I don’t think this is a graphics problem. I think people are just tired of silent protags. I mean, people were starting to make fun of it even when HL2 was new, enough so that the game actually draws attention to it in order to lampshade the issue somewhat.
Hmm… Gordon Freemann having no lines was much more jarring that the silent protagonist in the Portal series.
Gordon is supposedly a brilliant scientist, but gets ordered around by NPCs that do nothing.
Portal protagonist has likely brain damage from being in stasis for a while, so I can assume they are just mute.
So it really depends on the game, setting and story, if a silent protagonist works or not. But having some character with emotions and agency would be good anyway, without requiring them to speak.
