The best British regional accents in games

Summary

• British accents in video games are often referred to as RP or Cockney, but games such as Dragon Quest VIII display a number of regional accents.

• RPGs such as The Witcher 3 and Elden Ring feature various British accents, adding depth and authenticity to the game world.

• Games like Disco Elysium, Ni No Kuni 2, and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 make effective use of regional British accents to enhance characters and settings.

Representation in video games is incredibly important, and while many other axes of identity often receive emphasis, sometimes it's nice to hear how your local accents are represented in a video game.

This can be tricky for Brits, as games often default to British accents, either in Received Pronunciation (see: posh) or outright Cockney, like Tracer from Overwatch. Despite the relatively small collection of islands, the range of accents in Britain is huge, so here are a few games that really showcase regional British accents.

10

Dragon Quest VIII – Journey of the Cursed King

“Cor Blimey!”

The first game in the Dragon Quest series to feature voice acting, Square Enix and Level-5 decided that the Western release of Dragon Quest VIII – Journey Of The Cursed King should include a number of British accents in the voice acting.

While Cockneys and RPs make up a good chunk of the party's frontline members, a large majority of Asconton's population is drawn from votes in Lancashire, Yorkshire and Norfolk. Meanwhile, other characters such as Emma and Rhydon have Irish and Welsh accents respectively.

9

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

“I Can Feel The Sweat Drippin' Down My Bum Barrow.”

When you're making a game based on a fantasy version of medieval Europe, you should expect some British accents, and The Witcher 3 doesn't disappoint in that regard, even if the witchers themselves have American accents, while Ciri and Yennefer have more standard posh accents. However, Ciri has a more estuary accent, a cross between Cockney and RP, suggesting that she is mixed between the upper and lower classes.

It's the rest of the continent's population where the accents become all sorts of British, as Velen boasts a West Country accent, Skellig offers an Irish accent, and the dwarves have the typical Scottish accent you'd expect from most fantasy. There's even room for Welsh and Bramish (Birmingham) accents, and The Bloody Baron has a particularly Bramish ring to it.

8

Elysium discotheque

“Tell them Kuno sent you!”

To say that Disco Elysium is just a great showcase of British accents would be a disservice to the wide variety of characters that appear in this phenomenal RPG, as Revachol is a veritable melting pot of accents and cultural facsimiles from around the world, including American ones. European, Scandinavian, Arabic, Indian, African and others.

As for British accents in Disco Elysium, your usual Cockney and RP accents are present and accounted for, but Kuno's character also boasts a Liverpool or Skow accent, which is not often seen in video games.

7

Elden Ring

“Feel free to go and die in a ditch somewhere.”

You can always trust FromSoftware to use a variety of British accents in their games, with the Souls series and especially Bloodborne sounding like Shakespeare re-enactments played out digitally between bonfires and boss battles. However, the Elden Ring voice acting goes even further with even more accents.

From Irish to Welsh, Yorkshire, Brady and North West England, there are more voices on offer than the usual 'posh guy doing a posh lad voice'. Personally, we're glad the hideous Gnoeed doesn't talk with his mouth full, if you know what we mean.

6

Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom

“Come on Moon! I don't have all day!”

Level 5 are big fans of using regional British accents in their games, and they do a great job of incorporating these accents effectively, often to convey a place or a scene. People from a certain area or race speak with a certain accent, which gives each part of the world something unique.

Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom is a great example of this, with the Sky Pirates using rather crude West Country and Scottish accents, while the pirates of the port town of Capstan use the accents of the various seaside towns found in Britain. Follow that up with Lofty's luscious Welsh accent and there's plenty of British accents here.

5

Xenoblade Chronicles 2

“Next time I'll smash you properly, I swear.”

One of the most famous RPGs you can play right now, the Xenoblade series has become a real force to be reckoned with on the Nintendo Switch, and part of that is thanks to its star-studded cast. Most of the Xenoblade games have excellent voice acting, and while some consider Xenoblade Chronicles 2 the weakest of them all, its use of regional British accents is fantastic.

As with other RPGs, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 tends to group its accents together to associate people of a particular tribe or culture: the Lewtherians boast a Northern English accent, the Gormoths speak Welsh, the Ardains speak with a Scottish accent, and the Nopon and Tantalesee use standard Cockney and RP, respectively.

4

Final Fantasy XVI

“Maybe I had one too many.”

Since FFX, the Final Fantasy series has been known for its excellent dubs, most notably Final Fantasy XII, which earned a lot of respect in the UK for its inspired decision to cast theatrical actors in this sci-fi space opera. However, for a variety of British accents, look no further than Final Fantasy XVI.

Most of the characters representing the kingdom of Rosaria have some sort of Bristolian accent, while the obviously posh upper crust characters use that damn RP accent that seems to pop up everywhere, characters like Sid and Mead speak with a heavy Yorkshire accent , and Clive Good Time Gaw is the most loyal Geordie in RPG history.

3

Baldur's gate 3

“Kiss my ass.”

Apparently, nothing says dungeon crawling and dragon slaying like a British accent, at least if Baldur's Gate 3 is anything to go by. ​​​​​​While Forgotten Realms has a few American and other accents, you spend most of your hundreds of hours in the game listening to voices from all over the British Isles.

While some of the more immediate differences come through your own band, with the gorgeous sound of Asterion and Shadowheart contrasting with the cockney voice of Karlach, exploring the rest of the world will give your ears the delights of Yorkshire, Lancashire, West Country, Welsh, Irish and Scottish accents. , as well as almost countless others.

“That's what it all boils down to for you, right?”

Considering that Atlus usually makes games with a strong anime influence, the fact that the English dub of Metaphor: Refantazio uses actors with strong regional British accents is a very welcome change of pace. However, it's how Metaphor uses its accents that makes it such a memorable and wonderful game.

Like other games that use a British accent, Metaphor relies on the supposed class stereotypes of its accents, with RP voices for the gentry and working class accents for the impoverished.

With the various tribes and cultures that appear in Metaphor, you can often tell which person you're talking to just by their voice: the Mustari of Virga Island speak with a Welsh accent, the people of Martyra speak Scots, and tribes like Parip sporting Cockneys, Scouses or other similar working-class accents.

1

A fable

“I'll tell Dad what a good farmer you are!”

How could it be anything else? For those outside of London and higher income areas of the UK, a game like Fable was perhaps the first time you could hear a voice like your own. Think of a young Scouse lad playing the Fable prologue and hearing someone they know promise to tell their father what a good farmer they are.

Imagine their horror when that village was immediately razed to the ground.

Given that Fable's Albion shares its name with the historical name of Britain, it's no surprise that there are many accents in different regions of Great Britain. This is especially true with the number of celebrity cameos that also appear in the Fable series, so if you want to hear just about every voice the UK has to offer, the Fable series is the way to go.