"A complicated figure who has had his share of suffering and loss": Feodor Chin on bringing Ghost of Yotei's Lord Saito to life [Exclusive]

When I got the opportunity to interact with Feodor Chin, the actor behind Ghost of Yotei's Lord Saito, I already knew what I wished to ask him. The team behind the game had painstakingly ensured that Saito is not merely a peg upon which the mantle of evil is plainly hung. Instead, the leader of the Yotei Six is nuanced, has suffered loss, and is shown to be both charismatic and ruthless.

Picking Chin's brains about his thought process that drove his performance in bringing Lord Saito to life was thus a no-brainer. Along the way, he also shared his thoughts on the character of Lord Saito, his time with Ghost of Yotei, and more.

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Feodor Chin on playing Lord Saito, Ghost of Yotei, and video game voice acting

The Yotei Six (Image via Sportskeeda Gaming / Sucker Punch)

Coming from voicing Lord Adachi in Ghost of Tsushima, what was it like preparing for and performing as Lord Saito?

When Sucker Punch asked if I was available to work on the Ghost of Tsushima sequel (what I believe Nelson Lee, The Snake, first called “Ghost of TWOshima”) I told them anytime, anywhere, in any capacity. The team at Sucker Punch is truly the best in the business, great artists, and great human beings. Working with them again was a no-brainer. Initially, I helped with casting, reading opposite potential Atsus, providing scratch tracks in VO sessions, helping to test new mocap equipment, and eventually auditioning for the role of Lord Saito.

Unfortunately, I don’t think we really know enough about Lord Adachi to truly compare him with Lord Saito. But I have been fortunate enough to play a few “villains” throughout my career, and it’s true, bad guys have more fun! And I certainly had a great time bringing Lord Saito to life.

Lord Saito (Image via Sportskeeda Gaming / Sucker Punch)

Did you draw inspiration or base it on any other characters/performances?

When the storyline was first revealed to me, I immediately thought, “Oh, this is Kill Bill.” Which of course was itself inspired by Lady Snowblood and Samurai cinema, so Ghost of Yotei is a real full circle moment. I can’t say that I drew directly from David Carradine’s performance as Bill, but I firmly believe that the most interesting “villains” are the most nuanced.

Also, I think Saito, like Bill, had to have real charisma and charm in order to be able to attract and keep such an ardent and loyal group of followers. The Yotei Six, like Bill’s Deadly Vipers Assassination Squad, are ready to go to war for their leader and, if need be, die for him.

Nate Fox, our cinematics director, and Amanda Wyatt, our VO director, and I all worked very hard to make sure that Saito was not a cartoonish, mustache twirling “bad guy” but a complicated figure who like everyone in life has had his share of suffering and loss and then perhaps gave in to those darker voices in his head and made some questionable decisions. But that being said, he is a pretty wicked dude.

While Lord Saito is the big bad evil in Ghost of Yotei’s storyline, his backstory (with Atsu’s father betraying him and the resulting loss) is quite nuanced. What is your personal favorite moment of Saito in Ghost of Yotei?

I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’ll try not to get too specific, but I did enjoy the scene where a young Atsu inadvertently leads me right to her family home. All the nuance and complexity of Saito is fully on display here. Initially, you can see his charm and charisma, and then his “true” nature is revealed along with the pain and regret he feels at what he believes he “must” do.

For an actor, that’s a terrific journey to take.

Have you played/completed both Ghost of Tsushima and Ghost of Yotei? If yes, which one do you like more?

When Ghost of Tsushima first dropped, it was the height of the pandemic, and nobody was leaving the house, so it was the perfect time for me to park myself in front of the TV and play a video game ALL DAY LONG. For about a month, my wife was a “Tsushima widow” because I was immersed.

I LOVED playing Ghost of Tsushima and had played so many different characters in it that I had actually forgotten about Lord Adachi and his fate, so when I got lit on fire and beheaded in the first 30 seconds or so, I was like, “Oh my God. This is AWESOME.” But yes, I played it all the way through and really put off killing Khotun Khan for the longest time because I just didn’t want it to end!

I’m very much looking forward to playing Ghost of Yotei now, but I’m currently in New York for a few months to do a play (KYOTO at Lincoln Center Theater, come see us!), and my PS5 is back in LA, so I won’t be able to get to Ezo for a while.

Also, my wife and I welcomed our son to the world last year, so he may also make it difficult for me to spend any extended time wielding katanas. But I hope to find the time, and based on everything I’ve seen so far, I expect that I will love it just as much.

The Night of the Burning Tree (Image via Sportskeeda Gaming / Sucker Punch)

Compared to other video game characters you’ve voiced, where would you rank Lord Saito?

Lord Saito is definitely up there: top three for sure. I’d say the experience of bringing him to life may be my favorite job to date. The team at Sucker Punch is just so terrific and collaborative, and the cast they assembled? Forget about it - Absolute all-stars. Every day was a pleasure, no matter who I was in the booth with or on the volume with.

Erika Ishii is a SUPERSTAR, and their stock will only continue to rise. Noshir Dalal is a LEGEND and quite possibly the best human being you will ever meet. Jeannie Bolet, who was already part of our Overwatch family, is so good in this, she will make you cry. My boys, The Dragon and The Spider, David Sakurai and Robert Wu, bring so much to this and help to make Saito the complex character he is. Nelson Lee, who is as hilarious as he is talented, could not be more of a creep as The Snake. And my man, Lee Shorten, the official “Ghost Daddy,” is simply the best.

The Snake (Image via Sportskeeda Gaming / Sucker Punch)

Given the various media you perform in, are there any specific challenges and advantages to voicing characters in video games?

I think the main challenge to acting in video games is finding the right balance between a heightened yet still grounded performance. Any performance, no matter the medium, needs to be grounded in reality. That’s what makes it relatable.

However, I believe video game performances, because the player is actively participating, unlike TV or film, where the viewer is passive, require a slightly heightened or activated quality because you are often literally spurring the player into action.

Directing, commanding, instructing them, whatever the case may be, your performance needs to be “dialed up” just a bit in order to get that player sitting straight up on their couch.

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The Japanese voice actor for Lord Saito in Ghost of Yotei is Miou Tanaka.