Meet the Voices Behind ‘Anthem’, Including a ‘Doctor Who’ Favorite

One thing we noted in our review of Anthem is how BioWare managed to uphold their tradition of making us fall love with their characters, creating an incredible bond between players and NPCs. Part of that successful execution was through the amazing facial animations, but mostly it was the incredible writing and the voices behind these new faces!

With the studio’s new IP just days away from release, BioWare wanted to introduce fans to some of the voices behind these characters – including a Doctor Who and Brooklyn Nine-Nine favorite!

Vik Sahay – Matthias Sumner

Matthias Sumner is one of those characters that pleasantly surprised us. In the original trailers for the game, we thought he’d be a no-nonsense Arcanist, but boy were we wrong. He is a layered character, smart – but with a witty sense of humor that is easy to miss. 

“He is many things. He is pioneering. He is risk-taking. He’s intelligent, innovative, and playful. All these things live in him at once,” Vik says about Matthias. “He’s got an appetite for learning the instruments that he believes shaped our universe. He grew up an orphan, he didn’t have an identity and he had to survive. And I think that opened up in him for the pursuit of the meaning of life.”

 

TJ Ramini – Owen Corely

Owen, to me, is what happens when Mass Effect’s Joker and Dragon Age’s Solas have a crazy, weirdly awkward drunken night together and Owen is the hyper-intelligent sassy love child that is the result.

“I respect his ambition,” says Ramini. “Owen wants to be the best, already considers himself to be the best. He probably is, to be fair to him.” But that ambition takes a toll. “He is on such a quest for what he wants that sometimes he puts his own needs and desires ahead of others. Again, because of his immaturity and his blind ambition. It’s called blind ambition for a reason.”

Amy Okuda – Ryssa Brin

Brin cracked me up, through and through. Socially awkward, check. Wildly brilliant, also check. She’s a member of the Sentinels and though usually by the book, builds a bond with the player through some covert missions out beyond the walls. 

“Brin is a Sentinel in Fort Tarsis; they protect the people. So, she’s a tough one,” Amy says. “My favorite thing about Brin is that she’s tough, and I feel like I’m not that tough. She knows what she wants, and she’ll do whatever to get the job done.” But Brin isn’t totally closed off. “All she cares about is her job, and doing it well,” Okuda says of Brin. “And she realizes she has to interact with other people so they can help her, so she can do her job better.”

 

Joe Lo Truglio – Neeson

Neeson Giles may be a laundry worker, but he’s dedicated to his objective and a friendly face in Fort Tarsis. Just, watch out. He’s a huge gossip. 

“Neeson is a guy that wants to be in on the action, but doesn’t have the capability.” Joe says. “Neeson loves Freelancers because they fly around and save the world, while he just cleans underwear.” There’s just one obstacle in his way. “No one wants to hang out with Neeson. He’s not a terrible guy, he just talks a bit too much. He’s a bit of a gossiper, which is never an attractive trait. He has a good heart, he just wants to be in on things.”

Other familiar faces:

Best known for his hilarious work on 30 Rock, McBrayer did an amazing job at bringing the friendly bartender of Fort Tarsis to life. “He seems to depend on the advice of others without making choices of his own,” Jack says of Amal. “Yeah, he needs to stand up for himself.” But Amal has plenty of good qualities. “He’s an eager person. He has a good relationship with his boss Max. You have to have a certain personality to be a decent bartender, so I suspect he was Employee of the Month at some point in his life.” And his looks? “Oh, Amal is gorgeous. Amal is drop dead gorgeous.”

Doctor Who’s Catherine Tate also voices the character Max, a woman that has an eye for underground business and she owns the bar. She’s a good person to have on your side, with her connections going far and wide both within Fort Tarsis and beyond. 

Others include: 

Anthem releases on Xbox One, PS4, and PC on February 22nd. You can check out our full review right here, with a small snippet below: 

“Anthem really seems to honor its promise of feeling entirely new, but with BioWare fans in mind. At first, my impression was that it didn’t particularly feel like a BioWare game, but as time went on, I realized that wasn’t quite true. It both feels similar to a BioWare game in terms of interaction, but mechanically, it feels very new. As a hardcore BioWare franchise fan myself, that isn’t a bad thing. It’s new, and a little buggy, but it works.”

Sound off with your casting thoughts in the comment section below, or hit me up over on Twitter @DirtyEffinHippy!