Wayward Strand, the narrative adventure game developed by Melbourne-based studio Ghost Pattern, has announced the hefty Australian cast bringing its characters to life. They include the likes of Michael Caton (The Castle), Jenny Seedsman (Blue Heelers), and Anne Charleston (Neighbours), among many others.
Set on a floating hospital in an alternate-reality 1970s Australia, the VICSCREEN-funded game follows teenage protagonist Casey as she discovers more about the hospital’s inhabitants and story. The environment works like clockwork – inhabitants move and events occur whether Casey is there to witness them or not – meaning that you can choose to have Casey follow particular characters and narrative threads of your own accord.
The fourteen-year-old Casey is played by Nancy Curtis, who recorded over 1,200 pages of dialogue, according to Ghost Pattern. Curtis is joined by a veteran roster of Australian actors, including: Anne Charleston (Best known as Madge from Neighbours) who plays Ida Vaughan; Michael Caton (The Castle, The Sullivans, Last Cab to Darwin), who plays the ‘loquacious’ Neil Avery; and Jenny Seedsman (Neighbours, Blue Heelers, State Coroner) who plays the stern Ruth Beaumaris.
Joining them is Bunurong man Shane Clayton, who Ghost Pattern says brought ‘warmth and heart’ to the character of Ted Muir; prominent Austrian and German actor Erhard Hartmann, who plays Heinrich Pruess; and Australian director Michela Ledwidge, who acts as Esther Fitzgerald (pictured above).
Additional roles will be played by theatre actor and anthropology scholar Josiah Lulham as hospital director Felix Pettigrew; John Barrett as Devin the cook; actor, producer, and horticulturalist Harriet Wallace-Mead as nurse Lily Marshall; actor and healthcare worker Peter Paltros as nurse Joe Tagliabue; and Jennifer Vuletic as Dr Margo Bouchard.
Finally, the character of Dr Celene Shen is played by Renee Lim, who is both a practising actor and a practising doctor.
Voiceover work was recorded at Original Score in Melbourne, ZigZag Post in Sydney, Innenhof in Vienna and Voiceover Soho in London.
Despite this hefty cast announcement, Ghost Pattern teased that even more characters – and the actors behind them – were yet to be revealed, kept as a secret until Wayward Strand’s eventual release.
Wayward Strand will be available on 15 September 2022 on PC via Steam, as well as PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and
