings (his first and only line of dialogue is met with a surprised "Crono talked!"), though a ghostly version of him in ''[[Chrono Cross]]'' did speak.
** The main character in ''[[Chrono Cross]]'' actually has the title "Silent Protagonist" in his status window. {{spoiler|When the he switches bodies with the false antagonist Lynx, Lynx begins talking through Serge, with Serge's mugshot accompanying. A few party members will point out that Serge had, up to that point, never said a word, but still remain entirely fooled. Of course, Serge never says a word as Lynx.}}
** In fact, the only times Serge (the main character of Chrono Cross) is seen even possibly talking are three fold: Twice, it fades to black as he supposedly is explaining something (once with Norris in the back half of the game, I remember), and once his dialogue box does say, with the quotation marks--"..."
** How about that time when Korsha ask Kid to be his wife and that Serge suggest what to do, getting Kid to {{spoiler|kick him}}?
* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in ''[[Super Mario RPG]]''. One boss has the ability to create clones of Mario and his party members. Using Mallow's Psychopath ability, which can read an enemy's mind with good timing, on a Mario clone will throw up a message box full of ellipses.
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** ...which is just a mistranslation. The original line is "?"
** One scene in ''The Lost Age'' has Jenna and Sheba demanding Piers to tell them his age and they tease him over it when he refuses. Piers begs Felix to stop the girls from teasing him but Felix says nothing, causing Piers to think Felix is in on the girls' shenanigans.
** Isaac's first speaking appearance in ''The Lost Age'' shattered quite a lot of notions fans had about him from the first
** [[Golden Sun: Dark Dawn|Matthew]] is as silent as his father and uncle, with ''lots'' of [[Lampshade Hanging]]. Also like his uncle, the American version makes [[Precision F-Strike|one noticable exception]] late in the game. Though we're not told exactly [[Symbol Swearing|what he said]].
* Rudy Roughknight, from ''[[Wild
** He does have one other line, where he apologizes to Calamity Jane for {{spoiler|saving her life.}}
* The main character in ''[[Legend of Mana]]'', who is given a yes or no option (although some of the variations have quite the attitude in them). It is even parodied in the quest ''Gilbert: School Amour'', where the hero/heroine tries to convince the kids to return to school. One states that "Adults are boring and they only answer questions with a yes or no. I bet you're no different, aren't you?" Your only responses are "Yes" and "No".
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** The Hero's awake world counterpart in ''[[Dragon Quest VI]]'' is able to speak normally like any of your party or NPC.
** Interestly, in ''[[Dragon Quest V]]'' there's a point where {{spoiler|due to [[Time Travel]], you meet your older self as a child, and your younger self as an adult. In both cases, the "other" you speaks freely.}}
* Ryu, from the many ''[[Breath of Fire]]'' [[RPG
** In ''[[Breath of Fire I]]'', Ryu has two lines. When you briefly gain control of Nina, you can talk to the sleeping Ryu who will mumble a few words about his sister. He also says, "Well, there is one thing..." when asked by the King of Winlan what he wants as a reward for saving the King and Nina.
** Ryu actually does talk in ''[[Breath of Fire IV|IV]]'''s ending, when {{spoiler|he reunites with Fou-Lu and becomes a full dragon.}}
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{{quote|"Raidou explained the circumstances of the investigation to * insert name here* "}}
* Ari, the protagonist in ''[[Okage Shadow King]]'' is perfectly capable of speaking, but is so unimpressive that no one pays any attention to what he says anyway, literally overshadowed by his own shadow. Also every dialoge choice aways offer a choice of "......" or a line in that's only spoken in his head.
* The Avatar in the ''[[Ultima]]'' series. The series [[
** The play actually makes fun of "hi", "name" and "job" being the only three lines that the Avatar speaks, or at least that he uses over and over.
* The player character Trainers in the ''Pokémon'' series don't talk a lot, although there's a short and very confusing conversation with a mimic in ''[[Pokémon Red and Blue]]'' in which the player character does say a couple of lines, asking the mimic girl if she likes imitating people. It's also lampshaded in ''[[Pokémon Gold and Silver|Gold and Silver]]'', which ends with fighting Red, the protagonist of the last game, who only speaks in [[Visible Silence|ellipses]], although the dead-serious delivery of it definitely makes it a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] for the series.
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*** Except in the "Sentry Duty" minigame, where the PC is the one who shouts "The footprint is [Pokémon]'s! The footprint is [Pokémon]'s!"
*** In the second installments of the ''Mystery Dungeon'' series, if your starter character is a member of your rescue squad while in a dungeon (but not the leader), s/he will speak in ellipses when the player-controlled leader talks to him/her.
** Downplayed in ''[[Pokémon Colosseum]]''. Wes is usually as quiet as any other protagonist, except during Pokémon Battles when the player uses the Call command, a game mechanic unique for this game. Most often this is used to make a Shadow Pokémon snap out of the rage it tends to fly into due to the dark corruption that Shadow Pokémon are cursed with. When this happens, Wes simply shouts the Pokémon's name.
* In ''[[Earthbound]]'', whoever is the current party leader (which varies between chapters) won't utter a peep, but will promptly start speaking once the leader role changes. Ness is only heard once, through a magical mind-reading screen.▼
** This is again lampshaded in ''[[Pokémon Sun and Moon]]'' when the player meets Red and Blue at the Battle Tower. As usual, Red doesn't speak, Blue telling the player that he doesn't talk much.
** Inverted completely in the manga adaptation, however, where Red talks as much as any other Shojen hero - meaning he never shuts up.
▲* In ''[[
** Also done in ''[[Mother 3]]'' where the character the player controls never talks, but will once the player is controlling someone else. One scene, which takes place at the start of Duster's chapter, is a repeat of a scene from Flint's chapter, with Flint actually saying something this time around, to symbolize the role of player character moving to Duster, who doesn't speak for the rest of his chapter.
** The same thing happens in ''[[Legend of Legaia]]''. Noa, the second of three main characters, is a
* All the ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]'' series, and its subseries (''Digital Devil Saga'', ''Persona''), use this.
** Except for ''Devil Children'', where the protagonists talk just as much as the other characters.
** The protagonist of ''[[Persona 3]]'' is a borderline example who is more of a heroic [[The Quiet One]] than a
*** Ditto with the protagonist of ''[[Persona 4]]''. Some personality can also be gleaned from the dialogue options. In P4, for example, the option of telling people to 'calm down' comes up repeatedly - almost to the point of it being a bit of a running joke.
**** Persona 4 is an odd case. The addition of full team control means that the protagonist is actually telling each character what to do in real time, even though the player never hears them. Also, in a number of group situations and meetups, the protagonist is seen talking among the group quite casually and easily. While spoken dialogue is almost non-existent, in-universe he's reasonably chatty.
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**** Stranger with Maya, who in the first game is established as being chatty and scatterbrained, but doesn't utter a peep in the second. Tatsuya always maintains his calm, cold personality, even when he starts talking.
** Serph, the main character of ''[[Digital Devil Saga]]'', does not make so much as a noise in the first game. He gets a sort of confused grunt near the beginning of the second, which may not be enough to prepare the player for the flashback sequence in which he is downright chatty.
*** Only sort of. {{spoiler|The talkative Serph in the flashback is not actually the player character, but the man (now dead) your
*** Serph does have a few text options that are more than Yes or No. One of them even prompts hilarity from Heat.
** The Protagonist of ''[[Strange Journey]]'' is actually quite talkative, and in fact this is a major gameplay aspect for recruiting demons, but all of his dialogue must be chosen by the player. While out in the field, with few people to talk to, all his lines occur in Demon Negotiation unless he's receiving instructions from other Strike Team members in the area; during plot scenes, he will restrict himself to choosing from several [[Character Alignment|alignment-defining]] options, but is otherwise [[The Stoic]] as far as the crew is concerned.
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* Averted in ''[[Fable]]'': the hero has no dialogue, but he says single words (such as "Follow" or "Shit") when you use certain commands, and {{spoiler|mouths "Mum!" when his mother is killed right in front of him.}}
** The Hero of Fable II has no speaking lines aside from grunts and screams and the occasional "Yeah!". These mostly appear when performing expressions. The Hero of Fable III however has several lines of dialogue though they are few and far between.
* Solar Boy Django is almost silent in the first ''[[Boktai]]'' game. (This gets a bit strained in the longer
* Kevin in ''Kakurenbo Battle Monster Tactics''; Toppy is his [[Ninja Butterfly]].
* Gogo in ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' is a '''literal''' heroic mime, who talks to you a couple times. He ([[Ambiguous Gender|or she]]) can imitate anything the other characters can do right after it is done.
* In ''[[Lufia]]'', the GBA installment ''Ruins of Lore''. Eldin reacts a lot, and vocalizes a lot of "..." and "?" and the like, but only gets one speaking line: "I'm [[Hello, Insert Name Here|Eldin]]."
* Played with (and possibly [[Deconstruction|deconstructed]]) in the [[No Export for You|Japan-only]] ''[[Digimon]]'' video games for the Wonderswan. Ryo Akiyama starts off talking normally, but Taichi notices that he stopped responding to people once he reveals that the D-1 Tournament was actually just an elaborate [[Training
* Indie RPG ''[[Breath of Death VII]]'' ruthlessly parodies the concept with the mute skeleton hero Dem. Other characters constantly go against his desires and suggestions since he can't express them, and the one character who can understand him, a mind reader, ignores his opinions anyway.
* Russel, the protagonist of ''[[Dubloon]]'', also [[Silent Bob|speaks inexplicitly]]. [[And Now for Someone Completely Different|When you take control of Riley and Ricky]], you can talk to Russel to get the [[Visible Silence|"..."]] response.
* The main protagonist in ''[[Dark Cloud]]''. Altough the game is text based he is never seen speaking more than an occasional Ellipsis or two. The other playable main characters do speak during cutscenes and other times, while playing as them in a dungeon they are silent save for a few attack noises.
* Indie RPG ''[[Hero's Realm]]'' takes this [[Up to Eleven]] by having sixteen heroes… with not one line between them.
* The Fateless One in ''[[
* The New Kid in ''[[South Park|South Park: The Stick of Truth]]'' and the sequel, ''South Park: The Fractured But Whole''. {{spoiler|He says one line at the end of the first game, to tell Cartman and Kyle, [[Screw This, I'm Outta Here| "Screw you guys, I'm going home"]].}}
== Shoot 'Em Up ==
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* Blaze in ''[[Ace Combat]] 5'' is apparently only capable of saying yes, no, and basic orders to his wingmen. This becomes especially noticeable in missions where the flight leader must speak; in those cases, another character takes over as lead.
** He apparently speaks enough for one character to be able to recognise his voice.
** ''Ace Combat'' in general is populated by a parade of extremely heroic and extremely silent [[Ace Pilot
*** Completely averted in ''[[Ace Combat: Assault Horizon]]'' with all three of the playable pilot characters (Colonel William Bishop, Major Janice Rehl, and Doug Robinson) speaking in both cutscenes and gameplay, although the AC-130 gunner Spence plays the trope straight. Unlike previous ''Ace Combat''s, they're [[Featureless Protagonist|also named and have their faces shown]].
* Protagonists in ''[[Harvest Moon]]'' rarely speak aside from "Yes" or "No" answers. They do appear to speak at times, but no dialogue boxes are shown. Recently some games give [[Inner Monologue]].
== Stealth-Based Games ==
* Even the iconic, richly-characterised Solid Snake of ''[[Metal Gear]]'' fame used to be one of these, back in the original game, ''[[Metal Gear
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** According to the aforementioned notes, Isaac has the expected reaction when trapped on a space station that's crawling with mutated undead. ''He's scared out of his mind.''
** He speaks in ''[[Dead Space 2]]''.
* The Silencer of ''[[Crusader: No Remorse|Crusader]]'' doesn't even shout a warning to his fellow Silencers before they're gunned down, he's such a
* Agent Cobra in ''[[Syphon Filter]]: The Omega Strain''.
== Turn-Based Strategy ==
* The main characters of the ''[[Shining Force]]'' games are
** Max actually does speak in the first game (at least, in the GBA Remake)? He only becomes mute because of plot circumstances.
** Bowie, the Hero in ''Shining Force 2'', is not ''entirely'' mute, either. His lines are few and far between (sometimes hours of gameplay apart) and mostly gratuitous, though.
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* Commander Agress from ''[[Vandal Hearts]] 2''. Playing with the trope, she is not the main protagonist. In fact, you get her rather late. It seems she's just [[The Quiet One|very softspoken]]; [[Tsundere|one party member]] actually gets angry when another tells her to speak louder.
* The main heroes in the ''[[Suikoden]]'' series tend to be mute. Kinda weird given they command large armies in their games.
** The Prince in the [[Suikoden V|fifth game]] has a lot of personality for a
** The player character in ''[[Suikoden Tierkreis]]'' talks A LOT, and has a very hyper, gung-ho, [[Hot-Blooded]] and almost-[[
** [[Suikoden Tactics|Kyril]] also talks. In Kyril's game, if certain conditions are fulfilled, {{spoiler|1=''[[Suikoden IV]]'''s protagonist Lazlo appears, and suddenly talks.}}
** {{spoiler|1=Tir McDohl (the hero from original Suikoden) also talks in Suikoden II.}}
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== References in Other Media ==
* ''[[Cracked.com]]''{{'}}s Mark Hill calls inexplicably mute player characters in plot-heavy games the #4 [http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-reasons-video-games-still-have-terrible-stories/ Reason Video Games Have Terrible Stories].
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Silence Tropes]]
[[Category:Normal People]]
[[Category:Video Game Characters]]
▲[[Category:Heroic Mime]]
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