This is my personal preference. I think everyone is different.
For one thing sound is incredibly important. I think it's one of those things that can almost save an experience.
First video example:
As a game, Bloodborne is like 99.5% gameplay. And yet their first debut was this trailer. This is pretty much a hype trailer. It doesn't show any real story or gameplay. It works so well though because it shows you this mysterious and dark world and the music especially is there to sell you on the experience.
Skyrim was fairly similar:
Contrast that to this:
These video has some boring bits. Like him just casually walking through town. But the music pushes you throw those bits.
Story is very important to me. It can give me a good reason to care.
Fourth video example:
There's no gameplay here. On some level the ND logo sells it. This one has some broad similarities to the Bloodborne debut trailer. No gameplay. Music and sound effects help. There really isn't a lot of story, but you get introduced to these two people and you get a somewhat ominous view of their life.
I'm a big believer that games are entire experiences. They have parts and depth. They're not usually just gameplay, they have story, music.
Fifth video example:
This is probably one of my favorites. You get a great introduction to the story with solid background music. And then you get this great transition into gameplay with this huge battle. For me it feels like the full package trailer. It checks pretty much every box on this list for me.
There's other things that can sell me on a game. But the above two are most important that I can think of.
Awesome unique art style
I'm still really salty on this one:
Both of these games look so unique. That I actually want to play these games just to look at them.
But there aren't very many games that have made me that interested just by screenshots.
Gameplay is important to show, but I tend to need more than that to really get interested.
It's so easy to make really boring gameplay showings. Imagine showing Skyrim with a 10 minute walk through grass, with fighting a couple of guys.
Or God of War where you are solving puzzles for 10 minutes.
This is kind of where I'm at with Godfall. I'm not sure if I've missed some great trailer. But I've yet to see one that completely sells me on the game like the above trailers did.
Is there anything you disagree with? Anything you feel I missed.
For one thing sound is incredibly important. I think it's one of those things that can almost save an experience.
First video example:
As a game, Bloodborne is like 99.5% gameplay. And yet their first debut was this trailer. This is pretty much a hype trailer. It doesn't show any real story or gameplay. It works so well though because it shows you this mysterious and dark world and the music especially is there to sell you on the experience.
Skyrim was fairly similar:
Contrast that to this:
These video has some boring bits. Like him just casually walking through town. But the music pushes you throw those bits.
Story is very important to me. It can give me a good reason to care.
Fourth video example:
There's no gameplay here. On some level the ND logo sells it. This one has some broad similarities to the Bloodborne debut trailer. No gameplay. Music and sound effects help. There really isn't a lot of story, but you get introduced to these two people and you get a somewhat ominous view of their life.
I'm a big believer that games are entire experiences. They have parts and depth. They're not usually just gameplay, they have story, music.
Fifth video example:
This is probably one of my favorites. You get a great introduction to the story with solid background music. And then you get this great transition into gameplay with this huge battle. For me it feels like the full package trailer. It checks pretty much every box on this list for me.
There's other things that can sell me on a game. But the above two are most important that I can think of.
Awesome unique art style
I'm still really salty on this one:
Both of these games look so unique. That I actually want to play these games just to look at them.
But there aren't very many games that have made me that interested just by screenshots.
Gameplay is important to show, but I tend to need more than that to really get interested.
It's so easy to make really boring gameplay showings. Imagine showing Skyrim with a 10 minute walk through grass, with fighting a couple of guys.
Or God of War where you are solving puzzles for 10 minutes.
This is kind of where I'm at with Godfall. I'm not sure if I've missed some great trailer. But I've yet to see one that completely sells me on the game like the above trailers did.
Is there anything you disagree with? Anything you feel I missed.