Typically, to make a good impression on gamers “at first glance,” producers need to invest in creating impressive and spectacular trailers. However, the history of gaming has witnessed numerous titles whose trailers appeared quite dull and unexciting, failing to evoke any enthusiasm… But when you actually play them, you realize they are masterpieces, featuring extremely engaging gameplay, completely contrary to what the trailers depicted.
These are considered games that everyone “should play at least once.” Now let’s continue with the top 10 games that seemed unimpressive at first glance but ultimately turned out to be amazing!
No Man’s Sky
Up until now, some gamers are still adamant about not playing this game because they cannot overlook the fact that Hello Games deceived everyone during its marketing campaign. Remember when it first launched? It was like a… disaster.
However, it must be acknowledged that the developer admitted its mistakes and has continuously released interesting updates, making the game better over time. This action can be seen as an apology to gamers. With its current quality, No Man’s Sky is a game well worth immersing yourself in, exploring distant planets.
However, what we need to pay attention to here is how to market a game that is still in development. In Hello Games’ case, the founder tried to promote features and created misleading trailers to showcase mechanisms that the development team hoped to implement in No Man’s Sky before its release. Unfortunately, reality did not meet expectations, and upon its release, gamers were extremely upset.
Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons
Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons is one of the co-op games that offers a unique gameplay experience, allowing you and your partner to have extremely fun and emotionally rich experiences. In this game, players control two brothers using a single controller, each using one analog stick to overcome challenges, puzzles, and minigames… However, none of these aspects were mentioned in the trailer.
The control mechanism of this game is incredibly unique, not to mention the storyline is very touching. These are the reasons why we should play this game. But in numerous trailers for Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, even during the console launch, the standout features were not highlighted. Thus, to viewers, it seemed like just another ordinary co-op side-scroller, lacking anything special or engaging.
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
This is one of the games with the most disliked trailers in history. Over 3 minutes and 24 seconds, every action of the game’s characters was scrutinized by viewers, even to the point of being intensely hated.
First, Activision’s sudden shift from realistic shooting games to a sci-fi shooting genre was completely different from what everyone knew about the Call of Duty franchise. Spaceships, robots, laser weapons… all seemed to have nothing to do with the main storyline of Call of Duty. After the backlash with Advanced Warfare, Activision further angered gamers with Black Ops 3 for its futuristic setting.
With fans reacting extremely negatively, Activision has yet to allow any subsequent Call of Duty installments… to step off Earth again.
Earthbound
At the time when the marketing team launched the trailer for this game, one could only say that it was “humorously tragic” or “tragically humorous.” In the case of Earthbound, Nintendo incorporated the “refined” amusements of 90s children, such as farting, burping, and discussing others’ bodies into a promotional campaign surrounding this game.
While the game tells the story of a group of young superheroes protecting Earth from dark, intergalactic forces, its marketing campaigns were filled with nonsense, revolving around the smell of farts, moldy food, and a variety of other unpleasant odors. This led to the game’s reputation being buried, as millions at the time thought it was a horrible mess made for kids to play.
The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time
This is the Zelda installment that many consider the best of all time. However, contrary to that brilliance, it had one of the worst trailers in the Western world, reflecting a lack of management and content control from Nintendo’s partners.
To be honest, with such a low-quality trailer, it is surprising that Ocarina still achieved the expected success. Aside from the bizarre soundtrack, clear gender distinctions were evident in the Ocarina Of Time advertisement. The game bluntly stated that you could save the girl you love or fight like… a girl.
Nonetheless, despite having a terrible trailer, Ocarina Of Time itself is excellent, so it sold extremely well.
Source: What Culture