Trailer Roundup: Final Fantasy XV, Silent Hills, and More

How’s your schedule looking? If it’s not somewhere between Wide Open and Totally Available, then you might want to look elsewhere for your ephemeral jollies. Gearbox alone this week can fill a half-hour block of your time. Like, when does “extended” just not cut it anymore?

Also, I just watched I Know That Voice on Netflix, so if even after this series of epics of trailers you still have more time, maybe give that a go. Then we can talk about it. There’s a whole bit on video games and Comic-Con, and you’ll definitely be in awe of how few voice actors stretch across so many iconic voices, TV or otherwise. Anyways, time for those ridiculously long trailers!

Minecraft

Coming out from the biggest news of the previous week, Phil Spencer attempts to spend four minutes assuaging you with the idea that Microsoft is acquiring Mojang, the studio behind Minecraft. It’s a strange move; I’m not even sure how many people associate the game with this particular studio. Surely a sizable amount, but the percentage of total Minecraft players is likely miniscule. Who is Spencer trying to placate here? Is Minecraft simply too large to even steer now?

Fibbage

I think those You Don’t Know Jack games are pretty fun. They’re a great way to get friends that don’t necessarily play games to play some god damn video games. Now the developers Jackbox Games have Fibbage, a game where you attempt to fill in the blank on a tidbit you most likely don’t know the real answer to. It reminds me a bit of Deck Around, except digitized. Either way, it’s already out for Xbox One, PlayStation3, PlayStation 4, and, uh, Amazon FireTV.

Assassin’s Creed Unity

Another week, another triple-A game from Ubisoft putting out a reminder that It’s Happening. Really, this trailer doesn’t show any gameplay—like, at all—but it does have a pretty cool song playing, so that kind of makes it worth it. I think. Either way, Assassin’s Creed Unity comes out on November 11 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.

Final Fantasy XV

Now that’s a way to open up a trailer. It’s an excellent reminder of what made that first Final Fantasy Versus XIII trailer from back in 2006, namely the stupidly enticing blend of modern aesthetics with knights and monsters and magic.

It’s also, unfortunately, an excellent reminder that Final Fantasy XV has been basically in development for over eight years with no end in sight. Kotaku has a cool feature with the new solo director (formerly co-director with Tetsuya Nomura) Hajime Tabata that you should read. It’s fairly enlightening. Also, this trailer is pretty cool.

Silent Hills

So that was weird and totally fucked up, which is what I hope the entirety of Silent Hills is going to be like (and, more or less, was what P.T. was as well). Honestly, if I had to choose between a giant baby monster woman and going down into an ominous basement, I’d probably choose the basement, too.

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!

Like, why. It’s not even a question. It’s a statement. Why is this video so long? How does this help anyone? Maybe once Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! comes out, this would make more sense as a series of in-game tutorials spread out across a sequence of tutorial missions, which sounds pretty bad outright but is relatively tolerable compared to this nine and a half minutes of swing-and-a-miss humor. Comes out October 14 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, OSX, and Linux.

I can’t believe I watched all of that.

Battleborn

I wonder how much of this was Andrew Goldfarb, content editor at Gearbox Software, fighting his journalistic roots to ask probing and dangerously inquisitive questions. Either way, Battleborn looks decent. I love the look of it. Super colorful and fluid like whoa. I do feel like the jokes and gags are once again swing-and-a-miss

The actual gameplay looks competent with the cooperative slant definitely making it more interesting. Thorn seems like she’d be super boring to play but Rath might be fun. I don’t know. I’ve basically eradicated all expectations of this game from my brain.

Roundabout

And now, I leave you with this delicious bit of nonsense. This trailer sums up the whole of what Roundabout from No Goblin has to offer, and that is I Have No Fucking Idea. Check out this badass description from its press page: “Roundabout is a ’70s B-Movie game where you drive a constantly revolving limousine!” Awesome. Just Awesome. Roundabout is out now for PC, OSX, and Linux and will be out for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in early 2015.

Trailer Roundup: NBA Live 15, Persona 5, and More

Yeah, I’ve been out of it for a while. Honestly, all the stuff about Gamer Gate had me put off the idea of even talking to another person, least of all not even bothering with PAX Prime. It was a terribly destructive period of the industry that morphed from slander to verbal assault to a fundamental debasing of reasoning and decency.

Paste has a nice bookend to the whole ordeal, though the problematic existence of bullies and bigots extends far beyond the terminative boundaries of the end of a bookshelf. That’s all I want to talk about it. Others have spoken on it far more eloquently than I ever will and I don’t want to get dragged into a flamewar.

In fact, let’s just get back to what we do best on a Monday. Let’s watch some god damn trailers.

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

NSFW. Maybe? I have no idea. I don’t have a single solitary clue about what most of this trailer is but it certainly feels NSFW even when you take the somewhat naked burlap sack head people out. As weird as The Binding of Isaac actually is (and as weird as this port The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth will similarly be), this trailer takes the cake. Comes out November 4 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, PC, Mac, and Linux.

Slender: The Arrival

Slender: The Arrival is a game that you kind of have to buy fully into to get any joy out of it. It’s very easy to play it, get bored, and stop after about five minutes. And even if you last long enough to encounter a thing to run away from, you have to be willing to play along and get perturbed. This is, however, a rather good trailer, though I’m not sure if you haven’t played this game before, what would convince you to do so now. Comes out September 23 for PSN and September 24 for Xbox Live Arcade.

Assassin’s Creed Rogue

This is an absolutely fantastic trailer for Assassin’s Creed Rogue, and for some reason, I just can’t get behind it. While Black Flag was a great game, it was kind of all I needed to cap off with the best of the series’ gameplay (mostly) and realize that without the Desmond story, I’m just not that interested anymore. I’ll probably still play Rogue since that’s how this job works, but the desire is lacking. Comes out November 11 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Hatoful Boyfriend

Basically, if you like this trailer, you’ll probably like what Hatoful Boyfriend has to offer. It’s a weird game. Like, super weird. It’s a visual novel game about being the only human at a school for sapient pigeons. It’s strange and funny but also surprisingly deep with a branching storyline and complex motives for relationship building. It’s out now on Steam, so maybe give it a try.

Ancient Space

I really like how surprised the voiceover sounds when he says “PEGI 12.” I also really like what Joe Fricano, senior producer on the project with Paradox Interactive, said about Ancient Space being more like NASA and less like Star Wars. I like Star Wars, don’t get me wrong, but I like this idea of a clinical take on a deep space mystery. Sounds cool. Comes out September 23 for PC and Mac.

Wasteland 2

The problem with Wasteland 2, the $2.9 million Kickstarter success from April of 2012, is that the prospect of playing it isn’t very inviting, but playing it will undoubtedly be wholly encompassing. I mean, look at this trailer for combat. It’s a seven-minute trailer about just the fighting portion of the game. That being said, I probably will be one of those people playing. Comes out September 19 for PC, Mac, and Linux.

Firewatch

Now that’s a doozy. No idea what Firewatch is but I’m totally into it. Just read this description and tell me you’re not in, too: “Firewatch is a mystery set in the Wyoming wilderness, where your only emotional lifeline is the person on the other end of a handheld radio.” What a hook. Even the website is slick enough to make you want to find out more. Comes out sometime in 2015 for PC, Mac, and Linux.

Persona 5

God dammit, Persona 5, give me something to work with. I feel like that weird chair teaser from February was more informative than this thing. It has my interest piqued, sure, but at what cost, man, at what cost. Comes out in 2015 for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4.

NBA Live 15

The NBA Live franchise doesn’t die easily, huh. It basically stopped after NBA Live 10 until NBA Live 13 got canceled and then was officially revived with last year’s supremely disappointing NBA Live 14. Considering that the NBA 2K series has been alive and kicking in the intervening years, I wonder if NBA Live 15 will even have enough legs to run and not shit the bed again like 2013. I can’t tell if the song in the trailer is more wishing or telling. Comes out October 7 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

WWE 2K15

Boy, wrestling games seem like a lot of fun to motion capture. Even if you’re still beating the shit out of yourself while actively trying to not quite beat the shit out of someone else, it must be super cool to do all those acrobatic super slams and then watch it go into a game like WWE 2K15. Also, how is Goldberg still alive? Like, as a person. Comes out October 28 for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.

Trailer Roundup: Quantum Break, Bloodborne, and More

Gamescom was overflowing with trailers. At 35 minutes, I’d question the categorization of one of them as a “trailer,” but either way, this is at least a movie’s worth of watching time now. Several dozen trailers have overwhelmed the dam, so this is really just a smattering of what I found interesting. I’m sure many of you will disagree with what is going to be excluded, but hey, you could have also just watched the Pokémon World Championships, too.

Quantum Break

There was a trailer leading up to this gameplay demo, but why watch that when you can watch eight minutes of Quantum Break in motion? Finally seeing how the mechanical side of the game is going to work is pretty cool. The general fighting of fodder enemies looks like it could become trivial quite quickly, but that boss battle came across as quite interesting. I’m actually looking forward to playing it now. Comes out 2015 for Xbox One.

Bloodborne

Ugh, I hate that Sony’s YouTube channel is calling every announcement video an “announce trailer.” It’s a grammatical terror, sure, but it just feels awful to say. But aside from that, how are you not intrigued by Bloodborne? Coming from Hidetaka Miyazaki, this game just looks cool. And even as inviting as the gameplay teaser is, this six minutes of solid demo shenanigans is even better. Comes out 2015 for PlayStation 4.

The Order: 1886

Woo, this is a gorgeous-looking game. Even from the trailer, I can tell that the feeling of shooting the weapons in The Order: 1886 is going to be a highlight. It looks so immediate and reactive and powerful. Hopefully the game actually manages to be worth playing and not just something that looks good in a video. This will be the first original solo venture from Ready at Dawn, so here’s hoping. Comes out February 20, 2015 for PlayStation 4.

Below

At this point, my desire to play Below is far outpaced by my desire to simply know more about it. If they were two mutually exclusive options in my entire lifetime but I could ask any question about it and get the answer right now, I would take that deal. Okay, probably not, but seriously. TELL ME MORE, CAPY. Comes out, uh, sometime for Xbox One and Steam.

Shadow Realms

Surprise! That mystery BioWare teaser from a few weeks ago was actually for BioWare Austin’s upcoming 4v1 online action RPG. It’s a structure that sounds a bit like Evolve and the trailer feels an awful lot like a more serious John Dies at the End, so I have no idea what point I’m trying to make here other than “Shadow Realms” is a super generic title, but put me down as super tepid right now.

WiLD

Well this is certainly the last thing I would have expected from Michel Ancel. Leading a new indie shop called Wild Sheep Studios, this survival adventure game is a huge departure from Rayman. But as the trailer goes on, it becomes strangely apparent that 1) WiLD is French, and 2) WiLD is at least partly infused with Ancel’s latent insanity.

Hellblade

If Ninja Theory said they were making a Barbie game for graphing calculators, I would be onboard. After making Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, anything they make will always be welcome with open arms here. Not to say they can do no wrong, but I’m willing to give them a chance. Granted, this trailer tells us basically nothing about Hellblade (with this “introduction” trailer somehow divulging even less), but the premise at least seems interesting.

The Tomorrow Children

Talk about inscrutable. This trailer is the single most confusing thing I’ve seen all week. It all sums up to mean basically nothing. I had to read this just to get some semblance of an idea of what The Tomorrow Children might be about. The gist is that it involves mining, bettering an online social community, and Marxist parody, which is everybody’s favorite genre of anything.

Battlefield Hardline

For a developer commentary video, there isn’t actually a lot of commentary going on in this 12-minute demo of Battlefield Hardline. However, I am excited about this game solely because it looks so little like any other Battlefield game. It’s something I appreciate about that franchise. While they have the staple (and stale) numbered series, they aren’t afraid to branch off into Bad Company and Heroes territory. Comes out 2015 for PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.

Donut County

“Donut County is a whimsical physics toy that gives players control of a mysterious hole that gets bigger each time they swallow something.” That’s all you had to say, Ben Esposito.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Sweet jesus. 35 minutes. Of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. At least the commentary is good. Comes out February 24, 2015 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

VA-11 HALL-A

Cyberpunk bartending simulator. That’s all you need to know. Get on that VA-11 HALL-A tip, dawg.

A Voyeur for September

I have no idea what a “live action stealth game” is, but I would love to find out. Give it to me, Team Meat. Give me A Voyeur for September.

Trailer Roundup: Mortal Kombat X, Assassin’s Creed Rogue, and More

Well Gamescom is starting tomorrow. There’s probably going to be at least a few big announcements, some cool previews, and cool Instagrams from everyone in Germany. I won’t be there this year, but rest assured that it almost entirely wouldn’t matter. I’m beginning to question the need of physically attending shows beyond broing out with some fellow writers and dev friends.

Actually, that’s a notion that has been rolling around my head for a few years now, one that’s been shared with other likeminded journalists, which is to say those that don’t go just to collect freebies and take pictures of themselves with celebrities. Anyways, that’s for another time. Let’s watch some trailers!

Mortal Kombat X

I wonder if Ed Boon even wants to make other types of games. Outside of Mortal Kombat, his credits run rather thin, even though his adventures outside of the brutal brawler have often proven successful. Hell, he programmed goddamn Black Knight 2000. But it is a bit weird that he was creative director on the Batman: Arkham Origins mobile game. Hmm.

Anyways, Mortal Kombat X comes out sometime in 2015 for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC.

Assassin’s Creed Rogue

That Assassin’s Creed team sure knows how to make the shit out of a trailer. The original Assassin’s Creed trailer is one of my all-time favorites, though it might just be the Unkle track that does it. But Assassin’s Creed Rogue seems to have promise either way, despite being relegated to last gen systems. Developers Ubisoft Sofia managed to inject some interesting ideas into Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation, so it’ll be fun to see what they can get up to with the foundation of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag.

I’m super curious, though, as to how this Assassin-turned-Templar fits into a modern day Animus scheme. More Abstergo cubicles? Comes out November 11 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. (Also, notice that Ubisoft is doing away with colons in front of their subtitles? Weird.)

Mario Kart 8

Boy, talk about weird. I would love to know how this business deal came about. How in the world did Mercedes-Benz (yes, the Germany luxury car manufacturer) shack up with Nintendo (once again, yes, the Japanese video game company) to make this wholly odd Mario Kart 8 DLC? It’s free, either way, and includes a four-week long online competition called the Mercedes Cup. Comes out August 27.

Crawl

From what I’ve played, Crawl is a pretty cool game. I haven’t put enough time in to get much more of an opinion than that since getting people together to play it is crucial, but I think it’s worth at least more than a cursory glance. It’s a multiplayer dungeon crawler, except your friends play the enemies. When the hero dies, the killer gets to become the hero, attempting to best both the dungeon and their friends. Currently out via Early Access for PC, Mac, and Linux.

Dying Light

My time with Dying Light from last year’s PAX Prime reminds me that every bit of this trailer’s braggadocio has at least some shred of veracity. The parkour elements genuinely added significant wrinkles to the zombie experience, as did the traps and general need to run. Comes out February 2015 for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC.

Toy Soldiers: War Chest

Hey, I liked Toy Soldiers as much as the next guy, but Toy Soldiers: War Chest seems like an odd revival, especially since this trailer doesn’t paint much in the way of substantial mechanical changes. I’m open to it, but it doesn’t make me any less puzzled over its existence. I will say that the snappy writing and perfect tone is still intact, so there’s still that. Release early 2015 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

It still looks like Call of Duty multiplayer to me. That’s not a bad thing, mind you, but it certainly has gotten a bit tired outside of the growing eSports arena. Perhaps the emphasis on mobility and adaptive environments will make Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare feel different and—dare I say—interesting, but it looks an awful lot like more of the same even with the jetpacks and future tech based on my time with it. Releases November 4 for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC.

Trailer Roundup: BioWare, The Sailor’s Dream, and More

Have you listened to The College Dropout all the way through? It’s Kanye West’s debut album and I just blew through it for the first time. “Last Call” is crazy, right? I mean, it’s nearly 13 minutes of his goddamn life that stands in stark contrast with the person we know today. He portrays himself as a guy who knew he was talented but struggled to find a break and kept getting rejected, but we see him every day as a person completely detached from reality and, quite frankly, a rich ass.

That really has nothing to do with video game trailers. I just thought maybe you guys would want to talk about it. Or maybe something else. Whatever you have on your minds, I’m up for it. It could be about these trailers or maybe the bad day you just had or maybe the wicked salsa you made yesterday. I’m here for you.

Also I want that salsa recipe. You know who you are.

Assassin’s Creed Unity

Do you think they don’t have a colon in Assassin’s Creed Unity as some subtle play into the idea of unity? Just wondering. You already know the deal. We’ve heard these promises before of better control and more fun combat, but whether or not it’s a good or bad Assassin’s Creed game, I’m actually super excited to wander around 1700s France in this crazy quality. A full year to design one of the major landmarks. Crazy!

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege

One of the quotes in the trailer says that Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege was one of the biggest surprises of this year’s E3, and I agree wholeheartedly. The trailer at Ubisoft’s E3 press event was cool but left a lot of questions up in the air. Playing it, however, answered many of them, though still managed to raise more delectable questions. Expected to release 2015 for PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.

The Sailor’s Dream

With the hopes that developers Simogo can pull out a quality iOS game once more, I’m rather intrigued by The Sailor’s Dream. It hopefully won’t scare the shit out of me like Year Walk, but the writing alone in the trailer got me good. Save for the last one that it fades out on. That came across as cheesy, but my curiosity certainly is piqued. Look for it late 2014 on iOS.

Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth

I wonder why Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 succeeded so hard. It has reached Final Fantasy VII levels of spinoff material. It’s my favorite of the series, but I wonder how word of its quality spread with such a convincing visage. It’s a hard enough sell to make people play an RPG let alone one that averages 70+ hours. Oh well. Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth releases November 25, 2014 for Nintendo 3DS.

Shadowgate

I was never huge on Shadowgate. I’ve certainly played it—just as I’m sure most of you have as well—but it never clicked all that hard with me. Feel free to judge me as this reimagining accrued almost 3,500 backers and roughly $137,000 on Kickstarter, so chances are you remember it more fondly than I do. New puzzles and fancy graphics, though, so it could be worth remember that it comes out August 21, 2014 for PC, Mac, iOS, and Android.

BioWare Teaser

Details are sparse on BioWare’s new project. We don’t even have a title yet. So far it’s just this live action trailer and mostly worthless words from press interviews. World building, contemporary stories (whatever you want that to mean), etc. It’s a cool trailer, but something more tangible needs to be revealed for a meaningful reaction. I do like that there’s some ARG stuff going on, though.

Adventure Time: The Secret of the Nameless Kingdom

Do you think there will ever be a good Adventure Time game? While Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why’d You Steal Our Garbage?! was more or less agreeable, Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I Don’t Know! was mostly hot trash. I wonder if it’ll take as many tries as South Park to hit South Park: The Stick of Truth-level. Adventure Time: The Secret of the Nameless Kingdom comes out this fall for Steam, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo 3DS.

Trailer Roundup: Tekken 7, Battleborn, and More

Okay, we can all admit it: I’m terrible at keeping a schedule. I mean, you don’t have to admit it, but it really makes me feel better not doing it alone. I missed a week and now I’m doing this on a Tuesday. I know you all normally set your clocks to when a Trailer Roundup goes up, but let’s just go with it this week, huh? Can’t we all just get along?

Besides, there are some, like, big announcements that happened. Let’s get to it!

Tekken 7

Here’s another confession: I lost the thread to the Tekken story so god damn long ago. I only have the faintest idea of what is going on in this trailer, but I do know that based on the reaction from when it was announced at Evo 2014, people are excited for Tekken 7. Also, major props for sticking with the straight numerical naming scheme for all these years. No timeframe specified, but it will be coming to next-gen consoles.

Battleborn

I am, like, 90% sure that Mikey Neumann had 100% to do with the song in this trailer for Battleborn, the upcoming game from Gearbox Software. While you can’t really tell from the video, Battleborn is an FPS with co-op, loot, and RPG-style growth mechanics. It sounds an awful lot like Borderlands, especially when Gearbox President Randy Pitchford describes it.

However, it really sounds more like a MOBA that happens to be from a first-person perspective, but don’t tell them that. Creative director Randy Varnell sounded weirdly defensive about being called a MOBA in this Polygon piece. Doesn’t matter, though. Gearbox seems to have a pretty good handle on the co-op shooter thing. It will launch on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC in 2015.

The Wolf Among Us

If you haven’t been keeping up with this first season of The Wolf Among Us, you’ve been missing out. It’s not quite the groundbreaking or genre-redefining experience as The Walking Dead, but it’s still quite the harrowing collection of episodic content. The last episode came out last week, and seems appropriately titled as Cry Wolf. Hopefully I’ll blow through it tomorrow and then we can talk about it!

Back to Bed

Here’s what I know about Back to Bed by Bedtime Digital Games: it looks…unnerving. I mean, just look at that weird cat thing. Would you trust it to exist? I’m just kidding, though; I know a bit more about the game. It started as a student project in 2011 and then went to Kickstarter last March and is now about to see the light of day this August as a 3D surrealist puzzle game. But seriously, fuck that cat thing.

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair

I feel like I need to apologize. But I won’t. I never got around to playing this when it came out back in 2012 for the PSP, but now it’ll be making its way to the PS Vita on September 2, and I actually know where I put my Vita, so chances are good I’ll finally be able to play this weird visual novel murder mystery thing.

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

I really don’t know why Troy Baker isn’t a movie star yet. Perhaps he doesn’t really want to be one, but he’s got both the chops and the looks, and he’s good at giving PR-fueled answers in interviews. Either way, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is really quite the interesting game from what I’ve played, and I really can’t wait for the full release on October 7.

VizionEck

I mean, it’s possible that VizionEck is a competitive first-person shooter. Hell, it might even be a game, but just don’t tell this inscrutable trailer that. The website does a slightly better job of describing what the hell it is you’re seeing, but it doesn’t really matter. I’m already intrigued. It’s headed to the PlayStation 4 sometime this year.

Assassin’s Creed Unity

Gosh does Ubisoft know how to make gorgeous cutscenes. And now that technology is catching up with their visual aspirations, their games are becoming equally beautiful. If only they could make a mechanically fun game, too. At this point, I feel like any sufficiently large production will garner a bevy of E3 awards, which of course isn’t anyone’s fault in particular. More money means a more polished and idealized vertical slice, and that’s how you win those awards. Find out if Assassin’s Creed Unity deserved them on October 28.

Hyrule Warriors

I’m still not wholly convinced about the idea of Hyrule Warriors, but I will say that with each trailer that comes out, my interested is piqued just a little more. I appreciate the layers that the fantastical seems to add the Dynasty Warriors formula, but I don’t know if it’ll carry my interest for longer than an hour or two, and it doesn’t seem like Nintendo is very much invested in it (the website is a freaking product page, and Nintendo’s official channel is super behind on its trailers). Releases September 26 for Wii U.

Trailer Roundup: Gods Will Be Watching, Dreamfall Chapters, and More

It sure has been a while since we’ve done one of these. E3 happened, which is safe to assume you kept up with by streaming the press conferences or checking out our highlight reels. And then those previews just kept pumping out. And then, well, I kind of forgot. Sorry!

But here we are again. Dear friends once more and ready to watch some clips of video games you can’t quite play yet but can discuss endlessly online with strangers, nemeses, and potted plants. This will stretch a bit beyond the last week, but hey, who’s to say when these trailers actually came out?

Oh yeah, the timestamp on YouTube. Well, let’s do this!

Gods Will Be Watching

If this trailer doesn’t intrigue you, then you’re probably dead. Or you had your eyes closed. Either way, try again, you heathen. You can actually try a bit of this game right now. Gods Will Be Watching was the result of Ludum Dare 28 where the theme was minimalism. And then it got crowdfunded on Indiegogo and is becoming a full-fledged product, coming out July 24.

Escape Dead Island

While not being the biggest fan of the Dead Island games—or at least not a fan of what they ended up being, but certainly appreciative of what they almost were—this looks to be a far enough departure that I consider its potential a blank slate. Escape Dead Island focuses more on stealth and the mystery surrounding the circumstances of the zombie outbreak than trying to keep limb slicing interesting for upwards of 30 hours. Find out more when it comes out this fall.

Dreamfall Chapters: The Longest Journey

Fact about me: I loved The Longest Journey. I have no idea if it holds up or if it even really was as good as I remember it (boy is the past a tricky thing), but I’m fairly excited for the Kickstarted Dreamfall Chapters: The Longest Journey. Talking with people who have gotten hands-on with it, it sounds like its writing is wicked sharp and its poignancy pointed like a dagger to the heart. The first chapter of five comes out this fall.

Alien: Isolation

Boy does this trailer bring back awful, sweaty, vivid, terrifying flashbacks to a darker time in my life. Namely when I was playing the hands-on demo at E3 this year, quite literally in the dark save for the monitor’s glow in front of me. If we did that sort of thing, you could add our name to the Best Of nominations list. Get ready to flop sweat October 7.

Godzilla

I just have so many questions, though most of them can be summed up with just this one: why? This game seems to, like, barely exist. The video itself isn’t on either the US or UK Namco Bandai YouTube channels but the last 20(!) seconds are dedicated to pimping subscriptions. It’s also odd that bumper is in the video distributed to outlets as well. And it’s only for the PS3. Most of all, though, I’d love to know how they plan to make a good Godzilla game, because it sure as hell isn’t by making a self-serious 3D Rampage. I guess we’ll find out what happens.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

It’s interesting that one of the studios responsible for the Call of Duty franchise is named after a heavy blunt instrument. It feels an awful lot like they just bang out these games now, slamming the slate down and printing it out when the clock strikes November. But strangely enough, it also seems like Sledgehammer Games is trying some new things with Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. I thought I was done caring about the series, but if they keep trying to inject fresh blood into the games, I might be willing to pay attention once more. I just hope it’s not more scripted nonsense. Comes out November 4.

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark

Ha, Linkin Park. Who knew they still made music? Who knew they still made music and for Transformers? This game is currently out and apparently isn’t all that great, but I just wanted you to know that Linkin Park is always there. Watching. Waiting.

Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture

Okay, this actually is from E3 and somehow manages to reveal less than its original announcement trailer, but I like what this game has going for it and I want to remind you that it exists.

Trailer Roundup: Borderlands, The Sims 4, Mighty No. 9, and More

Due to Memorial Day here in the US, I skipped last week’s Trailer Roundup. I’ve yet to receive any death threats, so I’m fairly sure none of you were exceptionally perturbed by the trailer-sized hole in your Monday. But that tragedy is long past, far behind you in the same realm of that one traumatic thing that happened back in high school. Here we go!

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel

Well, I mean, it’s more Borderlands. That’s what you wanted, right? Here we have nearly 16 minutes of James Lopez, associate producer from Gearbox Software, and Joel Eschler, producer from 2K Australia, talking over some Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel gameplay. They talk through some new characters and vehicles and whatnot, but it looks like it’s shaping up to be exactly what it needs to be: more Borderlands. Comes out later this year.

The Sims 4

Sometimes it still baffles me that The Sims got as big as it did, but it baffles me even more that the franchise has stuck around for so long. The first one came out in 2000 and hit it big, eventually bumping Myst as the best-selling PC game ever. Now, with a nigh endless string of DLC packs, expansions, spinoffs, and the like, we’ve arrived at a new numbered entry into the series with The Sims 4. Get ready to trap Sims in concrete prisons later this year.

Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham

I can’t be sure, but this trailer might contain a reference to The Lego Movie. When Wonder Woman says Batman should stick with black or dark gray, it reminded me of when The Lego Movie‘s Batman said something similar. But talking Lego people still feels a little weird to me. Oh well. Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham is out this fall.

Sonic Boom

A new Sonic character? I don’t know about this. I mean, I only barely like the current ones. And when did Knuckles start looking so…stretched? And Sonic wears a bandanna now? I’m so confused by what’s going on in that franchise. I remember the comics. Some serious shit went down on those. Both the Sonic Boom TV show and game (which will maintain a separate continuity from the show for some reason) will be out later this year.

Enemy Front

If not for all the shooty parts, this is actually a pretty cool trailer. I’m not saying those bits look bad, but I think we all know what shooting a dude in a video game (especially during World War II) looks like by now. The premise is pretty interesting, playing into the idea that much of what is untold in war journalism is the actual journalism itself, but who knows how it will end up. Enemy Front comes out next month on June 10^th.

Quantum Break

Quick question: what is a “top of the line live-action show?” That sounds like some marketing nonsense to me, but Quantum Break does look pretty slick as a game. I also really like the idea of getting two sides of a story, albeit both seem fairly well aligned on how you should feel about who is good and who is bad. I guess we’ll see. Set to release some time in 2015.

Mighty No. 9

I didn’t think I could ever be excited for a Mega Man game, but here we are. Okay, well, let’s back up. It’s not a Mega Man game by name (the law and whatnot prevents that from happening), but Keiji Inafune, creator of Mega Man and now at his own studio called Comcept, is directing this Kickstarter super success and by golly does it look promising. The combo system on the combat seems compelling for moment-to-moment action and the platforming looks appropriately punishing. Mighty No. 9 comes out April 2015.

Trailer Roundup: Transistor, Wolfenstein, and More

Whoa, where did all these trailers come from? Last week was surprisingly busy in the three-to-five-minute-video-game-videos arena, so I’ll be doing more pruning than usual, but there are some winners up in this piece. Also, totally unrelated, but I held a baby raccoon today. That is all. Here are the trailers!

Transistor

Given that Bastion is one of my all-time favorite games, it seems only fair to be excited about Transistor, the next project from Supergiant Games. Actually, make that imminent, nearly completed project as it is set to release next week on May 20, 2014. I love the art style, the music is thus far amazing, and I’m just excited. I don’t necessarily have expectations; just that I’m anxious to find out what it’s all about.

Wolfenstein: The New Order

I’m still vacillating super hard between looking forward to Wolfenstein: The New Order and thinking what I’ve played and seen so far is incredibly skippable. The demos have touched on so many interesting ideas of necessary violence, psychological sustainability, and other complex personal bits of introspection, but it’s wrapped in a 90s B movie blanket of one-liners and explosions. It also comes out this week on May 20, 2014, so I guess we’ll find out soon where it ends up falling.

Bombshell

So here’s the gist of this exceedingly inscrutable trailer: Interceptor Entertainment, the studio behind the surprisingly fun Rise of the Triad reboot last year, is teaming up with 3D Realms to create an isometric action RPG called Bombshell, which features Shelley “Bombshell” Harrison, a former bomb tech turned mercenary.

There are some serious flavors of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, but it’s actually built on the ruins of that Duke Nukem lawsuit from earlier this year between 3D Realms and Gearbox Entertainment. This incarnation of the project is aiming for Q1 of 2015, which seems somewhat aggressive, but those Interceptor guys sure know how to crank out a game crazy quick.

SpyParty

SpyParty is really cool. It’s made for getting in and out of another person’s head while trying to guard your own. I’m sure you’ve heard of it before, but this trailer explains rather succinctly what the actual gameplay is like in terms of mechanics, but it fails to capture how much sweating is involved in panicking to make a decision. This feature on the Omegathon from PAX Prime last year captures pretty well the anxiety involved in playing SpyParty.

Nuclear Throne

Rebranded from Wasteland Kings (I personally like the sound of that a bit better), Nuclear Throne was pretty fun back when I played it and looks like it’s still plenty fun. You might recognize the name from Vlambeer’s idea to livestream development to usurp game clones.

Fantasia: Music Evolved

While certainly less bombastic than its announcement trailer, this video shows a bit more accurately what it’s like to play Fantasia: Music Evolved from Harmonix. Rather than irresponsibly gesture about in some abstract space, you’ll be pseudo-conducting in your living room. And it still looks fun. Expected to release this fall.

Microsoft Drops Kinect Requirements

Not really a trailer, but it is pretty big news. Microsoft has dropped the Kinect requirements for the Xbox One. This video adequately conveys that bit (and the lowered $399 price tag for the lack of the peripheral), but it more interestingly makes it very apparent that the company is only doing it begrudgingly. It’s the closest you’re likely to get to a flustered sigh coming out of Yusuf Mehdi. I would have preferred that they stuck to their guns. It also seems terribly unfortunate for the aforementioned Fantasia: Music Evolved.

A Story About My Uncle

Weird title, indecipherable premise, cool gameplay. From what I’ve read and seen, A Story About My Uncle about a boy who tries to find his uncle and instead ends up in a strange world full of floating rocks, potential aliens, and the ability to swing from stuff like Spider-Man. It comes out May 28, 2014.

Never Alone

If they kill that dog, I swear I will burn Utica to the ground. I can’t take any more animal best friend deaths in video games. Or even close calls. I still never fully recovered from Shadow of the Colossus. But Never Alone seems pretty interesting. It’s being developed in association with Alaska Native communities, drawing directly from cultural fables and the people’s rich heritage. Come this fall.

Trailer Roundup: The Walking Dead, Sunset Overdrive, and More

So how was your weekend? I don’t want to get into it, but I ended up putting socks on a dog (for his safety) and also playing beer pong with a bunch of college kids. It was pretty weird. Anyways, I’m thinking about breaking these out into separate posts. Some people have been telling me loading all those YouTube videos at once makes their browsers unhappy. Not sure yet. Time for decisions is later. Now it’s time for trailers!

The Walking Dead

I’m still pretty much hooked on Telltale’s The Walking Dead series. I don’t think Season 2 is as good as Season 1, but much of that has to do with the novelty—the fact that I hadn’t experienced such abject resignation to a fate worse than I could have previously imagined—of that initial round of episodes.

Here, you can see that shit just keeps getting worse. Clem is in deep, possibly over her head, and it’s looking pretty dire. It’s a masochistic sort of thing, I guess, playing this game. I love the idea of a good decision only being good by virtue of being the one you had to choose. No regrets here. Episode 3 comes out this Friday on May 16, 2014.

Sunset Overdrive

I guess I can’t really explain why, but I’m pretty excited for Sunset Overdrive. Oh wait, yes I can. It’s Insomniac Games doing what they do so well. It’s what they did that made the Ratchet & Clank games so fun. I mean, look at that gun with the bowling balls. That looks pretty spectacular. (Nothing will ever beat the RYNO V from Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time.)

While I do have reservations (mutating energy drink? Come on. They’re basically zombies, not to mention that tap was hit in DmC: Devil May Cry), I think Insomniac has it in them to pull it off. With a bunch of other Ratchet games flying perfectly under the radar and Fuse and Resistance performing, well, subpar, that studio definitely has the capacity to do far better than they’ve been doing. It comes out sometime this year.

Watch Dogs

I’m still into it. I don’t know if Watch Dogs is actually going to be any good, but at least the marketing is still doing well. The characters in this trailer fit a bit too well into the “Let’s Diversify” mandate of after school specials and the idea of a master hacker makes my eyes roll (besides, it seems like Aiden can already hack anything), but the villains seem pretty interesting. Iraq looks original enough and Lucky comes across as appropriately menacing. Releases May 27, 2014.

Hohokum

Richard Hogg, co-director and art director of Hohokum, comes out with a biting and totally true statement at the opening of this trailer: video games are visually conservative. Absolutely accurate for the most part (there are exceptions, of course). And watching Hohokum in motion makes me so happy because I feel like it comes from somewhere very free and open. Also it looks totally bonkers. Comes out sometime this summer.

Valiant Hearts: The Great War

I love the idea of a historic war game that’s not a shooter. In this case, Valiant Hearts: The Great War is a puzzle-adventure game that puts you in the shoes of four different soldiers during World War I. Granted, we’ve already seen the multi-faceted story thing with Medal of Honor and Call of Duty in the world’s biggest wars, but I’m interested to see how it fairs in the light of pointing and clicking that doesn’t result in shooting. Look for it June 25, 2014.

The Stomping Land

Historically and scientifically inaccurate and I don’t give a fuck. YOU’RE RIDING A GOD DAMN DINOSAUR. I mean, there’s no guarantee The Stomping Land will be any good, but if there was ever a concept distilled into a single sentence that can make almost anybody excited, it’s the idea that you can ride a dinosaur. Hits Steam Early Access May 30, 2014.

DreadOut

This trailer makes DreadOut look exactly like the kind of game my pounding heart tells me not to play but my brain tells me too late, dummy, you already paid for and installed it. Comes out this Thursday on May 15, 2014. (You can play the demo now, if you so desire.)

EVE: Valkyrie

Finally, here’s a reminder that this thing exists. While your chances to play it are high, the chances of you playing it right are far lower. EVE: Valkyrie was made with the Oculus Rift in mind. Imagine zipping through the already mind-boggling, free form battlefields of space with an HD 3D headset strapped to your dome. I can tell you firsthand that it is disorienting, horrifying, and incredibly exciting. Look for it sometime this year.