I'm beginning to think this is almost generational. I prefer a silent protagonist by far. I can enjoy a comprehensively cinematic experience ala The Witcher, Mass Effect, Detroit: Become Human, The Last of Us, etc. But when it comes to (what I consider) that "RPG feeling", I am much more drawn in by approaches like Dragon Age: Origins, Mount and Blade, The Elder Scrolls, Baldur's Gate, Ultima...
I'm not talking about the entire gameplay spectrum; I'm talking about the approach to the Player Character. No attempt to dictate any facet of what I imagine in my mind. I choose the look. I choose the emotion. I choose my reasoning and motivations. I choose my actions. Having a silent protagonist goes a long way in making me feel like I'm there. I'm involved. I'm invested. Not clicking to watch the next video clip.
It's illusory, absolutely. But it's an illusion I like. I think it comes down to reading versus watching things on a screen. My generation still did a lot of active reading. To this day, I'll still learn and process more from a written article than watching a Youtube video or something. It's that act of reading text and visualizing that I love. Reading involves all of the senses. Film or TV involves only two. So...not having something performed for me actually increases my level of immersion. It's easier for me to suspend my disbelief if I am experiencing things in my mind, without having a performance dictating, say, my character's tone of voice in a dialogue. (Again, not to say I can't enjoy a fantastic performance, but..."the book is almost always better than the film" for me.)
