Fort Solis made its cinematic reveal at Summer Game Fest 2022 with an atmospheric teaser. Fort Solis is a third-person sci-fi title described as a “tight thriller,” which may make sense due to its seemingly intimate cast of characters. The game centers on deuteragonists Wyatt Taylor and Jack Leary, who have known acting talent behind them: Troy Baker and Roger Clark.
Fort Solis is narrative-driven and has explorative gameplay, but not much else is known about it. This is probably purposeful, as a lot of mystery looms over Fort Solis, but one thing is clear. Fort Solis is a promising new IP due to the acting leads that developer Fallen Leaf managed to snag for the project. These actors were at the forefront of its initial tease, and it seems as if their faces will identify Fort Solis as marketing continues.
Fort Solis' Use of Troy Baker and Roger Clark
The most interesting part of Fort Solis, from what little that has been shown, is its actors. Fans likely need no introduction to Troy Baker, who is a remarkably prolific actor in the games industry known for roles such as The Last of Us’ Joel Miller, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor’s Talion, BioShock Infinite’s Booker DeWitt, and far more in games, film, and anime.
Baker was recently involved in a scandal around backing NFTs, but made two appearances at Summer Game Fest to help reveal Fort Solis alongside Roger Clark, as well as announce his role in The Last of Us’ live-action HBO series. Baker is seminally involved in The Last of Us, which is also receiving a remake called The Last of Us Part 1 where Baker’s performance will be overhauled, and adaptive AI will update his animations.
The second actor billed on Fort Solis is Roger Clark, who is inseparable from his performance as Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2. Baker’s filmography is a lot lighter than his Fort Solis counterpart, but his work as Arthur earned him several awards nominations and Best Performance at The Game Awards 2018.
The Summer Game Fest teaser for Fort Solis also features a cast listing for Julia Brown. Brown’s character only seems to appear in the teaser through voice lines shouted at Clark, being more of a mystery as a result. As an actor who has less notoriety, particularly in games, it makes sense if the marketing of Fort Solis chooses to concentrate on its male leads instead.
Fort Solis Will Likely Market Itself on a Star-Studded Cast
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Many modern games have utilized the efforts of actors who commonly work outside video games, but have lent their chops to motion-capture and voice work. A high-profile example includes Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding, which featured actors such as Norman Reedus, Mads Mikkelsen, Lea Seydoux, and Margaret Qualley. This is becoming more and more common as games with increasing budgets can afford such talent, but there is also a wealth of names that already exist within the industry that is frequently used for important castings.
Fort Solis was initially teased with a behind-the-scenes photo of Troy Baker and Roger Clark in the middle of motion-capture performance last November. The game’s title had already been confirmed along with this photo, but few details other than the star-studded cast were revealed at that time. Fort Solis is set on a Mars research facility, which is depicted in Summer Game Fest’s reveal teaser, but the narrative is still left ambiguous outside the fact that Troy Baker and Roger Clark’s characters will interact and be at odds with one another. Fort Solis may be able to sneak by with a lot of its marketing focused solely on its actors due to their profound work catalog.
Baker and Clark both appeared in-person at Summer Game Fest to hype Fort Solis up, which implies Fallen Leaf may thrust them to the forefront of every marketing opportunity. This is not a bad decision, particularly if Fallen Leaf wants to keep certain narrative beats or surprises about gameplay under wraps. Baker and Clark are likely enough to keep Fort Solis in the back of fans’ minds due to their pedigree and what their performances may bring.
Fort Solis is in development for PC and consoles.