Borderlands and Horizon voice actor Ashly Burch says Metal Gear made her realise voice acting could be a job: "I think it did open up to me what the possibilities of performance in games could be"

While Ashly Burch has worked with the likes of Atlus, Guerilla, Naughty Dog, and survived multiple stints with Randy Pitchford, the prolific voice actress still has one name on her mind – Hideo Kojima.

Speaking to GINXTV, Burch – who previously said Metal Gear Solid was the reason she got into voice acting – spoke about Metal Gear Solid and Hideo Kojima's influence on her career.

"Any time a character is introduced in Metal Gear Solid, there's a little text on the screen that comes up, and it says their character name, but then it also it said another name. And at the time, I was like, what is this, who is this?" Burch recalled, adding, "I was able to look up David Hayter, and I was like, oh my god. That's the actor."

Burch added, "It'd never occurred to me. You know, I loved cartoons and, I guess some part of me knew there's a person voicing Chucky from Rugrats or whatever, but it didn't click with me until that moment that it was a job you could have."

Burch was asked if Metal Gear Solid influenced the way she approached acting, and she responded, "I think Metal Gear was the first game I played that was grittier, that was fully voiced."

"So I think it did open up to me, like, what the possibilities of performance in games could be," Burch continued.

Burch was also very complimentary of Kojima's approach to game development and his "gameplay sensibility," saying, "If Metal Gear was just cutscene after cutscene without satisfying gameplay in between, I don't think they would be as popular as they are."

Burch added, "[Kojima] always does something interesting with the gameplay that I think keeps people engaged."

When asked what type of character she would like to play if she was ever cast in a Hideo Kojima game, Burch moved away from her norm of playing heroes, saying, "I don't know if I would get cast for this, but, I think, let's manifest it. I think a Psycho Mantis-adjacent. I think being a villain would be fun. Like, one of his really unhinged villains would be fun."

Hideo Kojima rejected several celebrity appearances, but apparently made darn sure his favorite vtuber is in Death Stranding 2.