Summary
- Video game trailers often mislead players with content not actually present in the final product.
- Games like Brutal Legend and Cyberpunk 2077 had trailers that differed significantly from the actual game.
- Trailer discrepancies, as seen in titles like No Man's Sky and Overwatch 2, can negatively impact player reception.
Trailers for video games are 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:desig𓆉ned to build excitement around a product, but they usually come out a year or two before the game is actually ready to play. As great as it is to see the next big title from your favorite developer, you should always take trailers with a grain of salt, because what you se🃏e is not always what you get.
168澳洲幸运5开奖网: 6 Best Game Trailers Of 🌱The 2010s
The 2010s had a slew of amazing trailers.
Intentionally or not, some trailers feature content, characters, or mechanics that aren't in the final product. Sometimes, developers need to remove elements to prevent their project from being dela🙈yed, while others intentionally change things to manipulate audience expectations. Here are some games that ended up being completely different from their trailers.
10 🉐 Brutal Legend ✤
Brutal Legend
- Released
- October 13, 2009
- ESRB
- m
- Developer(s)
- 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Double Fine
- Publisher(s)
- 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Electronic Arts
- Engine
- ಌ 🤪 Unreal Engine 2.5
- Multiplayer
- 🅠 🐼 Local Multiplayer
- How Long To Beat
- 9 Hours
On the surface, Brutal Legend seemed like an awesome action-adventure game with an all-star casꦫt including ไJack Black, Ozzy Osbourne, and Lemmy from Motorhead. Everything from the soundtrack to the atmosphere felt perfectly curated towards metalheads and younger rock fans, but the actual gameplay was just as disappointing as watching your favorite band sell out.
Most of Brutal Legend's marketing surrounded 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Jack Black and thౠe musicians in the ga𒊎me, so it was definitely surprising when people finally 🌼booted it up and discovered the gameplay was mostly built around real-time strategy. This aspect blindsided many and hurt the game's reputation at first, though it ℱstill has many fans who consider it a cult classic.
9 ⛄ W🥃e Happy Few
Similar to Brutal Legend, We Happy Few was advertised as one thing but ended up being something completely different by the time it launched. Presented as a first-person action-adventure game in the same vein as Bioshock, Compulsion Games seemed to be filling a void with a colorful and violent adventure through a dystopian world, but the final product wasn't close to fulfilling i♍ts promise.
Thougཧh We Happy Few does have a story and main characters, it's mostly a stealth-survival game with roguelike elements woven throughout. From procedurally generated environments to a slew of bugs at launch, We Happy Few was almost immediately written off by peoplꦅe who eagerly waited for it after the announcement trailer.
8 ജ 🧜 Cyberpunk 2077
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs and Alcohol ಞ ﷽
- Developer(s)
- 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:CD Projekt Red
- Publisher(s)
- 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:CD Projekt Red
- Engine
- REDengine 4 𒊎
- Cross-Platform Play
- 👍 ps, xbox, pc
- Cross Save
- yes
- Expansions
- 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
- Franchise
- Cyberpunk
- Number of Players
- 𒐪 Single-player
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- yes
- PC Release Date
- December 10, 2020 ﷺ
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- 🏅 February 15, 2022
- PS5 Release Date
- ജ February 15, 2022 💮
- Nintendo Switch 2 Release Date
- 𓂃 June 5, 2025
- Platform(s)
- 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:PlayStation 5, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:PlayStation 4, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Xbox Series X, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Xbox Series S, Xbox One, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Nintendo Switch 2, PC
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
- How Long To Beat
- 25 Hours
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- Wiki
- Metascore
- 75
CD Projekt Red dropped the reveal trailer for Cyberpunk 2077 in 2012, more than eight years before the game actually came out. The long road to the launch of the ambitious title was paved with promises of high-quality grap🌌hics and anꦜ immersive world full of endless possibilities, which was immediately shattered once players got their hands on it.
To say Cyberpunk 2077 was a bug-ridden disaster at launch would be an understatement. The quality of the game was so poor that PlayStation made the unprecedented decision to remove it from their physical and digital storefronts until CD Projekt Red fulfilled their promises to consumers. The developers eventually fixed Cyberpunk 2077 and turned it around tremend🔯ously,✅ but the game will always be ꦡremembered for its misleading advertising.
7 No Man's Sky
- ESRB
- ꧋ T for Teen: Fantasy Violence, Animated Blood
- Developer(s)
- 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Hello Games
- Publisher(s)
- 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Hello Games
- Engine
- Proprietary ൲
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op 💛
- Cross-Platform Play
- ಞ PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Seไries X|S, Xbox One, PC
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Verified
- Platform(s)
- 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:PlayStation 5, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:PlayStation 4, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Xbox Series X, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Xbox Series S, Xbox One, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Nintendo Switch, PC, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Nintendo Switch 2
- OpenCritic Rating
- Fair
- How Long To Beat
- ♐ 30.5 Hours 𒀰
- How Long To Beat (Completionist Runs)
- 150 hours
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- File Size Xbox Series
- 20𓆉.36 GB (September 202🗹4)
- PS Plus Availability
- N/A
- Supported VR Headsets
- Sony PlayStation VR, Sony PlayStation VR2, Valve Index, HP Reverb G2, HTC Vive Pro 2, HTC VIVE Cosmos, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest Pr🐭o 🍸
- Metascore
- 83
- Platforms That Support Crossplay
- 🐷 PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One & Xbox Series X|S♏
No Man's Sky had a lot of attention during its development, mostly for its ambition and the small size of the team working on it. From interviews on late-night talk shows to promising E3 trailers, it seemed like the game had the potential to shift the zeitgeist in a new direction. When it finally came out, the illusion was quickly b🌞roken as features highlighted through marketing weren't there.
From the absence of multiplayer to the lack of variety between planets, No Man's Sky was more than a disappointment when it came out - it felt like a lie. Something like this would normally destroy a game's chances of redemption, but fortunately, the developers have continued to work on it to deliver every🦋thing they ever promised and more.
6 Bi🥃oShock Infinite
BioShock Infinite had an infamously rough development cycle that included rewrites and other last-minute changes. This made marke🍒ting for the title extremely difficult, and multiple trailers feature either gameplay or narrative elements that don't appear in the actual game.
The trailers for BioShock Infinite depicted a larger world with more abilities to unlock and a wider variety of enemies to fight than there were iꦡn the final product. Unlike other games like Cyberpunk and No Man's Sky, which suffered from misleading audiences, BioShock Infinite still launched to phenomenal praise and is still considered to be a masterpiece despite its missing pieces.
5 Watch Dogs 🗹
Watch Dogs
- Released
- May 26, 2014
- ESRB
- 🧔 M For Mature // Blood, Game Experience May Change During Online Play, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Conten⭕t, Use of Drugs and Alcohol
- Developer(s)
- 🍬 🤪 Ubisoft Montreal
- Publisher(s)
- Ubisoft
- Engine
- havok
- Multiplayer
- 🅘 Online Multiplayer
- Franchise
- 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Watch Dogs
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
- How Long To Beat
- 20 Hours
- PS Plus Availability
- 🉐 Extra & Premium
Ubisoft closed its 2012 E3 show with a trailer for Watch Dogs that left audiences dazzled with its impressive graphics. From the lighti𝐆ng to the particle effects, Watch Dogs seemed to promise to take gaming visuals to the next level, but when it finally launched ܫin 2014, players were quickly disappointed by its below-average fidelity.
To make matters worse, almost everything about t🐻he original Watch Dogs was generally underwhelming and felt like it was just following a blueprint drafted by successful open-world games like Grand Theft Auto and Saints Row. The Watch Dogs series evolved and eventually crafted its own identity with some interesting sequels, but it never shook off the bad smell of false advertising.
4 Overwatch 2 ♔
- ESRB
- 🉐 T For Teen // Blood, Mild Language, Use of Tobacco, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Blizzard
- Publisher(s)
- Blizzard
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer ꧅
- Cross-Platform Play
- ♎ PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One & Xbox Series X|S
- Cross Save
- yes
- Franchise
- 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Overwatch
- Early Access Release
- 🐓 October 4, ⛄2022
- PC Release Date
- August 10, 202🎉3
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- 🦄 August 10, 2023 ౠ
- PS5 Release Date
- 🌃 August 10, 2023 𒈔
- Nintendo Switch Release Date
- Aꦚugust 10, 2023
- Platform(s)
- PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Switch, Xbox One S, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Xbox One X, PC
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
- How Long To Beat
- 35 hours
- Platforms That Support Crossplay
- PC, 💮PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One & Xbox Series X|S ꦇ
When a developer like Blizzard has a popular online multiplayer game like Overwatch, it's hard to justify the existence of a sequel when it could just support the original with more content. The initial trailer for Overwatch 2 made a unique case for itself with a plethora of unique modes and gameplay mechanics, but most of it was scrapped before the ga✅me actually came out.
168澳洲幸运5开奖网: 9 Changes Coꦑmin🧜g To Overwatch 2, Ranked
These are tꦬhe biggest changes coming to Over🐠watch 2.
From hero-specific talent trees to story-based PvE missions, Overwatch 2 seemed like it would be 🦂a significant update compared to its predecessor, but when it finally came out, fans felt like it was a 𝄹downgraded version of the game they loved. To make matters worse, the original Overwatch servers shut down the same day Overwatch 2 launched, so players couldn't even return to it if they wanted to.
3 Metꦆal Gear Sol﷽id 2: Sons Of Liberty
- ESRB
- M For Mature💟 17+ Due To Animated Blood, Animated Violence
- Developer(s)
- Konami
- Publisher(s)
- Konami
- Engine
- 🙈 Fox Engine ❀
- Prequel(s)
- Metal Gear Solid 🀅
- Sequel(s)
- 16♊8澳洲幸运5开奖网:Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (2004), Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Metal Gear Solid 5 The Phantom Pain 𓆏
- Franchise
- 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Metal Gear
- How Long To Beat
- 13 Hours
Unlike many of the other games on this list, the trailers for Metal Gear Solid 2 were intentionally misleading to subvert audience expectations. All the advertising, including demos and the cover art for the game, depicted Snake as the returning protagonist, but you only play as the iconic character during the prologue sequence before stepping into the shoes of someone new for the rest of𒈔 the journey.
This decision was incredibly divisive and angered a large portion of the fanbase. Not only was the new character, Raiden, completely different from the stoic Solid Snake, but fans felt genuinely manipulated by the false adve♋rtising and felt like they were tricke🥂d. The twist has been praised in retrospect for its boldness and how it sets up the rest of the series.
2 The L🌄ast Of Us Part 2
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Viole🦩nce, Nudity, Sexual Conte🅰nt, Strong Language, Use of Drugs
- Developer(s)
- 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Naughty Dog
- Publisher(s)
- Sony
- Franchise
- ൩ The Last of Us
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- yes
- Platform(s)
- 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:PlayStation 4, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:PlayStation 5
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
- How Long To Beat
- 24 Hours
- Metascore
- 93
Like Metal Gear Solid 2, the trailers for The Last of Us Part 2 were intentionally mislea🍸ding to hide one of the game's biggest twists. While some commercials will show sequences out of order to fool audiences into thinking abou👍t one thing, others are specifically crafted to play with (and sometimes shatter) expectations.
One of the most infamous trailers for The Last ofཧ Us Part 2 alludes to a fan-favorite character joining Ellie on her revenge quest, but fans were distraught when that same character is brutally murdered during the game's opening hours. The decision to dangle something shiny in front of audiences, just to take it away before they could enjoy it, was polarizing and is one of the major reasons The Last of Us Part 2 isn't as universally beloved as its predecessor.
1 Dead Island 𒁏🥃
Dead Island
- Released
- September 6, 2011
- ESRB
- 𝓀 M for Mature: Blood aꦰnd Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Alcohol
- Developer(s)
- Techland
- Publisher(s)
- 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Deep Silver
- Engine
- chromeꦅ enꦇgine
- Multiplayer
- 𓆉 🌄 Online Multiplayer
- Franchise
- 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dead Island
- PS Plus Availability
- Extra & Premium 🌺 💖
The cinematic trailer for Dead Island was released in 2011 and depicted a game that could've pre🔥dated other emotionally gripping zombie stories like Telltale's The Walking Dead or The Last of Us. It follows a family during an attack by the undead in their hotel room, but the presentation is what caught the public's eye, from the somber music to the way the story is told in reverse.
Fans were excited to play a more realistic survival game with higher stakes than a generic "game over" screen, but when Dead Island finally came out, they quickly discovered that it was just another zombie game with a unique location. It's still a fun game if you're looking to mash some buttons and explore the island for collectibles, but the contrast beℱtween 🐻the trailer and the actual game is night and day.
꧃ 10𝓡 Action Adventure Games Better Played On A Small Screen
These games are great ꦑwherever you play them, but they're best experienced on the smaller screens of handheld consoles.
