There’s no separating Wayne June from Darkest Dungeon. Like Logan Cunningham’s work as the narrator in Supergiant Games’ Bastion, every narrow victory and heart-wrenching defeat in Red Hook Studios’ dark fantasy dungeon crawler is punctuated by June’s grim, unwaveringly sorrow-filled voice. He passed away in January 2025, and director Chris Bourassa recently confirmed he would never use generative AI to try to resurrect his ghost.
“In one of his last emails to me, Wayne gave us permission to train an AI on his voice, something he’d staunchly opposed prior to the end,” Bourassa wrote on the Darkest Dungeon subreddit this week in response to fans discussing how a potential Darkest Dungeon 3 might handle the deceased actor’s one-of-a-kind talents. “We’d never asked to do it. I think he was trying to put the game/team/fans first – offer us a ‘way forward’. I declined, and we donated to his family anyway.”
Cyberpunk 2077 used generative AI to mimic the voice of the actor who played Viktor Vektor in the Polish-language version of the game after he died of cancer in 2021. “Do not f*cking do that,” Deus Ex voice actor Elias Toufexis said when a modder tried to swap his voice into CD Projekt Red’s sci-fi RPG using AI. Epic Games even used it to have James Earl Jones bark at players in Fortnite as Darth Vader. Red Hook Studios is drawing a line where others haven’t.
“I would never, ever erode his incredible and timeless performances by teaching a machine to sound like him,” Bourassa wrote. “His voice and delivery was *human, and I’m forever grateful I got to write for him.”
June’s voice is especially affecting in Darkest Dungeon 2, where a roguelike adventure structure provides more space for dramatic storytelling and ambient tension. “Wayne’s singular baritone and masterful cadence elevated everything he read. He was a consummate professional, and his love of his craft was an inspiration,” Bourassa said when he passed. “His inimitable work is woven into the very fabric of our industry in a way that cannot be forgotten.”