I don't like silent protagonists.
I don't mind when a protagonist's dialogue is confined to text chat in a game that otherwise features a fully voices cast, but I don't like protagonists who express no strong opinion or emotion. A good example would be the protagonist of Baldur's Gate 3, whose dialogue is handled almost through text boxes and selections. While they have some verbal jabs (such as when you have them attack enemies, cast spells, or move to specific areas), but almost everything is handled sans any sort of voice acting.
That being said, I do think the totally silent protagonist can be done well, such as how it's written in the 2017 video game
Prey.
Prey is effectively System Shock, but on new hardware. It's a suspenseful scifi title about adventuring around a very lonely and mostly consumed space station. Your character does not talk during gameplay. You don't even get dialogue choices. Every choice you make it handled organically through gameplay.
But you
do hear your character talking in the occasional audio log. You can find audio recordings of your character throughout the station whereupon you discover that Morgan Yu, protagonist of
Prey, was... kind of an asshole. They were egotistical, cold, and willing to condemn people to death. They were not a good person. The version of Morgan Yu the player controls has amnesia, so Morgan's characterization during the game is decided by organic gameplay decisions.
However, there's one moment of gameplay that stands out to me:
Mikhaila is mentioned in game to have been the lover of Morgan Yu before one of the mind wipes. Protagoinst Morgan Yu doesn't seem to possess any of those memories.
But when you (optionally) encounter and save her at a time when she desperately needs medication to treat an a chronic illness (that will kill her if you don't return with it), there's a moment exchanged between her and Morgan. Intimate touch.
(I swear the models look better in motion).
Morgan gently places a hand on Mikhaila's neck. Mikhaila leans into it. Characterization of a silent protagonist.
I'm not saying an emotionally charged totally silent protagonist
isn't possible, but I haven't seen it done satisfactorily.