Embark is doing some monumental spring cleaning in the lead up to its major Arc Raiders' update Frozen Trail. There's been an overhaul to its anticheat approach, the news of a potential PvE test, and a change to loot hotspots. But amid all of this, we're also getting a rework to one of Speranza's most important residents: Celeste.
Diana Gardner has been the voice of Celeste, Speranza's de facto leader, since the beginning, but Stefan Strandberg, the chief creative officer at Embark, explained in a blog post how Celeste has "never fully represented the depth of Diana’s performance." As her "limited expressive capabilities" held the character back and broke immersion for players, failing to communicate "the stakes and stories we want to tell."
"Sometimes high fidelity, dynamic facial expressions are important to anchor the gravity of the story, and this is something that has constrained us up to this point," Strandberg adds.
So, with this in mind, Embark has set about reworking Celeste, with Gardner becoming her new face. "This is the first time we have used full motion capture, including a more detailed and accurate face, that allows us to map expressions and emotion in more detail. This means that more of Diana’s performance and identity comes through the screen."
This does mean Celeste will look different on October 6 when Frozen Trail releases, but rest assured all "you’re watching is the authentic performance of an incredibly talented actor, the real Celeste on screen for the first time."
It won't just end here though, as this is the start of a new wave of visual reworks for Arc Raiders as the team also intends to take a look at other characters. "In future updates, we plan to bring more characters in line with their real-world actors," Strandberg explains. "Not only will this mean more faithful representations of actors, it’ll be felt by players themselves."
Arc Raiders has always had one of the most exceptional worlds to explore, but it has unfortunately fallen short when it comes to characters. They are by and large just quite dull, sure the designs kind of look cool, but they've have always just been quest giving machines rather than convincing citizens of a game. This is not helped by its use of AI when it comes to beefing up voicelines.
So it comes as no surprise that Embark is seeking to remedy this, by "finding more ways to integrate real human performances into every interaction". Because that is the only way to tell a successful and convincing story.
