Summary
Some studios really go above and beyond when designing their teasers, boasting artistic flair with the graphics, creating truly masterful scores to invoke a number of different emotions, and demonstrating the fun gameplay that lies in store for them.
7Indiana Jones
Official Teaser, 2021
Sometimes, the best teasers are ones that keep it simple, revealing a big-name IP, which is exactly what Bethesda did withIndiana Jones. Though this movie IP has a bit of a sordid past with some of its more recent movie releases,Bethesda is looking to deliver fans a fantastic experiencewith this upcoming adventure game.
With big-name game franchises such asThe Elder ScrollsandFalloutin their library, fans are hopeful about this upcoming game. The teaser didn’t give much away, as a camera slowly pans over a table of books, documents, equipment, and of course, Indie’s trusty hat and whip as the classic score gently plays in the background. It is enough to get fans excited about what is to come.
Many fans thought Telltale had died, andThe Wolf Among Uswith it. The first game introduced players to the interesting world and lore ofFablesand Bigby Wolf, the Sheriff responsible for keeping peace and protecting them. The first season ended on a cliffhanger, leaving players hanging for years until announcements dropped regarding the second series was in development.
The Game Awards teaser was one of the few trailers that have been released to date, and does a good job of getting players in the mood formore mystery noirwith the familiar synth music playing, and the voice of Snow asking Bigby to once again don the mantle of monster. This leaves the mystery as to why Bigby once again needs to become the Big Bad Wolf, immediately grabbing the attention of fans.
Larian Studios delivered a first-classRPG experience withBaldur’s Gate 3, continuing their line of immersive and impressive games that have scope and breadth rivaled by none. Though the game was in Early Access years prior to its full release to give gamers a taste of what was in store, that didn’t stop them from marketing their game via teasers and trailers.
One such was the official release teaser trailer to celebrate the games' completion and arrival to its fans. Flashing images show the companions and a Mindflayer lowering a tadpole towards the camera before it cuts away to beautiful and wondrous images of Faerun and its magical society while a voice briefly narrates the wonder players will soon experience themselves. For those who haven’t yet delved into the early access, it gives a small taste of what is to come in the full game without revealing too much, which is a sign of a successful teaser.
Despite not being released until 2020,Cyberpunk 2077was first teased back in 2013 with a short teaser trailer that gave a very ephemeral glance into what players could expect. A cyberpsycho and the MaxTac Psycho Squad are shown in a slow-motion battle, as bullets drift through the air towards the cyberpsycho with her cybernetic arm weapons on display, offering small context cluesin terms of world-building.
Though the final product included a lot more substance and none of the characters shown specifically, it was still an exciting glimpse into the game that immediately got fans talking. Though the game would take seven years to reach the hands of its excited fans, the teaser was fondly remembered during that time.
3Silent Hill F
Official Teaser Trailer
One of the upcomingSilent Hillgames is the one thus far referred to asSilent Hill Fwhich largely remains a mystery to fans, as the teaser offers intriguing aesthetic imagery and plenty of symbolism. It looks more like an indie horror gamesteeped in Japanese mythologythan aSilent Hilltitle, but therein lies the intrigue of this title.
Fans see glimpses of a young Japanese girl stumbling through a land that is slowly being overtaken by red vines that bloom into red spider lilies which have connotations regarding death and the afterlife. The girl eventually is overcome with flowers, and the trailer ends as her face falls off in a horrifying final image before the title card shows while a new rendition of the classicSilent Hilltheme plays. This teaser is definitely one of the most stylish ones to date and has plenty of people dissecting the images to try and divine what they could mean.
2Marvel’s Wolverine
PlayStation Showcase | Announcement Teaser Trailer, 2021
After tackling threeSpider-Mangames, Insomniac set their sights on another Marvel IP,X-Men, namely thedark anti-heroWolverine. Though the game hasn’t been released yet, the teasers that have been dropped have fans eagerly sharpening their adamantium claws, eager to rip into this new, open-world game.
During PlayStation’s Showcase in 2021, they treated fans to a small teaser that shows a bar in the aftermath of one hell of a brawl, where a brooding man sits at a bar nursing a tumbler of whiskey with suspiciously bloody hands. One lone survivor stumbles to his feet, three metal claws unsheathe from Wolverine’s knuckles. It’s a brutal change of tone from Insomniac’s past Marvel titles, but it is perfect for the dark anti-hero and looks to be bloody good fun.
Naughty Dog’sThe Last Of Usseries has come to be one of the most celebrated and widely popular game franchises of all time. The first one was released to much fanfare back in 2013, bringingemotional storiesand world-class acting to a world ravaged by a zombie fungal parasite.
As such, no expense was spared in marketing the second one, and the first teaser showcased the aftermath of a fight in the woods, before cutting to a bloodied and shaking hand strumming a guitar. This hand is revealed to be Ellie, now an adult, who sings Through the Valley, whilst the teaser shows the corpses of those she had killed. The teaser ends with Ellie’s rageful promise: “I’m gonna find, and I’m gonna kill… every last one of them.” The title card is revealed, and questions are left unanswered, building to the tension and hype.
