As a long-standing Blackadder fan, just the sight of Brian Blessed makes me smile. You may also know him as Lord Locksley in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, or the voice of Boss Nass in the Phantom Menace. You might even recognise his animated inflection from games—not least Rome Total War: Alexander, Kingdom Hearts, and LEGO Dimensions.
Blessed's latest videogame appearance comes courtesy of Kingdom Come: Deliverance, where the actor voices real life German military engineer Lord Konrad Kyeser. He poked his head into one of the game's trailers last month, but he's now got one all to himself.
Typically charismatic and often funny, here's the man on his place in Warhorse Studios' forthcoming medieval role-player.
Blessed begins the above by describing himself as "50 percent actor and 50 percent explorer", before suggesting everyone in England thinks he is going mad. He reckons this is partly because he climbed Mount Everest at 64 years of age (Blessed is 81 later this year) without oxygen, but bursting into operatic song mid-take may have something to do with the perceived label.
The actor goes on to describe his relationship with videogames and what he gets out of voice acting, before circling back to underscore his excitement for Kingdom Come: Deliverance itself.
"The thing is, the script is brilliant, it's well written," says Blessed. "It is interesting playing a so-called mad scientist. I think of doing something new, and I like to be there when people are creating something new. It's an adventure. I see every [adventure] as Mount Everest. And I see this project as Mount Everest."
Kingdom Come: Deliverance is without a hard launch date, however is expected at some point this year. Check out our coverage this-a-way until then.
