Nobody likes a trick that’s disguised as a treat. It’s the ultimate Halloween betrayal, but it isn’t exclusive to October 31. In the world of video games, it’s worryingly common for gameplay trailers to be better than the final product. Whether they advertise graphics that get severely downgraded before launch, gameplay sequences that aren’t experienced in the final release, or show smooth performance when the retail release is riddled with bugs, many games attempt to pull these tricks. Here are some of the worst offenders.
No Man’s Sky
During E3 2014, the first No Man’s Sky gameplay trailer was unleashed upon the gaming world. It advertised itself as a “science-fiction game without limits” and the gameplay showcased incredible alien environments teaming with life. Ships flew overhead and the player soon hopped into their ship to fight alongside them in battle. The seamless transition from planet exploration to space navigation was incredible and the performance was near-perfect.
Unfortunately, when No Man’s Sky launched two years later, it was lacking many of the features shown in the gameplay trailer. In addition to the simple, barebones gameplay that was criticized in the GameRevolution review, the game suffered from many bugs and glitches that killed any remaining immersion.
Aliens: Colonial Marines
After being bounced between developers, Aliens: Colonial Marines finally made its gameplay debut during E3 2011. Unfortunately, that “gameplay demo” proved to be misleading, showcasing visuals that would be severely cut down for launch and gameplay sequences that were absent from the retail version.
Our review didn’t pull any punches with criticisms including how it “looks terrible,” has “inconsistent, poorly implemented design,” “poor dialogue,” “jerky animation,” and is “an empty shell of what was advertised.”
Cyberpunk 2077
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was always going to be a tough act to follow, but developer CD Projekt Red seemed confident that Cyberpunk 2077 was going to deliver the goods. Things seemed promising, with the first gameplay reveal coming in at a confidence-inspiring 48 minutes in length. Unfortunately, the slightly transparent “WORK IN PROGRESS – DOES NOT REPRESENT THE FINAL LOOK OF THE GAME” text overlaying the screen would turn out to be quite the understatement.
At launch, Cyberpunk 2077 was criticized for how bug-riddled it was, not to mention the performance issues that were especially prevalent on PS4 and Xbox One. Playing on PC, which was arguably the most stable of platforms, GR’s Paul Tamburro still criticized how there were “tons of bugs, glitches, and performance issues.”
Anthem
BioWare joining forces with EA to create a “shared-world action RPG” could have been a formula for great success. Initially, it looked promising, thanks to a 7-minute gameplay reveal trailer prefaced by text that read “Everything you are about to see was captured in-game running in real-time.” It looked great in the 7-minute demo, but what was the 30-hour full release like?
In my review, I commended how “visually stunning” the game was and how it was a fantastic “Iron Man simulator.” However, I quickly listed the cons that included the “lack of variety in literally every aspect,” “uninspired story,” and “technical hiccups.” My peers in the industry and the gaming community in general had similar sentiments. Now the game’s servers have been shut down, with “Anthem 2.0” getting canceled.
While some of these games turned themselves around with post-launch updates, others were left to suffer. No Man’s Sky has been bolstered by content update after content update and is in many ways better than the build showcased in the reveal trailer. Cyberpunk 2077, too, has been aided by multiplayer post-launch patches and the next-gen versions provide a much more stable experience. Aliens: Colonial Marines, on the other hand, received little post-launch attention from the developers, with modders ultimately earning praise for the improvements they made. The ending to Anthem’s story is a sad one, with its need for always online servers ultimately leading to its untimely demise, with EA shutting down support for the game.
Here’s hoping the future of video games brings plenty of treats, without so many tricks!
