The art of video-game trailers has come a long way in the relatively short life of the medium.  Communicating the pertinent details of an interactive experience through a couple of minutes of video is no simple task, particularly in the age of the Internet and its constant bombardment of content. We're accustomed to trailers which — at least purport to — show the game which we'll be purchasing in terms of gameplay footage, cinematic cut-scenes, or some idealized artificial rendering of what the marketing department wants their audience to think the game looks like.

As gaming has matured as an art form, we've started to see trailers which dare to be a little more subtle and help build the context of the world beyond the confines of the game. Developers have realized that, if they can get us to buy in on that context, they can potentially sell us the game based on our connection to the world rather than hoping we're attracted to visual cues in a reel of abstracted gameplay mechanics.

If this works, it can be a powerful marketing tool; if it's done badly, it can risk disillusioning large segments of its potential audience when the fantasy of the trailer overshadows the stark reality of the game.

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This trailer for Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a superb example. Nowhere in the trailer is Deus Ex even name-dropped, nor do you see any publisher logos or anything to distract from the illusion. It comes across as genuine, authentic, and a small step from the pharmaceutical and laser-eye treatment commercials rife on U.S. TV. It presents a future not too different from our own — full of optimism and potential — and ties the idea of augmentation tightly to a natural extension of existing healthcare. Even before seeing anything of the game, it made me believe in the world they're creating.

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With Valve's record, Portal 2 was always going to be a huge success, but they capitalized on the success of the original with a series of entertaining mini-trailers during the run-up to release. This was more of a hybrid approach which combined segments of idealized artificial rendering with additional context. (The difference, of course, was that Valve did it well enough that I didn't care that the 'gameplay' shown wasn't indicative of the game itself.)

Their Investor Opportunities series allowed them to discuss new gameplay concepts without risk of angering their fans with unintentional spoilers while also implying a whole lot more about Aperture Science and their dubious working practices. It didn't hurt that they were genuinely funny, and the humor strengthened the sense of attachment to the their insane world of portals, goo, and robots.

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Dead Island risks being the cautionary tale amongst these tangential trailers. So far, both trailers have been expertly executed. They communicated the concept of a thoughtful and emotional character-driven take on the zombie genre akin to The Walking Dead. The soft piano music atop the scenes of familial slaughter imply that this is going to be more than your standard zombie-murder simulator — a concept that really hasn't been executed in gaming. The excitement around the first trailer was palpable, both as a piece of art in its own right and for the prospects of the game itself.

At least, that was the case until reports started filtering back from early previews. Dead Island is shaping up to be just another zombie-slasher survival horror, and its developers are boasting how their advanced technology lets you decapitate zombies with a machete. The only playable character so far on display is a stereotypical foul-mouthed rapper who wanders around the environments with little emotional connection to anything at all. It's also telling that Dead Island developer Techland did their best to distance themselves from the emotional element of that first trailer shortly after it became a big Internet talking point.

It remains to be seen how good a game Dead Island is, but there is a significant risk that the expectations set up by its trailers have undermined the game before it ever had a chance to succeed on its own merits. It'll understandably be compared to the vision of its world shown in the trailers, and if it fails to live up to those lofty standards, it will be shown little mercy by those who chose to believe in its world. Luckily for Portal 2, it was more than capable of living up to the hype and realizing the heart of the wider scope portrayed by its trailers, and previews of Deus Ex seem to suggest it'll do the same.

And I'll be waiting to dive in to the world they've sold me on.

Originally posted at Generation Minus One, the webcomic of last-gen gaming.