One of the defining features of sci-fi and space opera that no one seems to talk about is the importance of voice. From the eerily emotionless commands uttered by HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey, to crackled Star Wars X-wing pilot communications, the sonorous soundbites of Captain Kirk and beyond, the genre stays in the memory largely thanks to its veritable cosmos of catchphrases.
What if your favourite characters from all those legendary sci-fi movies could join you on your long and lonesome journeys across the galaxies of Elite: Dangerous, between the billion brightly coloured planets of No Man’s Sky, or even just a routine flight in Microsoft Flight Sim 2020?
HCS Voicepacks answers that question with an ever-expanding collection of voice packs that integrate into your favourite space and flight sims. They let you rub shoulders with Star Trek’s William Shatner or Michael Dorn, be bombarded by Brian Blessed shouting ‘Missiles Away!’ or have a giggle with Norman Lovett, the voice of Holly in classic space comedy Red Dwarf.
Or, if you want a more informative voice that teaches you about the mysteries of the cosmos as you traverse it, you can do that too, taking on NASA astrophysicist Eylene Pirez as your companion in the Crusoe pack.
Each HCS voice pack contains over 3000 responses and phrases from over six hours of recorded dialogue. It’s not just a case of these voices giving you basic information either. They’ll chat with you based on your circumstances, warning you when your ship takes damage, punctuating your landing on a planet, and give you flack should you get fined by the police in Elite: Dangerous.
It doesn’t stop there; in Elite: Dangerous you can have six voice packs at once and allocate all of them to different stations, effectively putting you in charge of an entire crew.
HCS Voicepacks are both immersive and interactive, adding character to your cosmic journeys while keeping you company by dynamically responding to your voice. It’s like having these great characters right there with you in the cockpit, bringing a little bit of their sci-fi universes into your game.
It’s an expanding project too. HCS Voicepacks has partnered with leading space sim developers Frontier Developments (Elite: Dangerous) and Cloud Imperium Games (Star Citizen) to make voice integration into these games a cinch. More recently, HCS has created voice packs for No Man’s Sky and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, and they’re currently hard at work integrating voices in Star Wars Squadrons.
There are three voice packs in the works for the hit Star Wars dogfighting sim—a female voice called Alix, Alpha the bounty hunter, and Legion, who is voiced by the great Michael Dorn (aka Worf from Star Trek: The Next Generation). So whether you want to feel like a righteous rebellion fighter or rakish bounty hunter, HCS is on hand to immerse you, while offering seamless voice control of your ship, weapons and loadouts.
To use HCS Voicepacks, you’ll need to first buy the VoiceAttack software—a tool that converts various buttons and in-game actions into voice commands. VoiceAttack works with any game, and you can find in-depth profiles for, for example, spells and dragon shouts in Skyrim. VoiceAttack really shines when you’re playing a game in VR (which many space sims support), when access to the full gamut of keyboard commands can be tricky.
HCS Voicepacks aren’t just dependent on VoiceAttack—they’re fully integrated with it, doing all the work of assigning voice commands to keys for you. The same goes for the partnership with Frontier Developments, which ensures that setting your voice pack up in Elite: Dangerous is nice and simple. A voice pack’s journey doesn’t end upon purchase either. Each one is supported by free updates, with actors regularly returning to the HCS studio to further flesh out their characters.
Combined with VR, these voice packs create one of the most immersive experiences in gaming, but they have a more grounded purpose too: to help gamers with disabilities and injuries play their favourite games.
HCS Voicepacks has long worked with charity SpecialEffect to expand gaming to those who’d otherwise struggle to play, and to that end has created a community-supported voice pack where 100% of the price goes to charity. William Shatner even recorded some encouraging words for some of SpecialEffect’s ambassadors as they hiked up a volcano to raise money.
So if you’re looking for some company on your intergalactic adventures, head over to HCS Voicepacks to see who’s available for your crew. You can also get involved with the HCS community on Twitter and Facebook (where the packs have garnered a 4.9 out of 5 rating) , and see just how much hard work goes into these voice packs on their YouTube channel.
