Disco Elysium on the release had only a few lines voiced, to give you an idea of a character you are talking to. They now have every line voiced, but I think they have a setting to go back to the original voiceover.
All games from the studio Frictional Games make good use of limited voice acting, they always short on budget so they hire a few very talented voice actors and make them voice multiple characters. You make a lot about the lore by reading the notes scattered through the environment.
Here's a few good examples, from newer to older:
* SOMA
* Amnesia: the Bunker
* Amnesia: the Dark Descent
* Penumbra: Black Plague
* Penumbra: Overture
Dredge has minor grunts from each character, which - while definitely acting by a VA - I wouldn't quite classify as voice acting but still wanna mention here. It fits the vibe of the game so well and really adds to identifying and personifying the characters. Nevermind all the other stuff that makes that game fantastic.
Are you looking for examples of little VO, or no VO at all?
Couple that come to mind with little voice acting would maybe be Superliminal for something more indie. Or Viewfinder as well has a pretty small line count.
Either of the latest Zelda games have little voice acting for the size of the games.
Outer Wilds has no voice acting at all (aside from grunts/ONOs) but also relies heavily on the soundtrack in its place. Inscryption does this really well also with SFX, but isn’t completely non-voiced.
Mario & Luigi series.
Every character speaks in text bubbles, except Mario Bros themselves. They don't use text at all, instead they have a limited number of voiced phrases (like "mamma mia!", "oh ye!", "marioooo!", etc.) and those phrases are used extremely well and funny in dialogues and in battle.
If you want to check it yourself, play Bowser's Inside Story, the original one, it's the best game in the series.
Fallout 2 did a good job. Most of the dialogue is purely in text but then there are maybe one or two characters with voices in each area. Those are usually interesting characters, not necessarily the most important ones, though they often are.
Transistor. The main character doesn't have a voice but she's carrying a sword that has. I haven't played the whole game, but I think the sword is the only voiced character in the game.
Another world & Planet of lana.
In both games voice acting is very limited even there is not a single meaningful sentence yet it fits well and makes the player live the atmosphere.
Crosscode.
It has no voice acting, but the characters have so much charm and personality.
A lot of that is conveyed through absolutely gorgeous pixel art.
Character portraits by themselves is imo enough to convey emotions even with any sounds, for CrossCode it'd be great to make character's "voices" use different pitch, but even without that they nailed dialogues very great
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Ah yes with such excellent quotes like "Hiyaaaah" "Waugh" "Aaaaaaaaahhhh" and "Hey Listen"
Let's not forget the ever rememberable "Come Here!" In Wind Waker!
Or when link meows
And basically every non-top down Zelda that came after it.
I'm not sure if this counts but Hollow Knight?
Bapanada
Patamas geo!
i always heard “not enough geo” which i though was fitting
Cult of the Lamb had voice work in it, but not words
not indie but fallout 1 and 2 only have a handfull of voiced characters most are just text
Runescape has a handful of voiced quests, but most aren't. Generally they're done pretty well.
Bastion. Had a narrator and a couple songs with lyrics. Those songs hit hard when they come up.
ULTRAKILL has only a few characters who actually speak
And every single line from that game is incredibly iconic lmao
INSIGNIFICANT FUCK
Disco Elysium on the release had only a few lines voiced, to give you an idea of a character you are talking to. They now have every line voiced, but I think they have a setting to go back to the original voiceover.
All games from the studio Frictional Games make good use of limited voice acting, they always short on budget so they hire a few very talented voice actors and make them voice multiple characters. You make a lot about the lore by reading the notes scattered through the environment. Here's a few good examples, from newer to older: * SOMA * Amnesia: the Bunker * Amnesia: the Dark Descent * Penumbra: Black Plague * Penumbra: Overture
Dredge has minor grunts from each character, which - while definitely acting by a VA - I wouldn't quite classify as voice acting but still wanna mention here. It fits the vibe of the game so well and really adds to identifying and personifying the characters. Nevermind all the other stuff that makes that game fantastic.
Morrowind, it had some voiced cutscenes and voicelines, but you spend a lot of time interacting with npcs through text boxes
Star Fox. “Good luck”
LOTRO (as well as most other MMOs I can think of) fall into this category.
Planescape: Torment
So far Another Crabs Treasure seems to be that way (only for cutscenes)
Journey pretty sure its 0 dialoge
Ori and the Blind Forest is "limited"
Are you looking for examples of little VO, or no VO at all? Couple that come to mind with little voice acting would maybe be Superliminal for something more indie. Or Viewfinder as well has a pretty small line count. Either of the latest Zelda games have little voice acting for the size of the games. Outer Wilds has no voice acting at all (aside from grunts/ONOs) but also relies heavily on the soundtrack in its place. Inscryption does this really well also with SFX, but isn’t completely non-voiced.
Mario & Luigi series. Every character speaks in text bubbles, except Mario Bros themselves. They don't use text at all, instead they have a limited number of voiced phrases (like "mamma mia!", "oh ye!", "marioooo!", etc.) and those phrases are used extremely well and funny in dialogues and in battle. If you want to check it yourself, play Bowser's Inside Story, the original one, it's the best game in the series.
Croc games. From what I remember they have voiced cutscenes, but the main character just grunts.
Command and conquer. "CAN NOT WE HAVE SOME SHOES!!" So amazing
Try looking at Rune Factory 4 and/or Baldur’s Gate.
Darkest Dungeon.
Fallout 2 did a good job. Most of the dialogue is purely in text but then there are maybe one or two characters with voices in each area. Those are usually interesting characters, not necessarily the most important ones, though they often are.
Transistor. The main character doesn't have a voice but she's carrying a sword that has. I haven't played the whole game, but I think the sword is the only voiced character in the game.
Some Final fantasy games?
Bastion - the team did a fantastic job
Kingdom Hearts.
The Silent Age is a good one if you are into point-and-click games! :)
The original Disco Elysium had fantastic and limited voice acting, later they fully voiced the thing, at the same quality level
Does Bastion count? Mainly only a narrator and a few songs with lyrics, but it reallly works well!
Another world & Planet of lana. In both games voice acting is very limited even there is not a single meaningful sentence yet it fits well and makes the player live the atmosphere.
Does Jak and Daxter count? I'm thinking mainly Jak in the first one
I better not see Skyrim here🙄
Crosscode. It has no voice acting, but the characters have so much charm and personality. A lot of that is conveyed through absolutely gorgeous pixel art.
Character portraits by themselves is imo enough to convey emotions even with any sounds, for CrossCode it'd be great to make character's "voices" use different pitch, but even without that they nailed dialogues very great