It is 2010. You’ve just been shot in the head. You wake up in a dusty room in Goodsprings, and the first thing you hear is the soothing, weathered rasp of Doc Mitchell. That voice? That’s Michael Hogan. You might know him as Colonel Tigh from Battlestar Galactica. It was the first sign that the voice actors Fallout New Vegas utilized weren't just random booth hires; they were a curated ensemble of character actors, cult icons, and Hollywood heavyweights.
The Mojave Wasteland is empty, sure. It’s a desert. But it’s never quiet.
Obsidian Entertainment had a tiny window to make this game. Eighteen months. That’s it. In that frantic development cycle, they managed to record over 65,000 lines of dialogue. For context, that was a world record at the time. But the quantity isn't why we still talk about this game over fifteen years later. It’s the texture. It’s the way Matthew Perry—yes, that Matthew Perry—sounds like a snake-oil salesman with a chip on his shoulder, or how Felicia Day brings a heartbreaking optimism to a scribe trapped in a dying bunker.
Why the Voice Actors Fallout New Vegas Hired Changed the Series
Most RPGs settle for "decent." You get the standard union actors who do the "old man" voice or the "generic guard" voice. New Vegas went another way. They went for vibes.
Take Mr. House. He’s the ghost in the machine, the guy running the Strip. He needed to sound like 1940s industrialist arrogance mixed with a hint of digital decay. Enter René Auberjonois. If you’re a Trekkie, you know him as Odo from Deep Space Nine. He brought this specific, clipped authority to Robert House that makes you actually want to listen to his ten-minute monologues about autocratic rule and lunar colonies.
Then there’s the sheer weirdness of the casting.
Kris Kristofferson. The country music legend. The guy who wrote "Me and Bobby McGee." He plays Chief Hanlon. If you talk to Hanlon at Camp Golf, he doesn’t give you a standard quest bark. He gives you a weary, five-minute meditation on the cost of war and the futility of the NCR’s expansion. Kristofferson’s voice sounds like it’s been dragged through a mile of gravel, which is exactly what a broken old ranger should sound like.
The Matthew Perry Connection
People often forget how Matthew Perry ended up in the game. He wasn't just a "celebrity voice" for marketing. He was a genuine fan. He went on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and talked about how much he loved Fallout 3, even saying he played it so much he developed carpal tunnel syndrome.
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Obsidian saw that. They reached out.
Perry plays Benny, the man who shoots you in the opening cinematic. He uses this bizarre, pseudo-Rat Pack lingo. "Ring-a-ding-ding, baby." In the hands of a lesser actor, it would be cringe. With Perry, it’s iconic. He captures that specific brand of Vegas sleaze—the guy who thinks he’s the smartest person in the room right up until the moment you're standing over him with a spiked power fist in the Tops casino.
The Companions: More Than Just Combat Buffs
The companion voice actors Fallout New Vegas featured are arguably the soul of the experience. These aren't just pack mules. They have baggage.
- Veronica Santangelo (Felicia Day): Day was the "Queen of the Geeks" back in 2010, but her performance as the Brotherhood of Steel scribe is surprisingly grounded. She’s funny, but there’s an undercurrent of grief.
- Arcade Gannon (Zachary Levi): Before he was Shazam, Levi played the sarcastic, idealistic doctor with a secret Enclave past.
- Raul Tejada (Danny Trejo): This is peak casting. Trejo plays a ghoul mechanic who has lived through everything. His deadpan delivery is some of the funniest writing in the game, especially when he’s complaining about his knees while you’re being chased by Deathclaws.
Honestly, it’s the variety. You go from the gravelly toughness of Trejo to the sophisticated, terrifying calm of John Doman as Caesar.
Meeting Caesar: A Lesson in Menace
If you’ve played The Wire, you know John Doman as Bill Rawls. He has a voice that feels like a heavy boot. When you finally reach the Fort and meet Caesar, he isn't a screaming warlord. He’s a scholar. He talks about Hegelian Dialectics. Doman plays him with a chilling rationality. You might disagree with his brutal slave empire, but Doman’s performance makes you understand why thousands of people would follow him.
It's a stark contrast to the voice actors Fallout New Vegas used for the more "chaotic" roles. Think about Dave Foley (from The Kids in the Hall) playing Yes Man. That bubbly, forced helpfulness as he explains how you’re basically dismantling the status quo is terrifying in its own polite way.
The "Everyman" Voices You Hear Everywhere
While the celebrities get the headlines, the heavy lifting was done by a core group of versatile voice pros. You can't talk about the Mojave without mentioning Liam O'Brien, Yuri Lowenthal, and Sam Riegel.
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If you feel like every third NCR trooper sounds like the same guy? You’re right. It probably is Yuri Lowenthal. He’s the voice of Peter Parker in the Spider-Man games now, but in 2010, he was "Oliver Swanick" (the guy who won the lottery in Nipton) and about fifty other NPCs.
There is a joke in the community about "Patrolling the Mojave almost makes you wish for a nuclear winter." That line is etched into the brains of players because of the repetition. But even with that repetition, these actors gave the factions a distinct identity. The NCR sounds tired. The Legion sounds brainwashed. The residents of Freeside sound desperate.
The Voices of Old World Blues
The DLCs took the voice acting to an even weirder level. Old World Blues is basically a high-speed comedy routine. You have James Urbaniak (Dr. Venture himself) as Dr. 0. You have the legendary Erik Dellums returning—not as Three Dog, but as the voice of the Think Tank.
Then you have Lonesome Road.
Ulysses is voiced by Roger Cross. His performance is polarizing. Some find the slow, rhythmic delivery a bit much. Others find it hypnotic. But you can't deny that it's distinct. He treats every sentence like it’s a prophecy. It gives the final showdown a weight that "generic villain" dialogue just wouldn't have achieved.
Misconceptions About the Recording Process
People often assume these actors were all in a room together. Not a chance.
Most of the recording happened in small booths, often with the actors never meeting their counterparts. In fact, some of the biggest names were recorded in separate cities. Despite this, the chemistry feels real. When Veronica and Arcade snark at each other, it feels earned. That’s a testament to the voice directors and the writing team at Obsidian, led by Chris Avellone and Josh Sawyer.
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The technical constraints were real, too. Because of the memory limits of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, they couldn't have an infinite variety of voices. That’s why you hear the same five actors playing every civilian in the game. It’s a "flaw," sure, but it’s become part of the game’s charm. It feels like a theater troupe where the actors keep changing hats.
How to Experience the Best Performances Today
If you’re heading back into the Mojave to appreciate the work of these voice actors Fallout New Vegas fans adore, don't just rush the main quest.
- Recruit Everyone: Even if you don't like a specific faction, do the companion quests. Raul’s quest "Old School Ghoul" reveals so much about his character through Trejo’s nuanced delivery.
- Talk to the Antagonists: Don't just shoot Benny. Talk to him in his suite. Talk to Caesar. Talk to Lanius (voiced by Mitch Lewis, who sounds like a literal mountain talking).
- Listen to the Radio: Wayne Newton is "Mr. New Vegas." He’s the DJ. He recorded his lines specifically to feel like a comforting, smooth-talking presence amidst the chaos. He never actually appears in the game—he’s an AI in the lore—which makes his upbeat persona even creepier if you think about it too long.
The reality of New Vegas is that it shouldn't work. It was buggy, rushed, and used an engine that was already showing its age. But the voice acting provided the "blood" for the game's "bones." It turned a landscape of brown polygons into a place that felt inhabited by real, flawed, funny, and dangerous people.
To get the most out of your next playthrough, try playing with a high-Intelligence build. This unlocks specific dialogue trees that reveal even more layers of performance, particularly with characters like Arcade Gannon and Fantastic (the "theoretical degree in physics" guy). If you want to dive deeper into the technical side, look for the "Behind the Scenes" documentaries included in the original collector's edition; they show the actors in the booth, grappling with the bizarre world of Fallout.
Next Steps for Fallout Fans
- Check out the "Uncut" mods: On PC, many mods restore "cut" dialogue that was voiced but removed for space. This adds hours of new performances from the original cast.
- Follow the actors: Many of the "core" voices like Yuri Lowenthal and Liam O'Brien are now major stars in the "Critical Role" circle or lead massive AAA franchises; hearing their early work in the Mojave is a fascinating trip down memory lane.
- Listen to the Soundtracks: Beyond the voice acting, the radio tracks were curated to match the vocal tone of the game. Artists like Marty Robbins and Dean Martin provide the perfect backdrop to the dialogue.
The Mojave stays the same, but every time you hear those voices, you find something new. Whether it's the sorrow in a Ranger's voice or the manic glee of a Securitron, the acting is why we never truly leave New Vegas.