Why Claire From Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness Sounds So Familiar
"Resident Evil" is a Capcom video game franchise which has spawned many sequels containing voice actors in English and its native Japanese. The series has also inspired several major motion pictures and an upcoming Netflix series, "Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness." The series will star two of the games' most well-known characters: Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield. The two have been in the "Resident Evil" video games ever since "Resident Evil 2" and are, arguably, some of the franchise's most popular characters — hence their casting in the Netflix show.
Claire was originally voiced by Alyson Court in the 1998 release, according to the game's IMDb page. She was later replaced by another actor for the 2019 remake of "Resident Evil 2," and she'll be returning to voice Claire in the upcoming "Infinite Darkness" series. However, if you're a gamer, you've probably heard her voice before. She's a very successful voice actor, and has appeared in many minor roles across some of the biggest franchises in video games.
Stephanie Panisello started voicing Claire in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne
"Monster Hunter World: Iceborne" was a massive expansion pack for the original "Monster Hunter World" game, which Capcom released back in 2018. As part of a Halloween-themed update, the expansion featured crossover content from "Resident Evil 2," including appearances by Leon and Claire. This was the first time that Stephanie Panisello got to voice this iconic "Resident Evil" character. Fans must have appreciated her hard work, because this particular expansion pack has sold over seven million copies worldwide, according to the game's website. Obviously, most of those sales were probably because the game provided hundreds of hours of fun and not necessarily due to the work of a single voice actor — but we can't say that hearing Claire's authentic voice wasn't a highlight.
The event quest gives players a chance to look like Leon or Claire by obtaining S.T.A.R.S. badges and creating new armor sets called "Leon α+" and "Claire α+". Players are also introduced to a new game mechanic, which inflicted the "zombified" status effect. Just like in the original "Resident Evil" games, players need to collect herbs to negate the status effect and regain their health.
She's credited as a vocal talent in several different AAA games
2018 and 2019 were very busy years for Stephanie Panisello. In addition to appearing in the "Resident Evil" collaboration for the "Monster Hunter World: Iceborne" expansion, she got to work with many different game studios on several prestigious AAA titles. The first one was "Shadow of the Tomb Raider," in which she was credited as providing an additional voice to the game. She received a similar credit in "Gears 5" for voicing one of the NPCs while also working as a script assistant for the game in the Script and Continuity Department.
Next up for Panisello was "Persona 5 Royal." The game was a highly anticipated expansion of sorts to the original game which was wildly successful when it was first released back in 2017. Once again, she received an additional voice credit alongside many other supporting voice actors. She received a similar honor for "Star Wars: Jedi – Fallen Order" — which received critical praise – as an Acting Talent.
Panisello is a difficult-to-find quest giver in Genshin Impact
In the fall of 2020, "Genshin Impact" took the video game world by storm — and Panisello was a small but significant part of it. Love it or hate it, "Genshin Impact" is one of the most recently successful "gacha" games to explode in popularity among gamers across the globe. And according to Sensor Tower, it has made over $1 billion dollars in revenue from mobile transactions alone since its release.
In the game, players who choose to play the English version get to hear her voice the Cloud Retainer character. However, she isn't easy to find. According to this lengthy and detailed tutorial from Game Rant, players will have to jump through many different hoops in order to gain access to the Cloud Retainer — and that's just the beginning. Accessing her is what unlocks another series of quests which are imperative for the endgame content.
She voices Calima in Larcenauts
"Larcenauts" is a new virtual reality (VR) game from Impulse Gear, Inc. It's an action FPS PvP game, which lets players face off against one another in 6v6 matches. There are eight different experts you can choose from, according to the game's website: Evander, Chi, Salters, Thal, Bosun, Vod, ARC-L6, and Calima. Voiced by Panisello, Calima comes with a crowd control smoke grenade to obfuscate the battlefield and disorient enemies. She also packs a punch with her TZ-08 Neodym shotgun, which has overcharging capabilities for long-range shots.
The unfortunate thing about "Larcenauts," though, is that the game is currently VR-only. This requires special equipment in order to play, which can be very expensive. Only a minority of gamers will get to hear Panisello voice Calima (which may or may not be an "Indiana Jones" reference). With any luck, we'll get to hear this rising star voice more of our favorite video game characters in the future.