The latest gameplay teaser for Forspoken is currently causing a lot of criticism.
Forspoken has the potential to become a really exciting open world adventure with a completely fresh premise: In the new game from Square Enix, which is scheduled for release in early 2023, a normal young woman from the US metropolis New York ends up in a fantasy -World full of magic and dragons.
A brand new teaser trailer, which breaks down Forspoken’s most interesting selling points to just under 30 seconds, is not going down too well: The commercial caused massive criticism and ridicule on Twitter. In addition, there are a bunch of memes that specifically poke fun at the trailer. But what exactly went wrong?
If you are interested in Forspoken independently of the new teaser trailer, then take a look at our detailed preview: Elena summarizes for you why the open world makes her curious, but the magic really excites her:
The prophesied
The open world arouses curiosity, but the magic blows us away
Forspoken trailer becomes a meme machine
The trailer shows: The commercial shows about 30 seconds of Forspoken gameplay, which is not even criticized per se. Instead, the voice-over in particular causes criticism, in the course of which the protagonist Frey comments on what is shown in a very snappy, almost sarcastic manner and vehemently questions the supernatural events.
It’s best to just take a look at the trailer yourself to get an idea of it:
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Here’s how Twitter users react: The trailer is not well received by many users of the social media platform. Many users criticize that the video tells them how to feel about Forspoken and artificially exaggerates the gameplay shown.
Numerous Twitter users make fun of the trailer by simply transferring the text spoken by Frey to other video games. Of God of War and Bloodborne above Dark Souls and Doom up to Silent Hill and Max Payne or even Tony Hawk and Phoenix Wright countless parodies of the Forspoken trailer can currently be found.
We’ve included just a handful of examples here to stay within the scope of this article:
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Where exactly is the problem? Between all the ridicule, however, there is also well-founded criticism. So reports in the wake of the meme wave Derek Place a copywriter who deals professionally with designing trailers. In the course of a thread, he explains what exactly went wrong with Forspoken – and why it caused so much criticism.
We have summarized the most important points for you:
- The trailer is designed to speak directly to the viewer, which Lieu says is always risky given the extremely fine line between delighting and offending the consumer.
- The narrator himself acts like a salesman who wants to convince the viewer of the product shown. It can become problematic when the viewer is forced to believe how cool what is shown is supposed to be.
- If the consumer has not yet made friends with the product, an over-motivated and over-enthusiastic seller can be extremely deterrent and lead to rejection of the actual product – in other words, achieve exactly the opposite of what a trailer aims to achieve.
- The Forspoken trailer makes things even more difficult because the text superimposed on the video also emphasizes the spoken dialogue. According to Lieu, the commercial puts additional focus on the weakest part of the commercial.
- Also, according to Lieu, there is a big difference between what is shown and what is spoken. This creates an additional discrepancy because only one aspect sticks with the viewer. In this case, probably the much-criticized voice-over.
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How could Forspoken do better? Last but not least, Lieu gives two examples of this type of trailer, which he thinks work much better: Broforce and Battleblock. It is also possible that things can go much worse than with Forspoken. For example, do you remember this trailer for Mighty No. 9?
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Mighty No. 9 – Masterclass-Trailer
What else you should know about Forspoken
Forspoken will be released on January 23, 2023 for PC and Playstation 5. The action-adventure revolves around the young woman Frey Holland, who one day is suddenly catapulted from New York into the fantasy world of Athia. There she appears to have superhuman strength herself and is drawn into a battle against monsters and other creatures.
Forspoken really got us excited because of its graphics. In his detailed video preview of the upcoming game, Maurice addresses the extent to which the open world can become a problem. It’s best to get an idea for yourself:
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Forspoken looks stunning – but the open world can be a problem
What do you think of the controversial Forspoken trailer: Do you think the commercial is just as bad or do you think the excitement was overdone? Are you looking forward to the game itself or are you unfazed by what has been shown so far? Let us know in the comments!
