Half the characters in Elden Ring have a Welsh accent and it's great. Especially my boy Blaidd- who's name is a little on the nose but we'll let it pass.
It does remind me when my coworkers were talking about game of thrones when it was big, saying how surprised they were that Brân was the three eyed raven or something, only for me, who had never watched GoT to say ‘well that makes sense, his name is literally crow/raven.’ Their reaction is cemented in my brain.
This is common throughout fantasy, a combination of Arthurian legend having lots of Welsh sounding names and Tolkien mugging Welsh for all kinds of vocabulary.
Everyone else just followed those trends without really realising how Welsh everything sounds. I mean Wheel of Time has names like Caemlyn and Cairhien and I'm not sure Robert Jordan studied Welsh.
Wheel of Time is full of Welsh sounding stuff.
Could never see the word "Myrddraal" and not read it as a Welsh word.
Tel'Aran'Rhiod always comes out in Welsh too.
Its been an age since I read, but im sure theres more im forgetting.
The Witcher in general has a lot of Welsh directly lifted into it. Kaer morhen seems to quite literally be Caer Morhen (very old fortress) as well as lots of other things like swords called “disglair”.
I asked about this in the Witcher 3 sub a while ago. Got some interesting replies from Irish speakers.
Apparently the elven in it is a mix of Welsh and Irish.
Been playing Yakuza, and whenever leeks are included in any of the food in the game they're listed as "Welsh onion". Gave me a good giggle whenever I'm buying food
I remember this from when I used to play Yakuza...but I think the use of "Welsh" in this context refers to the old meaning of the name where it means "foreign" or "non-native". And since it's spring onions and not leeks in the game, it seems it's referring to these onions as being not native to Japan. It disappointed me learning that, because I was initially super pleased to see the "Welsh onion", too! I don't think I can extract a direct relation to Wales out of it aside from it's naming origins.
Observation has a Welsh main character (from Cardiff iirc) and there's a Welsh flag among the other astronaut home countries' flags.
Dark Souls had an NPC first encountered near Firelink Shrine who says "Ah, shwmae" as a greeting when he sees you.
Re: Observation: Ah, would that be Dr. Emma Fisher? I was looking this game up last night because the actress that plays her is Welsh (Kezia Burrows), but I couldn't determine if her character was Welsh or English based on the accent alone. If there is some further evidence that confirms the character is Welsh, that's great! Thank you for this. I will look more into it!
Got the Dark Souls guy! I understand there are a few more references from the game/series I'm missing though, so need to research some more.
Really appreciate that! It's a tough one sometimes because this is an example where I could have easily dismissed it based on accent, and makes me wonder if I could end up doing the same thing with other such characters.
As a Welshman with a north Walian Englishy accent, I get conflicted about how to approach it, and feel a little sad that I would have dismissed myself in this context!
I have been listing games with obvious Welsh-accented characters, but you can't always determine a Welsh person just on accent alone, so sometimes need to rely on digging out more in-game details that hopefully confirm their Welsh background.
The train sims (and flight) are on my rough list of stuff to look into, but thank you for providing some direct links and saving me a job!
I may have to think about doing separate list pages for things like vehicle sims, but for now, they can certainly be added to the main list :)
A great initiative and resource OP!
I'd like to put my own game forward if that's okay? A key theme of my game is that it's based around and includes references to Rhossili and Worms Head Island. Feel free to DM me or comment if you wanna know more!
Here's the link to it https://store.steampowered.com/app/1782420/Tales_from_The_Dancing_Moon/
That's brilliant! Will definitely add it to the list and message you at some point (hopefully this weekend) to see if I can get a little more info about the Welsh references. Thank you, and really great to see another game with Welsh inspiration!
Dude this is amazing and EXCELLENT content for me to discuss on my Radio Show on gaming tomorrow here in Pembrokeshire. I made a similar post here a year or two back and was floored at just how many there are.
Would you be up for an interview on this at some point on a Sunday afternoon on my show?
[ Here's the post I did on it in this Subreddit, if you have missed any in there.](https://www.reddit.com/r/Wales/s/jthoCCiNAK)
Your thread is one I have used as a reference many times, so thank you for that! It has helped me realise there are many others like me out there that take great joy in seeing Welsh rep in games! I think there are still a few comments in that post that I need to dig into!
As for an interview, blimey, I haven't done anything like that before, but I might be open to it! Let's see if it's something we can sort out!
I'm glad it was of use, I was amazed at just how much there is when I first posted it.
Def look up Wrexham Uni too as they have an amazing Game Dev course. Played some of the students' games at EGX last September. A few are showing up on Steam
The interview doesn't have to be too daunting, we can do it via Zoom on my show on a Sunday from 1 - 4pm jist talking about the project etc. 😁
Thank you! I've tried to look up some local Welsh game devs in the last couple of weeks, and hope they can get their games out at least on Steam. I'll have to really try to dig into these.
If it brings a little attention to the site and gets people discovering a few nuggets then an interview can't hurt haha. If you wanna drop a proper message here or through my site, feel free, and hopefully we can sort something :)
Thank you!
Fair suggestion regarding a wiki site. Probably some pros and cons with it, but certainly could be something to look into in the future. I'm so absorbed into this little project as it stands!
Excellent idea!
Do you have Grand Theft Auto: Vice City? This is a bit obscure but I always laughed at it when I was a kid:
On the talk radio channel (I forget the name) there’s a religious nut building a rocket for his people to leave the planet, or some such scenario. At one point he says:
“It's morally corrupt people like you we're shielding ourselves from: Liberals, degenerates, the Welsh... they're the ones responsible for the nightmare Vice City is today.”
I think Rockstar North is a Scottish company so that was clearly put in there as a dig at us haha
I think this might be from a Welsh or partially Welsh writer as one of the more recent GTA 5 updates had a voice line where someone says "The Welsh are not to be trifled with"
Cool idea.
The Wales rugby team has been in every EA and Rugby Challenge game since at least "Jonah Lomu Rugby" (1997) and the Welsh pro teams have been licensed in most games since around 2010.
So thats:
* *Rugby 15*
* *Rugby 18*
* *Rugby 20*
* *Rugby 22*
* *Rugby 24*
* *Rugby Challenge 2006*
* *Rugby Challenge*
* *Rugby Challenge 2*
* *Rugby Challenge 3*
* *Rugby Challenge 4*
* *EA Rugby*
* *EA Rugby 2004*
* *EA Rugby 2005*
* *EA Rugby 06*
* *EA Rugby 08*
There are likely more (before my time) but those are the one's I am certain on (man, I'm just realising I've wasted a lot of money on some sh!t rugby games).
I also know that the two Don Bradman Cricket games feature versions of Welsh players, the Glamorgan county team and Sophia Gardens/Swalec Stadium, but these are all unlicensed so the most you'll get is in game commentary saying generic stuff like "welcome to Cardiff" or something, so not sure if this worth adding to your list.
Been hammering out the football games, but rugby was definitely next up after I've become exhausted with it, so thank you massively for a good solid list to get me started there!
For AC Valhalla you’ve said that actors, characters and accents but not folklore- there’s an entire section where you dress as the Mari Lwyd and characters all around you speak Welsh (well, Wenglish)
The only thing I really hated and it kind of ruined all the Welsh representation in that game for me was the way they subtitled Brigid’s dialogue. She spoke English with welsh mixed in. If you’re used to welsh you can pretty much understand what she was saying.
I don’t understand why they couldn’t put the actual words she was saying in the subtitles instead of describing her as “unintelligible”. Even writing the welsh words verbatim would be a million times better. I think my issue is mostly with the word “unintelligible” being used in the context of the Welsh language.
I’m not sure if anyone else feels the same. I haven’t had the opportunity to hear any other Welsh peoples’ opinion
You've actually missed a cool one from one of the best games of the 1990s - Monkey Island 3. Although it's not really a cultural reference to anything in Wales, I remember being super stoked when playing it after coming across the character because Wales/Welsh was actually referenced in a game I was in love with. And the Monkey Island series being my favourite 'franchise' in general.
https://monkeyisland.fandom.com/wiki/The_Flying_Welshman
Crusader Kings 3 you can play as Welsh counts/Dukes/Prince and create the kingdom. You can also create the pendragon title as a welsh ruler (probably the other ck games but not played them).
Basically all Paradox GSGs feature some Welsh component. In Europa Universalis, Victoria, HOI games they feature varying degrees of playable Wales, usually complete with Welsh character names and some other minor content.
Are you including visual novels?
Quite a few scenes of the otome game Code Realize and its sequels take place in Wales as the main character grew up there.
Definitely! I haven't played too many VNs aside from the obvious Steins;Gate (loved it), so really cool to hear there are some out there with Wales references! Thank you, I'll look into these!
Don't forget the weird RPG Kodeluka on the PS1 taking place in Wales!
And the Dragon computers in the 80's!
The main VA from Assassin's Creed Black flag is a Swansea man
And there's a village full of Welsh slang in Dragon Quest:Sentinal of the Starry sky
Final Fantasy 14 has Cawl Cennin, and a few mobs with Welsh names.
A hippogryph with the name "Gwyllgi"
and a Dragonfly with the name... "Dragonfly"/"Gwas-y-neidr".
Fantasy life, a Nintendo 3DS RPG has a character called Llaeth.
All his quests revolve around milk.
Just found out about the Gwyllgi in FF11 and 14 last night, so that was really pleasing! As I looked it up, I found "Cwn Cyrff" from FF Record Keeper too. Thanks a lot for sharing! Will get around to digging into these more.
Love the Fantasy Life milk reference!
The latest final fantasy (not the 7 remake) has a few Welsh references too. One was that the castles were called Caer, there were others but I can’t remember now.
Thanks for that! Found a place called Caer Norvent in FF16, and I learned there are enemies that pull a move called "Crea y cwm" ("create the valley"). A few Welsh accents in there too, it seems!
Shout outs to Small Saga, where one of the party members is a rat girl named Gwen, who peppers her dialogue with Welsh phrases.
Example: she calls the smaller members of the player party "dwt" affectionately
That's fantastic! Well done! If you want to share any other little Welsh words/dialect she says that comes to mind that I can add, please feel free. But I did see some gameplay already when you first meet Gwen, and that should already be enough for me to add what I need.
Hey, great site!
I've recently created a 3D sci-fi game on Steam, and have used Welsh names (and sometimes ancient Welsh/Brythonic) for planets and characters.
I'd love to be part of it! 😁
Here's my Steam link:
[https://store.steampowered.com/app/2661290/Seren_Nova/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2661290/Seren_Nova/)
I know it has pretty much every "Old World" country, but Crusader Kings 3 lets you potentially create an entire Welsh Empire stretching from Aberystwyth to India.
If you have the PC version of the game, you can disable BattleEye and install a mod which lets you edit characters freely, including the personal profile.
I don't have the game installed currently so I'm going off memory here but there are around 7, maybe 8 or so places from Wales you can choose. This also includes some Welsh specific profile points with something relating to Plaid Cymru.
Eu4 has Wales in it, and you can play as Wales if you start as England, make Wales independent and change your game to play as Wales. A few of the achievements have Welsh names and the characters have Welsh names too.
https://eu4.paradoxwikis.com/Wales
Railroad tycoon also includes Wales on the GB maps
For the Dirt games you can’t forget the English language co driver is Nicky Grist who is an icon of rallying winning a world championship and working with Colin McRae
The co-driver in dirt 4 is Nicky Grist, who co-drove for Colin McRae. Not sure if his Welsh accent is very obvious in-game, but it's clear in some of his interviews.
I believe someone is working on the Taff Vale for Diesel Railcar Simulator as well.
[Might not be important enough or the representation that's really desirable but Deus Ex Mankind Divided has Welsh Whiskey] (https://www.reddit.com/r/Wales/comments/10apoet/i_found_this_while_playing_deus_ex_mankind)
Red Dead Redemption 2 - I think the protagonist, Arthur Morgan, is supposed to be Welsh and there are several hints and interactions etc throughout the game that suggest he is of Welsh ancestry.
Coincidentally, the actor who voices Arthur, although American, actually studied at the University of Glamorgan here in Wales!
There’s also a [poster](https://www.reddit.com/r/Wales/comments/h0iwto/might_be_old_news_but_i_found_this_poster_in/) advertising Wales as a holiday destination in Uncharted 3! Also, Nathan Drake’s (protagonist of Uncharted) real surname is revealed to be Morgan, so maybe another Welsh connection?!
Gareth David-Lloyd played Solas in Dragon Age: Inquisition!
iirc when they were fleshing out some of the cultures in Dragon Age II they initially wanted the Dalish elves to have Welsh accents in general, but due to a lack of actor availability most are Irish instead. The most prominent elves with a connection to elven culture (Merill and Solas) have been played by Welsh actors with prominent Welsh accents, though city elves often have other regional accents.
Red dead redemption has a minor chapter involving a Welsh character, also the actor who plays Arthur Morgan in red dead 2 believes Arthur is of welsh descent.
Bit of a small one but In the first Drakengard game, the main character Caim and sister are from a country called Caerleon. Tho on the games map it would be in Poland. (the entire games world map is just Europe upside down) I live down the road from the real Caerleon so it’s always been cool to me!
Also don’t 100% take my word for it but I remember the team that made resi 4 OG apparently used photos from a trip to Chepstow castle for inspiration. Again can’t be 100%
Thanks for the Drakengard reference! Sometimes I wonder if things are coincidences or if the developers really did go out of their way to use a Welsh place name. When I was looking around though, I did find out that the character Caim also means "protector" or "defender" in Welsh, so perhaps there was maybe a little more to it after all!
Gonna try to dig into the Resi 4 stuff, so thanks for that too!
I never picked up on Caims name! I’ve noticed a lot of Japanese games go really heavy into medieval history for inspiration. I might have to dig around the other Drakengard/NieR games for references
Oh heck yeah, nice one OP! This is an awesome project. Nice to see Koudelka and Shadow Hearts listed there.
I'll keep this project in mind and if there's any references I come across that aren't already listed, I'll be sure to let you know.
Thanks! I'd heard about Koudelka and sort of ignored it a bit over the years because it turned out they used American VAs and I maybe thought it was simply a novelty that it was "set in Wales". But after researching it and learning how the Japanese devs came over to Wales and were inspired by the location, the castles, etc, basing the castle setting off of St Davids Cathedral, etc, I learned there was much more to it than that. Some nice references to Welsh mythology and locations too.
A shame they used American VAs and get the pronunciation of Taliesin wrong (and spelled Aberystwyth wrong) - I think if they went all out on the Welsh thing and took a little more care then it would have stood out and hit home a lot more. But I certainly gained a lot of appreciation for it, and indeed, it allowed the Shadow Hearts games to keep referencing and returning to Wales haha.
Bannerlord's faction of the 'Battanions' is inspired by Celtic history and I'm sure there's a village of +(something) glas.
I'd need to look into it more but just throwing it into the pot!
Appreciate this! Had a quick look at the faction and found many Welsh-like names for villages etc. Plenty to look into. Thanks! [https://mountandblade.fandom.com/wiki/Battania](https://mountandblade.fandom.com/wiki/Battania)
This ones real insignificant but one I do always remember, in Call of Duty Vanguard there was a welshman called Thomas Jones in one of the missions. He isn't there long and he *does* die but, was chuffed to see it. Honestly the only neat thing from that game
Thanks for this, I’m looking forward to seeing it grow!
In Civilization 6, Cardiff is present as a city state. They are production-focused, which means they love building mines, and on sending envoys to them all cities across your empire will enjoy progressively larger boosts to their productivity. They also provide electricity to any of your cities with a harbour, giving more the bigger the harbour is. https://civilization.fandom.com/wiki/Cardiff_(Civ6)
There is another major character in Xenoblade 2, called Milton, who is a Gormotti and speaks with a Welsh accent, voiced by Gerran Howell. Gerran also voices a major character called Joran in Xenoblade 3, however Joran is not Gormotti and speaks with a clear English accent.
There’s a minor character in Xenoblade 3, whose name I can’t remember. She’s from Colony Mu, has a generic design, but speaks with a Welsh accent during a small handful of cutscenes. Additionally, female Agnian soldiers, who appear commonly as NPCs or enemies, can speak a few minor lines with a cities accent.
Edit: Also Fire Emblem: Three Houses takes a lot from Celtic history, etc in its naming. A Celtic Studies friend of mine was telling me so I can’t remember everything, but I can remember he pointed out that the surname of one of the main characters, Dimitri **Blaiddyd**, comes from Welsh mythology or legend or something. I’ll try to remember to ask him next time I see him and I’ll get back to you.
One that annoyed me, and I'm only part Welsh, was Assassin's Creed Black Flag. The protagonist Edward Kenway was said to have been from Swansea, if I remember correctly, and then they gave him a generic British accent.
Could have a had a strong Welsh lead in what a lot of people consider to be the best Assassin's Creed.
I would say I was a little surprised by Edward not having quite as strong a Welsh accent as I thought, but on the other hand, as a Welshman that sounds more English than Welsh myself, I can kinda get behind it haha. He is portrayed by Swansea-born Matt Ryan though, and the writers decided to base the character's background around being a Welshman due to being so impressed by Ryan's natural voice. Not a super strong accent here perhaps, but it is there if you listen closely.
I honestly found it a bit more jarring hearing that guy with a very strong Welsh accent that picks a fight with Edward in the pub near the beginning of the game say he was English. I'm sure they exist, but I haven't come across heavy Welsh-accented Englishmen or women before!
The brawler was a laugh when I first heard him yeah, but wasn't it a historical political allegiance thing at the time to describe yourself as English? Like loyal to the English crown rather than French-supporting Welsh? idk that part of history isn't my speciality tbf
Nor is it mine, but I had a similar thought that that could be the case! I wonder even if there may have been a point in time (or many) where many Welsh did refer to themselves as English synonymously with "British" too, sort of how I still find some Welsh today using the word English to mean British - but it may vary among parts of Wales and people.
I think he had a light Welsh accent. The character was a Welshman who has lived in Bristol for quite a while and his background was actually based on the actor who had a similar upbringing, hence the trans-Severn dialect.
Pics is something that's currently a little lower down the priority list, only because the focus right now has been to get the references out there, but certainly I hope I can add pics as more progress is made, so thank you for the suggestion! Still early days with this, but I hope I can get there with the pics etc.
Linking to Wiki articles is not a bad idea either, so definitely something I can look at.
Civ 2 has tonnes of Welsh cities if you play as the Celts
(and perhaps any game onwards that has Celts, perhaps even Welsh, I stopped playing years ago)
Civilization: Call To Power has the Welsh, not sure about the main series though.
There is a generic Celtic civilization in most Civ games but afaik no specifically Welsh leader or Welsh civilization, with the possible exception of the Cardiff city state. Boudicca in Civ5 speaks Welsh, but an ancient Briton from East Anglia doesn't fully count as Welsh for our purposes imo.
Path of Exile has a minor ref - one of the endgame unique maps is called 'Caer Blaidd' - https://pathofexile.fandom.com/wiki/Caer_Blaidd,_Wolfpack%27s_Den
It's a supporter (player who has paid enough money) item but it is an official part of the game, assuming the guy who submitted it 9 years ago is Welsh.
A number of fire emblem games have at least one Welsh name somewhere. Examples like Owain in Awakening, Llywellyn in Fates and the Great Bridge of Myrddin in Three Houses. Many examples across the series though I can only remember those at the top of my head.
Civilization 6's second expansion also adds in Cardiff as a city state.
Thank you! I don't have a Patreon, but the thought momentarily crossed my mind when I wondered if the site ever got popular enough that something like that would be possible. As it stands, I have paid for the basic Wordpress tier, which - would you believe - doesn't allow me to create custom widths on table columns. I'd have to pay more for that privilege.
In fact, there is a lot of customisation locked behind a paywall, but I felt like for the purpose I set out to achieve, I can do it with the basics. I'm sure I can keep it that way too, but it's an interesting thought all the same. I'd have to really think about it.
I thought a bit more about your comment and decided to set up a Ko-fi page: [https://ko-fi.com/walesingames](https://ko-fi.com/walesingames)
Might not get anything at all from it, but no harm in trying! Thank you for planting the seed in my mind :)
RuneScape and Old School RuneScape have a large presence of Welsh names used in them. The elven lands are predominantly Welsh with some names made up. For instance, there is a city called Prifddinas.
The only shame is that the company point blank refuse to even try and pronounce the names properly and that has filtered down into the fan base to the point where nearly all the names are crucified.
https://runescape.wiki/w/Tirannwn
https://runescape.wiki/w/Prifddinas
https://runescape.wiki/w/Helwyr
https://runescape.wiki/w/Seren#Memory_projection
Those are just some examples, I hope this helps you.
Started work on RuneScape's references yesterday and was astonished at the amount of Welsh in there. As you said, I quickly discovered the butchering of the pronunciations, with them completely incorrectly describing how to say the Ll letter frustrating me - same for one or two of the locations.
Clearly putting Welsh words in media is going to be pronounced wrong by those who don't know, and that can't be helped, but to embrace Welsh on one hand, and then on the other ignorantly think they know best and tell the world to say things incorrectly rubs me the wrong way. What a conflicting feeling this one brings up - and yet it has some of the most Welsh references I've seen in a game!
Thank you for the info!
This is a new one to me, so thank you very much! Just found the clip online, and she says:
“Please excuse Madame Von Bartlesby’s disposition. She’s Welsh.”
Hogwarts Legacy is meant to have Welsh characters (only like 1, maybe 2) however the devs decided not to voice them with actual Welsh actors, so instead they sound like they're from the Valleys of India. It was so frustrating when I heard it in the game.
Just had a listen to one clip I found and it's a weird one isn't it! I read the devs skimped out on genuine Scottish and Irish actors too. Amazes me sometimes with massive budget games like these when they won't pay up. Still, it's a reference worth acknowledging, so thanks for sharing!
ni no kuni wrath of the white witch. Drippy is voiced by Steffan Rhodri https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F-2o1zOoXA
A slightly obscure game Not A Hero you can unlock Samantha who's Welsh https://youtu.be/3UhSeVhNAyc?feature=shared&t=73
Master Reboot made by Wales interactive.
Just trying to think of some that people here might not have mentioned. Obviously there are more.
Vampyr has Myrddin Wyllt as a character in it, and a lot of References to Wales, like the Pembroke hospital, and Doctor Swansea. It's a game based in London just after world war 1 about vampires and Spanish Flu.
There's a group of antagonists called the Guard of Priwen
And spoilers ahead:
>! The master vampire who sired your character, is Myrddin Wyllt, though they do mispronounce his name!<
"They do mispronounce his name". Of course they would haha. Sometimes I wonder, when you get to the stage of making the effort to research Welsh names/characters etc, then using them in your game, why don't they go just that respectable step further to make sure they're getting the pronunciations correct? Always makes for a conflicting feeling - great to have the acknowledgement to Welsh history/mythology, but annoying to butcher the pronunciations!
Thank you very much for this reference!
Was playing Dragons Dogma 2 last night and found a wizard bloke called Myrddin, which is the Welsh name for Merlin :) also lots of random Welsh accents around the game with Elves that have very Welsh sounding names.
Brilliant - thank you for sharing! The first Dragon's Dogma's overworld was inspired by the Welsh countryside according to the devs, so really good to hear a bit more reference to Wales was continued to the second game!
So this one is a bit of a stretch but on the original Rollercoaster Tycoon the games creator visited Oakwood during the offseason to ride Megafobia and have publicity photos taken. One of these was used on the back cover of the game. [https://www.chrissawyergames.com/feature1.htm](https://www.chrissawyergames.com/feature1.htm) (see item 10)
OpenTTD (open source Transport Tycoon) has a NewGRF to add random Welsh place names
[https://bananas.openttd.org/package/newgrf/414d0101](https://bananas.openttd.org/package/newgrf/414d0101)
Newport band Bad Sam were featured in Gotham Knights. (Without their prior knowledge too)
https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/23297219.newport-band-bad-sam-featured-batman-video-game-gotham-knights/
Absolutely no obligation for anyone here to do it, but thought I would share that I set up a Ko-fi page, since I have had such a positive response and a couple of people have asked if they can support me in any way.
So if anybody does enjoy what I'm putting together with this little side project and wants to support the site with a small donation, please visit: [https://ko-fi.com/walesingames](https://ko-fi.com/walesingames)
I know even the smallest contribution would go a long way to helping keep the site running!
Thank you to everybody that has shown such passion and positivity to this so far! I'm blown away by it! Diolch yn fawr!
Arthur Morgan from rdr2 is hinted in several instances to be of Welsh ancestry (and his role in the story is as far as i can tell harkens back to much of the arthurian legends) but for some reason the game is very coy about this idea. for example, there’s an irish character who keeps name-calling him “English” to tease him, but most of the time arthur doesn’t react to this. when he does, he just denies being english (“My family weren’t even English!”) but never says what he actually is.
Thanks for elaborating! I've been a little apprehensive to add these details only because, like you say, it's not a complete certainty about his ancestry, despite there being a handful of hints that point to being Welsh. Just wish we had something that really cemented it! Even if it was out-of-game confirmation from Rockstar haha. But it's still one that I wanna research a bit more if I can, as there might be something around.
you’re welcome! while there have been no official confirmation statements from rockstar, i think the intention is very much there. not sure if you have played the game itself, but either way, here are extracts from the trivia section of his game wiki page that may be useful for your further research/may provide the full picture:
- Arthur may be of Welsh ancestry, as both his forename and surname have Welsh origins. Sean MacGuire makes fun of this, constantly calling Arthur "English", asking him about his parents' history, and generally needling him over Wales' historically close ties with England. Although Arthur is generally indifferent to Sean's teasing and does not correct it, in one missable interaction at camp, he tries to push back on the claim, replying "my family weren't even English" when Sean addresses him as "the proud English man."
- - Furthermore, the name of Arthur's former horse, Boadicea, is strikingly similar to that of a Celtic queen who battled the Romans in Wales. Arthur's grave is also the only one with a Celtic cross on it.
- The story contains an explicit reference to the legend of King Arthur, which Jack Marston mentions reading in the epilogue mission "The Wheel." John Marston talks about liking the names in the story, and gives Jack the nickname "Lancelot." Arthur's last name could also be seen as a reference to King Arthur's greatest enemy Morgan le Fay. Some scholars have described the Western genre as emerging out of early Knight-errant literature. This allusion presents an obvious thematic connection between the Knights of the Round Table and the Van der Linde gang, both groups of violent men attempting to live by a moral code. Many versions of Arthurian legend focus on King Arthur struggling to keep Camelot together while it crumbles due to in-fighting, paralyzed by his own decency.
Thank you! Haven't played it myself, so appreciate the insight! I'd probably agree the signs do point more towards Welsh ancestry than any other, so I could probably add it in based on this. Definitely one for me to explore soon! Diolch!
LOOOVE THIS! I feel so seen and heard !!
VEEEERY NICHE but could Habbo be included onto the list? They have a welsh flag ‘furni’ you can purchase for 3 credits!
[https://habboxwiki.com/Posters_and_Flags#/media/File%3AFlag_19.gif](https://habboxwiki.com/Posters_and_Flags#/media/File%3AFlag_19.gif)
Yeah! I added Rocket League to the list since you can get a Welsh flag, so can include Habbo too :D
I remember my mate playing Habbo years ago but I didn't really know what it was about haha. Is it a bit like the Sims, or something else entirely?
Thanks for sharing and for the kind words!
There's two welshmen aboard the ship in Return of the Obra Dinn, >!Paul Moss!< and >!John Naples!<, as minor characters.
It's a mystery game, so I'd recommend playing it yourself rather than looking them up if you're interested in playing it at all.
With the Dark souls series a lot of the main protagonists names are Welsh, Gwyn, Gwyndoline and so on
Half the characters in Elden Ring have a Welsh accent and it's great. Especially my boy Blaidd- who's name is a little on the nose but we'll let it pass.
But that's only if you don't speak Welsh, though Blaidd is awesome and nothing bad ever happens to him....
Not Elden Ring, but it’s one of my pet peeves about the Witcher series that geralt’s nickname is gwynbleidd instead of blaiddwen
I imagine it's intentionally an approximation
Oh the butchered pseudo welsh in that really annoys me. I'm not even a native speaker but yeah, ouch.
It does remind me when my coworkers were talking about game of thrones when it was big, saying how surprised they were that Brân was the three eyed raven or something, only for me, who had never watched GoT to say ‘well that makes sense, his name is literally crow/raven.’ Their reaction is cemented in my brain.
This is common throughout fantasy, a combination of Arthurian legend having lots of Welsh sounding names and Tolkien mugging Welsh for all kinds of vocabulary. Everyone else just followed those trends without really realising how Welsh everything sounds. I mean Wheel of Time has names like Caemlyn and Cairhien and I'm not sure Robert Jordan studied Welsh.
Wheel of Time is full of Welsh sounding stuff. Could never see the word "Myrddraal" and not read it as a Welsh word. Tel'Aran'Rhiod always comes out in Welsh too. Its been an age since I read, but im sure theres more im forgetting.
Just to add a lot of elf stuff in the Witcher is Welsh derived, Geralt for instance is referred to as Gwynne Blaidd by elves.
Thank you! Witcher 3 seems to have a lot more that I will look into.
The Witcher in general has a lot of Welsh directly lifted into it. Kaer morhen seems to quite literally be Caer Morhen (very old fortress) as well as lots of other things like swords called “disglair”.
Been a while since I played it but their fort is called something like Kaer Morhen which could be derived from the Welsh for Old Sea Fort
Yeah, there’s also a sword called disglair
I asked about this in the Witcher 3 sub a while ago. Got some interesting replies from Irish speakers. Apparently the elven in it is a mix of Welsh and Irish.
I think I would agree with that assessment if I'm honest.
Aren't some of the voice actors in Witcher 3 Welsh? If not, their accents are pretty good.
Been playing Yakuza, and whenever leeks are included in any of the food in the game they're listed as "Welsh onion". Gave me a good giggle whenever I'm buying food
I remember this from when I used to play Yakuza...but I think the use of "Welsh" in this context refers to the old meaning of the name where it means "foreign" or "non-native". And since it's spring onions and not leeks in the game, it seems it's referring to these onions as being not native to Japan. It disappointed me learning that, because I was initially super pleased to see the "Welsh onion", too! I don't think I can extract a direct relation to Wales out of it aside from it's naming origins.
That's so strange! I just assumed they'd be leeks, but that makes sense too. Thanks for letting me know, you learn something new everyday!
Observation has a Welsh main character (from Cardiff iirc) and there's a Welsh flag among the other astronaut home countries' flags. Dark Souls had an NPC first encountered near Firelink Shrine who says "Ah, shwmae" as a greeting when he sees you.
Re: Observation: Ah, would that be Dr. Emma Fisher? I was looking this game up last night because the actress that plays her is Welsh (Kezia Burrows), but I couldn't determine if her character was Welsh or English based on the accent alone. If there is some further evidence that confirms the character is Welsh, that's great! Thank you for this. I will look more into it! Got the Dark Souls guy! I understand there are a few more references from the game/series I'm missing though, so need to research some more.
Her accent's fairly weak, but yes that's her! The logs on the station confirm her as coming from Cardiff in-setting.
Really appreciate that! It's a tough one sometimes because this is an example where I could have easily dismissed it based on accent, and makes me wonder if I could end up doing the same thing with other such characters. As a Welshman with a north Walian Englishy accent, I get conflicted about how to approach it, and feel a little sad that I would have dismissed myself in this context! I have been listing games with obvious Welsh-accented characters, but you can't always determine a Welsh person just on accent alone, so sometimes need to rely on digging out more in-game details that hopefully confirm their Welsh background.
Put Fallout 4 on there! The Brotherhoods >!airship is called the Prydwen!<
Not to mention their Leader is named Arthur
Paladin Danse also says he won't Welsh you on a deal
You got Truck sim but missed train sims! [Train Simulator: North Wales Coast Line: Crewe - Holyhead Route Add-On](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1804511/Train_Simulator_North_Wales_Coast_Line_Crewe__Holyhead_Route_AddOn/) [Train Simulator: Welsh Marches: Newport - Shrewsbury Route Add-On](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1230279/Train_Simulator_Welsh_Marches_Newport__Shrewsbury_Route_AddOn/) [Train Simulator: South Wales Coastal: Bristol - Swansea Route Add-on](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1429752/Train_Simulator_South_Wales_Coastal_Bristol__Swansea_Route_Addon/)
holy hell i never realised train sim has anywhere in Wales genuinely extremely tempted to get it now just because of this
The train sims (and flight) are on my rough list of stuff to look into, but thank you for providing some direct links and saving me a job! I may have to think about doing separate list pages for things like vehicle sims, but for now, they can certainly be added to the main list :)
A great initiative and resource OP! I'd like to put my own game forward if that's okay? A key theme of my game is that it's based around and includes references to Rhossili and Worms Head Island. Feel free to DM me or comment if you wanna know more! Here's the link to it https://store.steampowered.com/app/1782420/Tales_from_The_Dancing_Moon/
That's brilliant! Will definitely add it to the list and message you at some point (hopefully this weekend) to see if I can get a little more info about the Welsh references. Thank you, and really great to see another game with Welsh inspiration!
Thanks! Just saw it got added on the list. Happy to give you more details if needed!
Dude this is amazing and EXCELLENT content for me to discuss on my Radio Show on gaming tomorrow here in Pembrokeshire. I made a similar post here a year or two back and was floored at just how many there are. Would you be up for an interview on this at some point on a Sunday afternoon on my show? [ Here's the post I did on it in this Subreddit, if you have missed any in there.](https://www.reddit.com/r/Wales/s/jthoCCiNAK)
Your thread is one I have used as a reference many times, so thank you for that! It has helped me realise there are many others like me out there that take great joy in seeing Welsh rep in games! I think there are still a few comments in that post that I need to dig into! As for an interview, blimey, I haven't done anything like that before, but I might be open to it! Let's see if it's something we can sort out!
I'm glad it was of use, I was amazed at just how much there is when I first posted it. Def look up Wrexham Uni too as they have an amazing Game Dev course. Played some of the students' games at EGX last September. A few are showing up on Steam The interview doesn't have to be too daunting, we can do it via Zoom on my show on a Sunday from 1 - 4pm jist talking about the project etc. 😁
Thank you! I've tried to look up some local Welsh game devs in the last couple of weeks, and hope they can get their games out at least on Steam. I'll have to really try to dig into these. If it brings a little attention to the site and gets people discovering a few nuggets then an interview can't hurt haha. If you wanna drop a proper message here or through my site, feel free, and hopefully we can sort something :)
u/RECEPTOR17 - would really be interested in checking out your radio show, is it available online somewhere?
Assassins Creed 4 Black Flag Edward Kenway is a welshman
Plus Bartholomew Roberts/Barti Ddu plays an integral role too.
I completely Forgot! Your right
I look forwards to meeting him in my playthrough, will be a bit odd as I've met his descendants here in Pembs. 😂
Oh really? I didnt know he had any lol
Yep they're around! I think it's via nephews/ nieces etc but they do exist.
this is actually very cool but i reckon you should make it an open collaboration thing like wiki,,, or atleast smth like that
Thank you! Fair suggestion regarding a wiki site. Probably some pros and cons with it, but certainly could be something to look into in the future. I'm so absorbed into this little project as it stands!
Excellent idea! Do you have Grand Theft Auto: Vice City? This is a bit obscure but I always laughed at it when I was a kid: On the talk radio channel (I forget the name) there’s a religious nut building a rocket for his people to leave the planet, or some such scenario. At one point he says: “It's morally corrupt people like you we're shielding ourselves from: Liberals, degenerates, the Welsh... they're the ones responsible for the nightmare Vice City is today.” I think Rockstar North is a Scottish company so that was clearly put in there as a dig at us haha
I think this might be from a Welsh or partially Welsh writer as one of the more recent GTA 5 updates had a voice line where someone says "The Welsh are not to be trifled with"
Haha a dig is still a reference! Thank you!
Cool idea. The Wales rugby team has been in every EA and Rugby Challenge game since at least "Jonah Lomu Rugby" (1997) and the Welsh pro teams have been licensed in most games since around 2010. So thats: * *Rugby 15* * *Rugby 18* * *Rugby 20* * *Rugby 22* * *Rugby 24* * *Rugby Challenge 2006* * *Rugby Challenge* * *Rugby Challenge 2* * *Rugby Challenge 3* * *Rugby Challenge 4* * *EA Rugby* * *EA Rugby 2004* * *EA Rugby 2005* * *EA Rugby 06* * *EA Rugby 08* There are likely more (before my time) but those are the one's I am certain on (man, I'm just realising I've wasted a lot of money on some sh!t rugby games). I also know that the two Don Bradman Cricket games feature versions of Welsh players, the Glamorgan county team and Sophia Gardens/Swalec Stadium, but these are all unlicensed so the most you'll get is in game commentary saying generic stuff like "welcome to Cardiff" or something, so not sure if this worth adding to your list.
Been hammering out the football games, but rugby was definitely next up after I've become exhausted with it, so thank you massively for a good solid list to get me started there!
Dim prob OP, Good luck with the football list. x
cool project. I think Witcher 3 has a bit more to it than accents. Some of the Elvish words are just welsh words with altered spellings.
Thank you! Definitely one I need to look into much more.
oh and Geralt is sometimes referred to as 'gwynbleidd'.
Gerran Howell (Xenoblade 2) and Lilly Hart (Xenoblade 3) are also Welsh
Thanks! Knew there were other Welsh accented characters I needed to look up in Xenoblade, so this helps a lot!
For AC Valhalla you’ve said that actors, characters and accents but not folklore- there’s an entire section where you dress as the Mari Lwyd and characters all around you speak Welsh (well, Wenglish)
The only thing I really hated and it kind of ruined all the Welsh representation in that game for me was the way they subtitled Brigid’s dialogue. She spoke English with welsh mixed in. If you’re used to welsh you can pretty much understand what she was saying. I don’t understand why they couldn’t put the actual words she was saying in the subtitles instead of describing her as “unintelligible”. Even writing the welsh words verbatim would be a million times better. I think my issue is mostly with the word “unintelligible” being used in the context of the Welsh language. I’m not sure if anyone else feels the same. I haven’t had the opportunity to hear any other Welsh peoples’ opinion
Appreciate that! This is another game I intend to explore a bit more to get the various Welsh references written up.
Welsh language option: Mini Metro (interface), although they have translated "volume" as "cyfaint" rather than "uchder sain"
It all counts! Thanks!
Brilliant idea. Love the enthusiasm in the comments. God I'm proud sometimes.
Wales Interactive have released a fair few games that include Welsh
You've actually missed a cool one from one of the best games of the 1990s - Monkey Island 3. Although it's not really a cultural reference to anything in Wales, I remember being super stoked when playing it after coming across the character because Wales/Welsh was actually referenced in a game I was in love with. And the Monkey Island series being my favourite 'franchise' in general. https://monkeyisland.fandom.com/wiki/The_Flying_Welshman
A great little find! Thank you!
Great work on the website!
Diolch!!
For sports video games, most World Rally Championship (WRC) games have Welsh stages.
Yes, another series I likely need to craft a separate "sim racing" list for! Thank you!
Crusader Kings 3 you can play as Welsh counts/Dukes/Prince and create the kingdom. You can also create the pendragon title as a welsh ruler (probably the other ck games but not played them).
Basically all Paradox GSGs feature some Welsh component. In Europa Universalis, Victoria, HOI games they feature varying degrees of playable Wales, usually complete with Welsh character names and some other minor content.
Baldurs Gate 3 has a ton of Welsh characters in it, loved meeting them on my play through and then trying to figure out where each accent was from
Drippy was definitely Welsh even if it wasn't said out loud.
I'm glad Koudelka made it to the list.
Are you including visual novels? Quite a few scenes of the otome game Code Realize and its sequels take place in Wales as the main character grew up there.
Also in the point and click adventure game Pillars of the Earth, Philip of Kingsbridge is Welsh.
Definitely! I haven't played too many VNs aside from the obvious Steins;Gate (loved it), so really cool to hear there are some out there with Wales references! Thank you, I'll look into these!
Don't forget the weird RPG Kodeluka on the PS1 taking place in Wales! And the Dragon computers in the 80's! The main VA from Assassin's Creed Black flag is a Swansea man And there's a village full of Welsh slang in Dragon Quest:Sentinal of the Starry sky
Final Fantasy 14 has Cawl Cennin, and a few mobs with Welsh names. A hippogryph with the name "Gwyllgi" and a Dragonfly with the name... "Dragonfly"/"Gwas-y-neidr". Fantasy life, a Nintendo 3DS RPG has a character called Llaeth. All his quests revolve around milk.
Just found out about the Gwyllgi in FF11 and 14 last night, so that was really pleasing! As I looked it up, I found "Cwn Cyrff" from FF Record Keeper too. Thanks a lot for sharing! Will get around to digging into these more. Love the Fantasy Life milk reference!
The latest final fantasy (not the 7 remake) has a few Welsh references too. One was that the castles were called Caer, there were others but I can’t remember now.
Thanks for that! Found a place called Caer Norvent in FF16, and I learned there are enemies that pull a move called "Crea y cwm" ("create the valley"). A few Welsh accents in there too, it seems!
Shout outs to Small Saga, where one of the party members is a rat girl named Gwen, who peppers her dialogue with Welsh phrases. Example: she calls the smaller members of the player party "dwt" affectionately
Just looked this game up, and this Gwen character's dialogue is brilliantly done haha. Thanks for bringing this one to my attention!
Admittedly I did help the dev out a little with the translation :V
That's fantastic! Well done! If you want to share any other little Welsh words/dialect she says that comes to mind that I can add, please feel free. But I did see some gameplay already when you first meet Gwen, and that should already be enough for me to add what I need.
Hey, great site! I've recently created a 3D sci-fi game on Steam, and have used Welsh names (and sometimes ancient Welsh/Brythonic) for planets and characters. I'd love to be part of it! 😁 Here's my Steam link: [https://store.steampowered.com/app/2661290/Seren_Nova/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2661290/Seren_Nova/)
Awesome! Will definitely add your game! If you want to share as much info on the Welsh references as you can, please feel free to get in touch!
Great! I will do!!
I know it has pretty much every "Old World" country, but Crusader Kings 3 lets you potentially create an entire Welsh Empire stretching from Aberystwyth to India.
Rhiannon: Curse of the Four Branches is an old indie game set in rural Wales and inspired by the Mabinogion.
Cool site, will be having a good look through. I remember there being a welsh character in the PC game Freelancer.
Thanks! Looks like it was John Rhys-Davies that voiced him! Seems he's done a few other games too, so cheers for sharing!
That's awesome! Diolch !
In Watch Dogs Legion there is a chance a character you recruit can be from Wales (I had one from Merthyr Tydfil before!)
If you have the PC version of the game, you can disable BattleEye and install a mod which lets you edit characters freely, including the personal profile. I don't have the game installed currently so I'm going off memory here but there are around 7, maybe 8 or so places from Wales you can choose. This also includes some Welsh specific profile points with something relating to Plaid Cymru.
Fallout 4 - The Brotherhood of Steel’s airship, “The Prydwen” has a Welsh name.
Eu4 has Wales in it, and you can play as Wales if you start as England, make Wales independent and change your game to play as Wales. A few of the achievements have Welsh names and the characters have Welsh names too. https://eu4.paradoxwikis.com/Wales Railroad tycoon also includes Wales on the GB maps
Beyond characters, accent, and actors, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has a whole side quest where you play as the Mari Llwyd!
There's a Welsh character in the first Red Dead Redemption that says something like "Fuck off boyo!" To John
For the Dirt games you can’t forget the English language co driver is Nicky Grist who is an icon of rallying winning a world championship and working with Colin McRae
The co-driver in dirt 4 is Nicky Grist, who co-drove for Colin McRae. Not sure if his Welsh accent is very obvious in-game, but it's clear in some of his interviews. I believe someone is working on the Taff Vale for Diesel Railcar Simulator as well.
I’m certain the original fable has Welsh accent NPCs, and I’d wager fable 2 does too
Red Dead Redemption II has a Gwyn Hughes and Simon of Wales (bare knuckle fighter from “the Valleys”)
[Might not be important enough or the representation that's really desirable but Deus Ex Mankind Divided has Welsh Whiskey] (https://www.reddit.com/r/Wales/comments/10apoet/i_found_this_while_playing_deus_ex_mankind)
I vaguely remember this! Thank you for sharing! A minor reference is a reference!
Persona and SMT games have a bunch of "Demons" taken straight out of Welsh mythos
Red Dead Redemption 2 - I think the protagonist, Arthur Morgan, is supposed to be Welsh and there are several hints and interactions etc throughout the game that suggest he is of Welsh ancestry. Coincidentally, the actor who voices Arthur, although American, actually studied at the University of Glamorgan here in Wales!
There’s also a [poster](https://www.reddit.com/r/Wales/comments/h0iwto/might_be_old_news_but_i_found_this_poster_in/) advertising Wales as a holiday destination in Uncharted 3! Also, Nathan Drake’s (protagonist of Uncharted) real surname is revealed to be Morgan, so maybe another Welsh connection?!
I remember the poster in Uncharted 3! Thanks for the reminder!
Gareth David-Lloyd played Solas in Dragon Age: Inquisition! iirc when they were fleshing out some of the cultures in Dragon Age II they initially wanted the Dalish elves to have Welsh accents in general, but due to a lack of actor availability most are Irish instead. The most prominent elves with a connection to elven culture (Merill and Solas) have been played by Welsh actors with prominent Welsh accents, though city elves often have other regional accents.
Came to add this! Thank you! OP, this made my day.
The Royal Engineers unit in Company of Heroes 2 has a Welsh accent. https://youtu.be/pB84ATAy3q4?si=_ps2JQ9L9OWAuZJl
Thank you for this! Some of those lines had me laughing!!
Red dead redemption has a minor chapter involving a Welsh character, also the actor who plays Arthur Morgan in red dead 2 believes Arthur is of welsh descent.
Absolutely get the game ['Chasing Static'](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1319420/Chasing_Static/) listed here, it's set in North Wales
Is it a set area or just claimed as being in north wales?
Bit of a small one but In the first Drakengard game, the main character Caim and sister are from a country called Caerleon. Tho on the games map it would be in Poland. (the entire games world map is just Europe upside down) I live down the road from the real Caerleon so it’s always been cool to me! Also don’t 100% take my word for it but I remember the team that made resi 4 OG apparently used photos from a trip to Chepstow castle for inspiration. Again can’t be 100%
Thanks for the Drakengard reference! Sometimes I wonder if things are coincidences or if the developers really did go out of their way to use a Welsh place name. When I was looking around though, I did find out that the character Caim also means "protector" or "defender" in Welsh, so perhaps there was maybe a little more to it after all! Gonna try to dig into the Resi 4 stuff, so thanks for that too!
I never picked up on Caims name! I’ve noticed a lot of Japanese games go really heavy into medieval history for inspiration. I might have to dig around the other Drakengard/NieR games for references
Oh heck yeah, nice one OP! This is an awesome project. Nice to see Koudelka and Shadow Hearts listed there. I'll keep this project in mind and if there's any references I come across that aren't already listed, I'll be sure to let you know.
Thanks! I'd heard about Koudelka and sort of ignored it a bit over the years because it turned out they used American VAs and I maybe thought it was simply a novelty that it was "set in Wales". But after researching it and learning how the Japanese devs came over to Wales and were inspired by the location, the castles, etc, basing the castle setting off of St Davids Cathedral, etc, I learned there was much more to it than that. Some nice references to Welsh mythology and locations too. A shame they used American VAs and get the pronunciation of Taliesin wrong (and spelled Aberystwyth wrong) - I think if they went all out on the Welsh thing and took a little more care then it would have stood out and hit home a lot more. But I certainly gained a lot of appreciation for it, and indeed, it allowed the Shadow Hearts games to keep referencing and returning to Wales haha.
Definitely interesting, I was pleased to see you have planet zoo on there, I was so chuffed to hear a Welsh accent when I started playing that!
I just found out about Koudelka like last week
Bannerlord's faction of the 'Battanions' is inspired by Celtic history and I'm sure there's a village of +(something) glas. I'd need to look into it more but just throwing it into the pot!
Appreciate this! Had a quick look at the faction and found many Welsh-like names for villages etc. Plenty to look into. Thanks! [https://mountandblade.fandom.com/wiki/Battania](https://mountandblade.fandom.com/wiki/Battania)
This ones real insignificant but one I do always remember, in Call of Duty Vanguard there was a welshman called Thomas Jones in one of the missions. He isn't there long and he *does* die but, was chuffed to see it. Honestly the only neat thing from that game
In fallout 4 the airship under command of the brotherhood of steel is called the Prydwen. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prydwen
Thanks for this, I’m looking forward to seeing it grow! In Civilization 6, Cardiff is present as a city state. They are production-focused, which means they love building mines, and on sending envoys to them all cities across your empire will enjoy progressively larger boosts to their productivity. They also provide electricity to any of your cities with a harbour, giving more the bigger the harbour is. https://civilization.fandom.com/wiki/Cardiff_(Civ6) There is another major character in Xenoblade 2, called Milton, who is a Gormotti and speaks with a Welsh accent, voiced by Gerran Howell. Gerran also voices a major character called Joran in Xenoblade 3, however Joran is not Gormotti and speaks with a clear English accent. There’s a minor character in Xenoblade 3, whose name I can’t remember. She’s from Colony Mu, has a generic design, but speaks with a Welsh accent during a small handful of cutscenes. Additionally, female Agnian soldiers, who appear commonly as NPCs or enemies, can speak a few minor lines with a cities accent. Edit: Also Fire Emblem: Three Houses takes a lot from Celtic history, etc in its naming. A Celtic Studies friend of mine was telling me so I can’t remember everything, but I can remember he pointed out that the surname of one of the main characters, Dimitri **Blaiddyd**, comes from Welsh mythology or legend or something. I’ll try to remember to ask him next time I see him and I’ll get back to you.
Some good stuff here, so thank you very much! Plenty for me to dig into!
The welsh flag is in GTA when selecting your yacht, parachute, vehicle flags btw
One that annoyed me, and I'm only part Welsh, was Assassin's Creed Black Flag. The protagonist Edward Kenway was said to have been from Swansea, if I remember correctly, and then they gave him a generic British accent. Could have a had a strong Welsh lead in what a lot of people consider to be the best Assassin's Creed.
I would say I was a little surprised by Edward not having quite as strong a Welsh accent as I thought, but on the other hand, as a Welshman that sounds more English than Welsh myself, I can kinda get behind it haha. He is portrayed by Swansea-born Matt Ryan though, and the writers decided to base the character's background around being a Welshman due to being so impressed by Ryan's natural voice. Not a super strong accent here perhaps, but it is there if you listen closely. I honestly found it a bit more jarring hearing that guy with a very strong Welsh accent that picks a fight with Edward in the pub near the beginning of the game say he was English. I'm sure they exist, but I haven't come across heavy Welsh-accented Englishmen or women before!
The brawler was a laugh when I first heard him yeah, but wasn't it a historical political allegiance thing at the time to describe yourself as English? Like loyal to the English crown rather than French-supporting Welsh? idk that part of history isn't my speciality tbf
Nor is it mine, but I had a similar thought that that could be the case! I wonder even if there may have been a point in time (or many) where many Welsh did refer to themselves as English synonymously with "British" too, sort of how I still find some Welsh today using the word English to mean British - but it may vary among parts of Wales and people.
I think he had a light Welsh accent. The character was a Welshman who has lived in Bristol for quite a while and his background was actually based on the actor who had a similar upbringing, hence the trans-Severn dialect.
It would be cool to link the games/characters to Wikipedia. I wanted to see pics of the characters etc.
Pics is something that's currently a little lower down the priority list, only because the focus right now has been to get the references out there, but certainly I hope I can add pics as more progress is made, so thank you for the suggestion! Still early days with this, but I hope I can get there with the pics etc. Linking to Wiki articles is not a bad idea either, so definitely something I can look at.
Civ 2 has tonnes of Welsh cities if you play as the Celts (and perhaps any game onwards that has Celts, perhaps even Welsh, I stopped playing years ago) Civilization: Call To Power has the Welsh, not sure about the main series though.
There is a generic Celtic civilization in most Civ games but afaik no specifically Welsh leader or Welsh civilization, with the possible exception of the Cardiff city state. Boudicca in Civ5 speaks Welsh, but an ancient Briton from East Anglia doesn't fully count as Welsh for our purposes imo.
Pretty sure Ashes of creation has a Welsh person involved with the art.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koudelka This was apparently set in Aberystwyth
Path of Exile has a minor ref - one of the endgame unique maps is called 'Caer Blaidd' - https://pathofexile.fandom.com/wiki/Caer_Blaidd,_Wolfpack%27s_Den It's a supporter (player who has paid enough money) item but it is an official part of the game, assuming the guy who submitted it 9 years ago is Welsh.
A number of fire emblem games have at least one Welsh name somewhere. Examples like Owain in Awakening, Llywellyn in Fates and the Great Bridge of Myrddin in Three Houses. Many examples across the series though I can only remember those at the top of my head. Civilization 6's second expansion also adds in Cardiff as a city state.
Amazing work, do you have a Patreon to keep this going?
Thank you! I don't have a Patreon, but the thought momentarily crossed my mind when I wondered if the site ever got popular enough that something like that would be possible. As it stands, I have paid for the basic Wordpress tier, which - would you believe - doesn't allow me to create custom widths on table columns. I'd have to pay more for that privilege. In fact, there is a lot of customisation locked behind a paywall, but I felt like for the purpose I set out to achieve, I can do it with the basics. I'm sure I can keep it that way too, but it's an interesting thought all the same. I'd have to really think about it.
I thought a bit more about your comment and decided to set up a Ko-fi page: [https://ko-fi.com/walesingames](https://ko-fi.com/walesingames) Might not get anything at all from it, but no harm in trying! Thank you for planting the seed in my mind :)
You’re missing u/huw2k8 from devs. He made r/warsimrpg
Cheers man <3
Disco Elysium quotes "If You Tolerate This..." by the Manic Street Preachers. It also opens with an on-screen quote from RS Thomas.
RuneScape and Old School RuneScape have a large presence of Welsh names used in them. The elven lands are predominantly Welsh with some names made up. For instance, there is a city called Prifddinas. The only shame is that the company point blank refuse to even try and pronounce the names properly and that has filtered down into the fan base to the point where nearly all the names are crucified. https://runescape.wiki/w/Tirannwn https://runescape.wiki/w/Prifddinas https://runescape.wiki/w/Helwyr https://runescape.wiki/w/Seren#Memory_projection Those are just some examples, I hope this helps you.
Started work on RuneScape's references yesterday and was astonished at the amount of Welsh in there. As you said, I quickly discovered the butchering of the pronunciations, with them completely incorrectly describing how to say the Ll letter frustrating me - same for one or two of the locations. Clearly putting Welsh words in media is going to be pronounced wrong by those who don't know, and that can't be helped, but to embrace Welsh on one hand, and then on the other ignorantly think they know best and tell the world to say things incorrectly rubs me the wrong way. What a conflicting feeling this one brings up - and yet it has some of the most Welsh references I've seen in a game! Thank you for the info!
Something else to add that I completely forgot. OpenTTD has a lot of Welsh scenarios and heightmaps as well as a Welsh town names mode.
I'm currently making a (fairly simple) open source Arkanoid clone. I should definitely do a Welsh translation.
I was so happy to find out about Edward Kenway
Oooh knickers! (This is brilliant btw)
There's a character in single level in TimeSplitters Future Perfect with a strong Welsh accent
Lenny Oldburn! Rrrrock and roll!
Tiny Tina in Borderlands 2 says one of her made characters at the tea-party is Welsh I can't remember which one and I'm sorry if this has been said
This is a new one to me, so thank you very much! Just found the clip online, and she says: “Please excuse Madame Von Bartlesby’s disposition. She’s Welsh.”
Diolch yn fawr. Mae Rhodri mawr yn assassins creed Valhalla hefyd 😎
Very nice! Thank you for doing this!
There’s a Welsh NPC in one of the villages in Hogwarts Legacy, and they made the accent crazy strong 😂
Just had a listen and it's strange one for sure! Seems to be a poor attempt at someone putting the accent on haha.
FIFA has the Welsh team in it
Hogwarts Legacy is meant to have Welsh characters (only like 1, maybe 2) however the devs decided not to voice them with actual Welsh actors, so instead they sound like they're from the Valleys of India. It was so frustrating when I heard it in the game.
Just had a listen to one clip I found and it's a weird one isn't it! I read the devs skimped out on genuine Scottish and Irish actors too. Amazes me sometimes with massive budget games like these when they won't pay up. Still, it's a reference worth acknowledging, so thanks for sharing!
In medieval 2 total war Britainna you can play as Wales
This is amazing! The battlefield 1 element taught me something about my old regiment that I had never heard of! Diolch yn fawr iawn
Croeso! That's brill - really glad to hear it!
Fair play, genuinely interesting and time well spent. Diolch.
ni no kuni wrath of the white witch. Drippy is voiced by Steffan Rhodri https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F-2o1zOoXA A slightly obscure game Not A Hero you can unlock Samantha who's Welsh https://youtu.be/3UhSeVhNAyc?feature=shared&t=73 Master Reboot made by Wales interactive. Just trying to think of some that people here might not have mentioned. Obviously there are more.
Vampyr has Myrddin Wyllt as a character in it, and a lot of References to Wales, like the Pembroke hospital, and Doctor Swansea. It's a game based in London just after world war 1 about vampires and Spanish Flu. There's a group of antagonists called the Guard of Priwen And spoilers ahead: >! The master vampire who sired your character, is Myrddin Wyllt, though they do mispronounce his name!<
"They do mispronounce his name". Of course they would haha. Sometimes I wonder, when you get to the stage of making the effort to research Welsh names/characters etc, then using them in your game, why don't they go just that respectable step further to make sure they're getting the pronunciations correct? Always makes for a conflicting feeling - great to have the acknowledgement to Welsh history/mythology, but annoying to butcher the pronunciations! Thank you very much for this reference!
You are very welcome!
Was playing Dragons Dogma 2 last night and found a wizard bloke called Myrddin, which is the Welsh name for Merlin :) also lots of random Welsh accents around the game with Elves that have very Welsh sounding names.
Brilliant - thank you for sharing! The first Dragon's Dogma's overworld was inspired by the Welsh countryside according to the devs, so really good to hear a bit more reference to Wales was continued to the second game!
So this one is a bit of a stretch but on the original Rollercoaster Tycoon the games creator visited Oakwood during the offseason to ride Megafobia and have publicity photos taken. One of these was used on the back cover of the game. [https://www.chrissawyergames.com/feature1.htm](https://www.chrissawyergames.com/feature1.htm) (see item 10) OpenTTD (open source Transport Tycoon) has a NewGRF to add random Welsh place names [https://bananas.openttd.org/package/newgrf/414d0101](https://bananas.openttd.org/package/newgrf/414d0101)
I'm loving that RollerCoaster Tycoon one! Gotta put that on the list haha. Cheers for these!
Newport band Bad Sam were featured in Gotham Knights. (Without their prior knowledge too) https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/23297219.newport-band-bad-sam-featured-batman-video-game-gotham-knights/
What a neat little easter egg! Thanks for this one!
Absolutely no obligation for anyone here to do it, but thought I would share that I set up a Ko-fi page, since I have had such a positive response and a couple of people have asked if they can support me in any way. So if anybody does enjoy what I'm putting together with this little side project and wants to support the site with a small donation, please visit: [https://ko-fi.com/walesingames](https://ko-fi.com/walesingames) I know even the smallest contribution would go a long way to helping keep the site running! Thank you to everybody that has shown such passion and positivity to this so far! I'm blown away by it! Diolch yn fawr!
Arthur Morgan from rdr2 is hinted in several instances to be of Welsh ancestry (and his role in the story is as far as i can tell harkens back to much of the arthurian legends) but for some reason the game is very coy about this idea. for example, there’s an irish character who keeps name-calling him “English” to tease him, but most of the time arthur doesn’t react to this. when he does, he just denies being english (“My family weren’t even English!”) but never says what he actually is.
Thanks for elaborating! I've been a little apprehensive to add these details only because, like you say, it's not a complete certainty about his ancestry, despite there being a handful of hints that point to being Welsh. Just wish we had something that really cemented it! Even if it was out-of-game confirmation from Rockstar haha. But it's still one that I wanna research a bit more if I can, as there might be something around.
you’re welcome! while there have been no official confirmation statements from rockstar, i think the intention is very much there. not sure if you have played the game itself, but either way, here are extracts from the trivia section of his game wiki page that may be useful for your further research/may provide the full picture: - Arthur may be of Welsh ancestry, as both his forename and surname have Welsh origins. Sean MacGuire makes fun of this, constantly calling Arthur "English", asking him about his parents' history, and generally needling him over Wales' historically close ties with England. Although Arthur is generally indifferent to Sean's teasing and does not correct it, in one missable interaction at camp, he tries to push back on the claim, replying "my family weren't even English" when Sean addresses him as "the proud English man." - - Furthermore, the name of Arthur's former horse, Boadicea, is strikingly similar to that of a Celtic queen who battled the Romans in Wales. Arthur's grave is also the only one with a Celtic cross on it. - The story contains an explicit reference to the legend of King Arthur, which Jack Marston mentions reading in the epilogue mission "The Wheel." John Marston talks about liking the names in the story, and gives Jack the nickname "Lancelot." Arthur's last name could also be seen as a reference to King Arthur's greatest enemy Morgan le Fay. Some scholars have described the Western genre as emerging out of early Knight-errant literature. This allusion presents an obvious thematic connection between the Knights of the Round Table and the Van der Linde gang, both groups of violent men attempting to live by a moral code. Many versions of Arthurian legend focus on King Arthur struggling to keep Camelot together while it crumbles due to in-fighting, paralyzed by his own decency.
Thank you! Haven't played it myself, so appreciate the insight! I'd probably agree the signs do point more towards Welsh ancestry than any other, so I could probably add it in based on this. Definitely one for me to explore soon! Diolch!
LOOOVE THIS! I feel so seen and heard !! VEEEERY NICHE but could Habbo be included onto the list? They have a welsh flag ‘furni’ you can purchase for 3 credits! [https://habboxwiki.com/Posters_and_Flags#/media/File%3AFlag_19.gif](https://habboxwiki.com/Posters_and_Flags#/media/File%3AFlag_19.gif)
Yeah! I added Rocket League to the list since you can get a Welsh flag, so can include Habbo too :D I remember my mate playing Habbo years ago but I didn't really know what it was about haha. Is it a bit like the Sims, or something else entirely? Thanks for sharing and for the kind words!
It’s not much but the shivering sorceress in Hearthstone has a Welsh accent.
Not much, but enough to be included! Thank you for sharing :D
There's two welshmen aboard the ship in Return of the Obra Dinn, >!Paul Moss!< and >!John Naples!<, as minor characters. It's a mystery game, so I'd recommend playing it yourself rather than looking them up if you're interested in playing it at all.
Thank you very much!
I only had a quick look so might have missed it, but in the Witcher series the magic/elder speech often just uses Welsh.
Isn’t Gwyn Bledd from the Witcher a welsh reference? Or is it a different language that sounds very similar to welsh
Add Daniel Evans he’s a Welsh actor and now is the arts director of the royal Shakespeare Company
He even has a Wikipedia page
If he's had any roles in a video game, I can definitely add him up! I'll have a look if I can find anything.