The Most Deceiving Trailers in Games

When it comes to success, how a game is promoted and presented to the public can be even more important than the game itself. That's why trailers end up being a key part of ensuring that the game becomes a sales phenomenon. After all, those incredible graphics, deep story and impressive gameplay that we're seeing were made with great care and the game comes with unparalleled quality, right?

However, it was through several painful blows that we learned that you can't always believe everything you see in the trailers. Although the announcements for No Man's Sky and Alien Colonial Marines were mesmerizing, these games turned out to be complete failures and aren’t only remembered for being bad, but also for being infamous, since the trailers were full of blatant lies.

However, some of these games received fan adoration despite being so different from the trailers that introduced them, since sometimes the trailers deliberately leave out an important aspect of the gameplay or plot because they don't want to spoil the surprise. Other times, the games undergo drastic changes during development and the finished product bears little resemblance to what was sold.

So, let's talk about ten trailers that lied and deceived players, some redeemed themselves, others remain infamous to this day, but that we’ll never forget. And if you have any questions, leave a comment

BioWare had a special talent for role-playing games that had character development, branching paths, decisions that mattered, and strategic combat.

Although Dragon Age: Origins follows this formula, it didn't seem that way at first, thanks to not one, but two lying trailers. Almost every moment in the “We Are Grey Wardens” teaser featured decapitations, dismemberments, and crushed skulls. Dragon Age: Origins looked like the most gritty fantasy game ever made.

While Origins has blood, the gameplay is more focused on turn-based combat, dialogue, and developing relationships with NPCs. Then, in the “Sacred Ashes” trailer. Not only do the images sell you on over-the-top violence, they also portray the human characters with realistically proportioned faces and layered metal armor. But in-game, the graphics aren’t quite as polished.

Despite the marketing hype, Dragon Age became a hit due to its cohesive world-building, relatable characters, and addictive gameplay.

When it comes to trying to sell a game, one of the most common tactics is to show off pre-rendered footage of the game instead of actual gameplay. And Activision couldn't help but use this tactic for Call of Duty 2. While the sequel's trailer was a pre-rendered movie, it was deliberately stylized to resemble the game's footage.

Since Call of Duty 2 was a next-gen launch title, it was unclear whether the technology was real or just a movie made to sell the game. Plus, fans wanted to give the developers the benefit of the doubt, considering how revolutionary the original was.

In fact, Activision only managed to shoot itself in the foot when advertising regulators demanded that they stopped using these misleading ads. In retrospect, Call of Duty 2 was still a great first-person shooter in its own right, and it really didn’t need to do this.

Unlike other games on this list, Doki Doki Literature Club!’s trailers enhanced the gameplay experience. To the viewer, all the elements of an anime-style visual novel were there and seemed harmless. The upbeat music. The playful schoolgirls. The connections through reading. The pink hearts. Everything about Team Salvato’s free-to-play indie game seemed so cute.

But before diving into DDLC, players should note that this adorable visual novel has been given an M rating for ages 18+. Rest assured, this rating is no accident. Despite its sweet and innocent aesthetic, it doesn’t take long for Doki Doki to become a meta-horror nightmare.

While Doki Doki is a groundbreaking title that perfectly subverts expectations, it’s not for the faint of heart. Players expecting to play a light-hearted dating sim will be overwhelmed by the game’s intense themes and disturbing imagery. The trailer for the expanded version of Doki Doki Literature Club! isn’t fooling anyone anymore, it didn’t really try to pretend to be something it’s not.

This is a futuristic action shooter, full of head-smashing, sexist dialogue, and chainsaw-mounted weapons.

But when this Epic Games’ series was revealed in 2006, many people thought it was something else entirely. To be fair, the trailer doesn’t hide the elements that’d come to define the franchise: disproportionately large weapons? Check. Grotesque aliens? Check. A soldier with a body so massive that it defies the laws of human anatomy? Also check.

Still, the teaser conveys a completely different feel. The use of the Mad World theme throughout it gives the false impression that Gears of War is an emotional survival drama, full of tension and melancholy. The trailer focuses on a single human character, misleadingly suggesting that our lone hero will face a cosmic threat alone.

In practice, Gears of War is an over-the-top shooter that cares less about eliciting emotions and more about blowing alien heads off with style. Interestingly, the trailer's dark tone would’ve made more sense in the sequels, which begin to humanize the characters and offer a more personal experience.

Although the initial trailer lied about its premise, that didn't stop Gears of War from becoming one of Microsoft's most successful franchises for nearly two decades.

Based on the first Assassin's Creed trailer, Ubisoft's new IP appeared to be a historical hack-and-slash, in which the player would use stealth and parkour to eliminate their targets.

While this reading isn’t wrong, there was one key element that the trailers failed to highlight. Shortly after starting the game, many players were confused to discover that Assassin’s Creed was set in the present day. More than that, the narrative revolved around genetic memories, futuristic simulations, cosmic artifacts, and yes, even aliens.

While the trailer’s glitches suggested there was more to it than meets the eye, few understood what it really meant. With the benefit of hindsight, it was a wise decision to keep this subplot under wraps, as it would’ve been difficult to summarize clearly in a short trailer. (Plus, it ended up being a nice surprise for players when they realized that Assassin’s Creed was, in fact, a sci-fi title.)

This extra layer of plot didn’t detract from the experience — if anything, it made it even richer, offering a much deeper narrative than the initial hype suggested. Even if this subplot hadn't worked, Assassin's Creed would’ve stood on its own, thanks to its fluid combat, impressive world-building, engaging parkour sections, and high-quality stealth mechanics.

Since its debut in 1984, the Elite series has always focused on space trading and combat simulation. But watching the trailers for Elite: Dangerous, it seemed like the MMO was gearing up for something much more action-oriented. Like, a lot of action.

The teaser shows ships blasting asteroids, enemies, and space stations amidst an endless stream of bullets, all while rocking out to a rock and roll soundtrack.

Anyone unfamiliar with the franchise could easily assume that this is a battle-focused game (especially considering the title “Elite: Dangerous”). After seeing these images, even longtime fans who knew that the series was centered around space simulation might’ve assumed that Dangerous had a more bombastic tone than previous games.

But that wasn’t the case. Once again, the gameplay revolves largely around trading, mining, exploration—and more trading. While there are some action-oriented activities, the overall pace is far less frenetic than the trailers suggested.

That said, this space sandbox is light years ahead of the competition, thanks to its balanced mechanics, accessible features, and a galaxy literally teeming with content. The ability to take on multiple roles—as a courier, merchant, pirate, infiltrator, or mercenary—offers a huge variety of playstyles and impressive replayability. While Elite: Dangerous is an excellent game, it’s hard not to feel sorry for those who bought it expecting something closer to Star Wars.

While the Tekken 5 trailer was a bit boring, there was one specific moment that surprised fans. At the end of the teaser, Kazuya leaves his father, Heihachi, at the mercy of dozens of androids. One of the robots detonates, turning the area into a crater. To make the circumstances as clear as possible, text appears on the screen, reading: “Heihachi Mishima… is dead.”

This decision to end with old Mishima was shocking in its boldness. Having been at the heart of the story since Day 1, Heihachi’s death would’ve certainly created a cataclysmic shift in the overall narrative.

At least, it would have if the spiky-haired villain had actually been dead. In story mode, it’s revealed that Heihachi is alive and well (despite being at the epicenter of the explosion). However, this lie didn’t ruin the experience. In fact, Tekken 5 is considered a return to the good old days for the franchise.

While Tekken Tag Tournament and Tekken 4 didn't break any new ground, this installment took everything to the next level, including the mechanics, graphics, combat speed, and roster of fighters. The new characters were so well-received that several of them appeared in all subsequent games. As an added bonus, the PS2 version gave away Tekken 1 through 3 for free.

Still, it's odd how Heihachi's death played such a big part in Tekken 5's publicity, considering it was disproved shortly afterward in the main campaign.

In Dead Island, players must scavenge for weapons and supplies as ravenous zombies attack from all directions. The open-world zombfest offers solid combat, extensive customization options, and incredible co-op multiplayer. Overall, Dead Island is an absolute success.

However, many gamers were initially deeply disappointed by the way Techland’s game was announced. The Dead Island trailer had one unique problem — it was just too good. In fact, it’s arguably the most creative, beautifully structured, and heartbreaking video game trailer ever made.

As viewers watch a loving family being attacked by a horde of the undead, with a melancholic melody playing in the background, something tugs at the heartstrings. This three-minute piece sold Dead Island as a survival saga in the vein of The Last of Us or The Walking Dead.

But that’s not what we got. Instead of a thrilling journey, the game is about hacking and slashing zombies’ brains out with axes, machetes, and nail-studded baseball bats. While Dead Island is supposed to satisfy the zombie-killing urge, its legacy has probably suffered more from the inspiring trailer than the game itself.

Ubisoft’s hacker-themed open-world title, Watch Dogs, was highly anticipated before its release. The game was one of the first to arrive on the PS4 and Xbox One consoles, and its trailers left players hoping for a truly next-gen console experience. While the concept of hacking everything in Seattle was present, the game unfortunately didn’t live up to what was shown in the original trailer and gameplay demo.

Players were understandably disappointed, as the game felt like a step backwards. Many comparison videos were made to show off the many differences from the original E3 footage, which showcased a much more detailed and interactive open world than what was ultimately delivered.

And the worst part was when the modders discovered the original files inside the game files, appropriately named with the acronym “E3” and restored them, delivering a version of the game close to what was shown before. So, there wasn’t any reason for the game to have suffered the downgrade that it did and this marked the franchise as a whole to the point that today it’s in Ubisoft’s drawer with no prospect of coming out.

Space epic No Man Sky has always been considered a hugely ambitious title, especially from a smaller studio. Its trailers have shown off thriving environments and massive exploration, along with the promise of massive space battles, alliances with intergalactic trade federations, betrayals, and multiplayer with friends, and Hello Games has capitalized on that hype, highlighting its galaxy of trillions of planets for players to explore and making this game one of the most anticipated games of the year.

Unfortunately, when No Man Sky first launched, while it kept its promise of having plenty of planets to explore, they were mostly barren and nothing like the ones seen in the trailers. As for its multiplayer, this was virtually non-existent upon release, leading to an angry backlash from players and many demanding full refunds for the game.

In the years since, Hello Games has worked on No Man Sky to remedy this negative launch, and the game has now been received more positively. As such, players who now jump into No Man Sky are getting a completely different experience than when it launched, and one that’s closer, and sometimes better, than what was originally promised by its impressive trailers.