Forspoken Release Trailer exploits fake accolades

All about the lead-up to the release of ForbiddenSquare Enix’s big new open world action RPG, has been one low tone move. But you wouldn’t know it from the launch trailer, which keeps its wits about the modern magical adventure by taking a bunch of words out of context and spinning them into fraudulent accolades.

“This Forbidden the launch trailer tells us the game isn’t actually that good and this is how I know,” said trailer editing aficionado Derek Lieu in a TikTok video which blew up this weekend. “The biggest red flag is these quotes that are either one word long or two words long.”

He proceeded to go through each phrase that flashed on the screen below it, finding the original source it came from and reading the larger context out loud. In almost all cases, the meaning was very different from how the words were presented in the trailer, and not intended to be taken as unequivocal praise.

In one example, Square Enix lifted the word “Beautiful” from a Preview in December was published at Distract. In context, however, the quote did not say that Forbidden was beautiful but that it had the “potential” to be a “beautiful story-driven game that will tug at your heartstrings with each new chapter.” After all, it was a preview and not a review of the final game, although the site’s editor said she didn’t care how the word was used.

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“Square Enix asked for permission to use the quote, and we granted it,” Distract said game editor Sara Belcher Kotaku in an email. “In our actual review, I refer to the game as “beautiful” (that was my opinion of the game’s world since the preview, which is why I personally didn’t feel the quote felt out of context). We do not charge for the use of quotations in promotional material.”

In another example is Final Fantasy maker quotes the word “impressive” from Game Informer. The only problem is that the word in question doesn’t even come from a practical preview, but from one news release of a gameplay trailer from a Sony State of Play. “Frey’s crossing ability is impressive, allowing for quick movement in and out of combat, in both air and water situations,” it reads.

To summarize then, Forbiddens latest trailer included a truncated quote from someone describing one of its older trailers. Game Informerpp actual review gave the game a 7.5 out of 10. It did not include the word impressive, instead describing protagonist Frey’s overall adventure as “[not] without its highlights.”

Game Informer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Lieu told Kotaku that the intent of the video was not to claim that he thinks the game is or will be bad, but rather that the misleading framing strongly suggests that Square Enix wasn’t confident enough in the game to let it stand on its own without fake accolades.

“They could be completely wrong about this approach and the game is actually good, or has advantages that they can focus on instead of looking for quotes,” he said. “So I think that says more about the people responsible for promoting the game than the game itself.”

Companies that rely on misleading quotes from critics and review sites is nothing new. Sometimes they remove the original context. Sometimes they’re just looking for any source, reputable or not, that says your game is awesome. Almost always, the awards themselves are in giant fonts while the publications they’re pulled from are too small to read unless you take the time to analyze them in a TikTok video like Lieu.

As a comparison, he also split in two Forpsoke trailers that make the game look appealing without resorting to lies. The first was one trailer for the demo was released last month. The other was a cut of one existing trailer for social media who was repeatedly grilled online for his Joss Whedon-style fourth wall-breaking dialogue.

“The real problem isn’t the narration at all, it’s that they don’t lean hard enough into the tone the narration should sell and I know because I proved it just now to be sure,” wrote Twitter users spellbang which took the same ingredients but remixed them in a way that looked much cooler while maintaining the sensibility of the original.

The artistry behind making a good video game trailer aside, lying is bad and companies shouldn’t do it. It’s bad enough when a trailer full of baked-in footage masks, say, how poorly a game actually works. Even worse, however, is when companies go out of their way to try to trick independent media into their scam. Publishers must obtain permission before using other people’s quotes in their marketing and be transparent about how they will be used.

Square Enix did not immediately respond to requests for comment.