The trope of the silent protagonist has been debated over many years, with many arguing that a voiceless main character makes for both a dull experience and story. However, a literally voiceless character doesn't always mean they don't have a voice. In the wonderful world of video games, characters can form their own personality, thoughts, and intentions through a plethora of different mediums.
Sometimes, it's not a character's words, but their inner thoughts, their actions, or even the environment they choose to surround themselves with that expresses who they are as a person. Here are some of the most notable silent video game protagonists that received a voice in a medium other than verbal speech/communication.
6 Yu Narukami/Ren Amamiya - Persona 4 & 5
The Persona protagonists were always meant to act as a bit of an "empty shell" in order to allow the player to feel as if they were playing as themselves to some extent. However, even without uttering a word, both Persona 4 and Persona 5 protagonists, Yu Narukami (named Soji Seta in the manga) and Ren Amamiya (named Akira Kurusu in the manga) still manage to have incredible distinct (and hilariously charming) personalities.
Of course, the preset dialogue options allow Yu and Ren's personalities to come out, allowing the player to see how playful each protagonist is, especially when speaking with their friends, but in addition to these cheeky responses, there are also the anime and manga adaptations that help flesh out both protagonists quite well.
Both Yu and Ren have their own manga and anime series, allowing them to finally stand on their own two feet, without the help of the player taking the wheel when making decisions.
5 The Traveler - Genshin Impact
The Genshin Impact Traveler has actually spoken with their true voice in a few cutscenes, however, these instances are far and few between. The Traveler can "speak" every now and then with the help of the player picking whichever dialogue option they so choose, but even these preselected lines are a nice little glimpse into the Traveler's overall personality. The way the Traveler always has the option of picking on Paimon or joking around really shows off their true personality. Perhaps these little jokes in the dialogue options may not end up being spoken out loud but can be interpreted as the Traveler's inner thoughts and feelings.
The Traveler also has the opportunity to spend the day with any of their comrades in the Hangout Events that end in a heartwarming (or hilarious) snapshot of the pair together. A picture is worth a thousand words and definitely allows the Traveler to show off the side of them that doesn't come out on the battlefield.
4 Jacket - Hotline Miami
Very little is known about Hotline Miami's Jacket from the beginning and is generally used (for most of the game) as a way to represent the player and their willingness to disregard meaningless violence in favor of a fun game and a new high score.
However, both his relationship with The Girl and the ever-changing state of his apartment gives him a voice that can convey his intentions and his overall well-being. At the beginning of the game, his apartment is messy and can be seen littered with both fast-food containers and recreational drugs. As the game progresses and The Girl is taken care of, she makes herself at home and begins to tidy up and decorate Jacket's place little by little and the presence of recreational drugs are no longer seen. Jacket even shares his interests with The Girl as a NES can be seen in his room with both controllers hooked up.
The game heavily uses environmental storytelling in order to give Jacket a voice; his apartment's transformation representing his overall wellbeing. Jacket's cameo inPayday 2 also managed to give him another form of communicating, giving Jacket prerecorded messages on a tape recorder that he plays in order to avoid using his actual voice.
3 Doom Guy/Doom Slayer - Doom
It's common knowledge that Doom Guy is known to be incredibly angry and bloodthirsty most of the time; but with his lack of verbal communication, how are fans to understand his rage? As it turns out, no words are needed when it comes to explaining Doom Guy's hatred for all hellspawn monsters.
At the end of episode three in the classic Doomgame, a decapitated rabbit head is seen as the ending screen. It turns out that that rabbit was Doom Guy's beloved pet rabbit, Daisy. While Doom Guy may initially come off as cold or bloodthirsty, it was merely because his love for Daisy drove him to seek revenge.
In Doom Eternal, the player can find a beautifully painted portrait of Doom Guy and Daisy, among other fun toys, comic books, and files on his computer that help flesh out his personality. Just to drive home how incredibly hurt Doom Guy was from his loss, Daisy can be found in every level of Doom Eternal as a small Easter egg.
Hopefully, Daisy will rest in peace knowing how loved she truly was.
2 Chell - Portal
Chell is notorious for being unnervingly silent throughout her journey in both Portal 1 and 2, yet still manages to have a lot of her personality shine through in other unique ways. Outside the small easter eggs around some levels (including Chell's science experiment that involved an overgrown potato) through the Aperture laboratories, Chell has the Portal Lab Rat comics to help shine a light on her true self.
Rather than having all her traits explored in the game (although both GLaDOS and Wheatley do talk about what kind of person Chell is occasionally), Chell's main voice (although passive) is given to her in the comics. In the Lab Rat comics, her personnel file is explored, and it is revealed that Chell's most substantial trait is her "abnormal stubbornness" that initially prevented her from being eligible to become an Aperture test subject until scientist Doug Rattmann altered her profile to become Test Subject #1.
Outside her stubbornness and willingness to never give up, Chell is stated to be very defiant to GLaDOS specifically. It's been said that Chell's refusal to speak stems from her disdain of GLaDOS and not wanting to give her the satisfaction of a solid response to her berating. So in a sense, when it comes to her long-time feud with GLaDOS, Chell's silence is her voice.
1 Link - The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
Localization will always in one way or another, change the overall feel or story of a game; whether it be in a substantial way or something smaller and hidden in the details. While the description of each mission or side quest in the American version of Breath Of The Wild is written from a third-person perspective, talking directly to the player, the Japanese version has a different narrator.
Each mission description in the Japanese version is actually written by Link himself! Many of the small quirks of his show up in these fun excerpts over time and is definitely worth reading after every quest. In these excerpts the player sees more of Link's own personal drive and how dearly he holds Princess Zelda to his heart, merely from the way he speaks of her through his written words.