Many video game characters are immediately recognisable by their voices. Doug Cockle’s gravely Geralt from The Witcher series is, Chrisopher Judge’s imposing Kratos in God of War is, David Hayter’s covert Snake is. I could go on. But how does an actor find the voice people will remember them for? When it came to playing Saros’ protagonist Arjun Devraj, actor Rahul Kohli said inspiration struck while being fed up stuck in traffic.
“I had to catch a flight, and Housemarque wouldn’t have access to me for six months,” Kohli explained on the PlayStation Blog, “They needed the trailer. And in order for me to make my flight I had to record on the other side of town in LA crazy early. And I’m stuck in traffic. And I was so worked up and angry at seven, eight in the morning. We recorded the teaser trailer. And that voice that came out was angrier, more intense than anything we’d done or explored previously.”
The result was instant. “[We] were immediately like… ‘wait, that’s him. That’s who we’ve been looking for’…. being angry and not being good enough to hide it… that was where Arjun was really born.”
Kohli’s words are part of the first video in Housemarque’s Finding Carcosa behind-the-scenes documentary series, which charts Saros development. Finding Carcosa’s director Paul J. Vogel called Kohli’s anecdote a great example of “how sometimes the creative nature of storytelling can be unpredictable”, and “completely unglamorous”.
“Stuck in traffic, already late for a recording session and up against the clock for a departing flight. It shows how a character can come alive from research, rehearsal and collaboration with your director… but sometimes all it really takes is one very bad commute,” he said in closing.
We were rather taken with Saros on its release, awarding it four stars. “Saros’ narrative often feels at odds with the kind of experience it wants to be, but there’s no denying this is another top-tier action game from Housemarque,” reads Eurogamer’s Saros review.
Despite critical acclaim, Saros’ launch reportedly hasn’t been quite as successful as Housemarque’s Returnal, which was released in 2021. If you are thinking about getting started on the game for yourself, be sure to check out our handy guide detailing the nine things to know before playing Saros.
