You grip your controller until your thumbs go numb. You’re just gonna go on one more run. Hypnotic waves of colorful bullets fill the screen as you weave through the chaos, locked into an adrenaline-pumped flow state. But beneath that audiovisual and technical excellence, there are narrative reasons to explore the hostile alien world of Carcosa.
The Soltari Enforcer, Arjun Devraj, played by actor Rahul Kohli, is deployed alongside a rescue crew, to Carcosa to secure a lost mining colony, though he may be harboring ulterior motives. The story of Saros takes Housemarque in a new bold direction, and it’s all propped on the shoulders of the actors behind these performances.
Finding Carcosa: Becoming Arjun is a behind-the-scenes documentary that explores how Arjun came to life. Taking you onto the performance capture stage, the film features exclusive footage and new interviews with Kohli and the development team, detailing exactly what it took for Arjun to find his voice.
“As both a filmmaker and a lifelong gamer, I’ve always been fascinated by what makes a video game character truly feel authentic. Really pop out of the screen. With this episode, I wanted to not only peel back the curtain to share a glimpse of the technical side of performance capture, but also shine some light on the human process behind it.” says Paul J. Vogel, the director of the three-part Finding Carcosa documentary series.
The tech and freedom of performance capture
“I hated it,” laughs Rahul when asked about his first day on the performance capture stage. “It’s a very strange feeling. You spend most of your time worrying how you look in this lycra wet suit, wishing you’d gone to the gym. It takes an hour or two before you stop feeling silly. That’s the strange thing. It starts tech heavy – calibrating your fingers. And then once you’ve done that, it felt like an empty stage with actors and a director, and a script. Most actors are comfortable with doing a lot with very little. From day one in a rehearsal space, you are working without props, without stage furniture. Everything else, [the tech], has just gone.”
Rahul references advice he received from Troy Baker. “He said it was the purest form of acting you’ll ever do. And he was right. I’m not playing to the camera… it’s just about me and [the other actors].”
Finding the characters’ by focusing on story-driven scenes first
The studio made sure to organise the shoot order so the cast could settle into the character’s roles, and find their respective voices. “We started with a lot more of the dream elements,” explains Louden. “That way they didn’t need to know exactly who they were. They could be more dreamlike and from there go into the more realistic, naturalistic performance.”
Gamer-turned-game protagonist
“He’s [Rahul Kolhi] a gamer as well, so he knows what he is looking for a videogame character,” reminisces senior narrative designer Khalil Osaimi. “On set he had so many notes, even with the script. It was really interesting to see him collaborate with Greg, because it was like two kids with action figures [laughs]. They created a fantastic spectacle.
“That collaboration was how to add these little details for players, and bring this level of authenticity whether players are watching the performance capture or hearing the voice over… it feels real.”
How a traffic jam helped Rahul find Arjun’s voice
“I had to catch a flight, and Housemarque wouldn’t have access to me for six months,” says Kolhi. “And they needed the trailer. And in order for me to make my flight I had to record on the other side of town in LA crazy early. And I’m stuck in traffic. And I was so worked up and angry at seven, eight in the morning. We recorded the teaser trailer. And that voice that came out was angrier, more intense than anything we’d done or explored previously. And Greg and I were immediately like… ‘wait, that’s him. That’s who we’ve been looking for’…. being angry and not being good enough to hide it… that was where Arjun was really born.”
“Rahul’s anecdote about finding the true voice of Arjun is the perfect summary of how sometimes the creative nature of storytelling can be unpredictable. It’s funny because it is so completely unglamorous. Stuck in traffic, already late for a recording session and up against the clock for a departing flight. It shows how a character can come alive from research, rehearsal and collaboration with your director… but sometimes all it really takes is one very bad commute,” Paul continues
It was not only amazing to see Rahul’s dedication to find Arjun, but also how much it meant to him on a personal level. You can feel how Saros is a milestone in his career that he might have not even dared to dream of some years ago. As both an actor and an avid gamer, he understood the assignment and felt the weight in bringing to life a character that hopefully would resonate with gamers across the world.
Thank you so much Rahul and the whole cast, and a thank you to all our players as well.
Saros is available now on PS5.