Monday, October 16, 2017

Favorite Game Trailer - Zero Escape: Virtues Last Reward

I actually had a really hard time deciding on this one, even though it was one of the first trailers to come to mind. Every trailer I thought of I questioned it: is it really my favorite? What do I like about it? Do I just like this trailer because I enjoy the game? And after a lot of back and forth I finally settled down and Virtues Last Reward, the second game in the Zero Escape trilogy. I feel like there is an interesting challenge putting together a trailer for a visual novel style adventure game, because most of the game play is probably not nearly as fun to watch as it is to experience it yourself.
The trailer, much like the game itself its densely packed with information that you might need to watch multiple times in order to catch. Overlapped phrases and rapid-fire images cut between scenes from some of the bad ends of the game creates a tense atmosphere that should get any mystery fan ready to sink their teeth in. The moments of low tension are used to introduce the main characters, as well as hint at the emotional stakes of the game. Though, I do feel like they could have gone further and showed some of the escape the room puzzles featured in the game, but given that the main audience for the trailer would likely be fans of the niche franchise I can understand why that wouldn't be included.