10 Video Games That Were Sold On Lies
6. Watch_Dogs
No matter how many times it happens, it will always be perplexing to discover that a developer has embellished gameplay footage for the purpose of hype. Ubisoft is no stranger to the concept; Far Cry 3 and Rainbow Six Siege are prime examples of games that wound up aesthetically inferior to their E3 reveals, but Watch_Dogs still stands out as the company’s most heinous offender.
Although the retail version of Watch_Dogs remained mechanically intact, its visuals had been severely hamstrung since the game’s 2012 reveal. After several development delays, fans were shocked to find the finished product looking vastly inferior to videos that had sold them on the concept.
Gone was the wind, dust, and smoke seen in the reveal, and the game’s glossy, neon-tipped blacks and blues had been replaced by a murky layer of brownish-grey, as though Aiden Pierce had draped his coat over your TV.
People felt betrayed, because they had worked themselves into a furore over what appeared to be the most ground-breaking open world game since Grand Theft Auto III. But if Watch_Dogs had been revealed via more accurate trailers, it would probably still have generated significant hype.
The game did look impressive in 2014, just not E3 2012 impressive. Because nothing could. Because that game didn’t exist.