Unless you’ve been intentionally ignoring all recent video game news, you’ve probably heard the new Spider-Man game is fantastic. The gameplay is fun, and the attention to detail is perhaps even more impressive. There are a bunch of Easter eggs, and now yet another one has emerged, and it’s perhaps the coolest one of all. Kotaku‘s Kirk Hamilton was playing the game and noticed Spider-Man’s voice, as performed by Yuri Lowenthal, sounded different when he was in a relaxed state versus when he was exerting himself. It turns out the game’s creators actually went through the trouble of recording two separate tracks for all of Spidey’s dialogue, and the game can switch between them on the fly when Spider-Man changes what he’s doing.
Today in Ridiculously Polished Video Games: Spider-Man seamlessly switches between two different vocal takes depending on whether or not he’s exerting himself pic.twitter.com/3KRXOZnihU
— Kirk Hamilton (@kirkhamilton) September 8, 2018
It transitions mid-conversation, though I dunno about mid-line-read. Here’s the best example from what I have capped: pic.twitter.com/BT3aEssGSL
— Kirk Hamilton (@kirkhamilton) September 8, 2018
Spider-Man lead writer Jon Paquette confirmed this is true, saying each line has two recorded takes: “So for those of you wondering if we recorded [Spider-Man] open-world Spidey dialogue twice—yes, we did. One ‘resting’ take, one ‘exerted’ take. Programmers exposed a variable to Wwise [a development tool used for game audio] allowing the game to switch between dialogue assets, depending on the player state.”
Insomniac audio designer Alex Previty added, “It can happen mid-conversation on a per line basis, but not in the middle of lines. We tried to set that up, but it would have been a lot of work to get it to sound natural.”
Have you played Spider-Man yet? Are you as blown away by it as we are? Read our review of the game here, and share your thoughts about it in the comments below!
Featured Image: Sony
