10 Video Games Sold On LIES

Whether from making grand announcements at massive gaming events, releasing eye-catching

trailers, or showcasing demos with game-changing technology, developers have a handbook of

methods at their disposal to get titles on the radars of potential players. However

it's important that audiences take these impressive-looking marketing campaigns with a large grain of salt, because there's a chance that what's being shown is too good to be true

Publishers have developed a sneaky habit of not being completely truthful about the games

their advertising. I'm Jess from WhatCulture and here are 10 video games sold on lies

Number 10. Killzone 2 2009. Fake E3 trailer. Game announcements are the developers chance

to show off their game on a massive stage to get people excited about it. Unfortunately though

such announcements have a habit of being less than honest with audiences. One of the most

infamous examples of this was the trailer for Killzone 2. During E3 2005, developers Guerrilla

The games unveiled a trailer for their shooter sequel that would be released on the upcoming

PlayStation 3. Made to look like actual gameplay, the footage showed a group of soldiers fighting their

way through enemy forces. It was frantically paced, action-packed, and looked a little too good to be true, which

is because it was. It turned out the footage wasn't running on the PlayStation 3 as claimed

Instead, it was a pre-rendered CGI trailer designed to look like a section of gameplay

After the lie was outed, the studio only made matters worse by doubling down on their misdirection

stating that the trailer was a quote, target render for what they hoped the final game would look like

Although Killzone 2 was positively received when it launched in 2009, its main legacy was teaching audiences to take game reveals with a huge pinch of salt

Number 9. Brutal Legend 2009. It was secretly an RTS. Featuring Jack Black, a selection of face-shredding heavy metal anthems

and a helping of star-studded cameos, Tim Schafer's brutal legend follows talented roadie Eddie Riggs

as he's transported to a heavy metal-inspired fantasy world where he must fight against armies of demons

Publishers EA went all out on the marketing for this one, including organizing a world record attempt

for most people playing air guitar at Download Music Festival. A demo was likewise released a month before the game hit shelves

to give players a taste of what they could expect. What the demo and trailer showed was a third-person hack-and-slash game

that turned up its metal aesthetic to the extreme whilst maintaining Double Fine's distinctive charm

Those who picked up Brutal Legend on release, however, would soon realize that EA wasn't completely clear about what the game was

After getting past where the demo ended, this title turned into a real-time strategy game

in which players would command their own forces to fend off the demon hordes to defend certain locations

Although Brutal Legend turned out to be a wonderful cult gem, it was nevertheless not what it was advertised to be

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8. Rambo the Video Game 2014 It's an on-rails shooter? Made famous on the big screen by Sylvester Stallone

John Rambo has since become one of the most iconic action heroes in cinema history

Given the explosive action of the Rambo franchise, it's strange to realize that the headband-wearing

Muscle Man hasn't starred in many video games, aside from a handful of movie tie-ins

That seemed about to change when a trailer was released for Rambo the Video Game in 2013

Showing clips of the titular heroes stealthily taking out enemies with knives and arrows

in addition to bombastic action scenes, this looked like the Rambo game that everyone was

waiting for. Those who picked up the game expecting an action game with stealth elements like the

trailer advertised, however, would be massively disappointed on every level. Unlike what was

marketed, Rambo the video game was an on-rails shooter, and a lousy one at that. What made this

trailer that extra bit more deceptive was that it was edited in a misleading way. While the trailer

did contain actual game footage, quick-time prompts were removed from shots of stealth

takedowns to hide the game's true nature. One day, 80s movie fans might get the Rambo game they

deserve. Number 7. Grand Theft Auto The Trilogy Definitive Edition 2023. A misleading remaster

The Grand Theft Auto series is the undisputed juggernaut of open world games. Even before

Rockstar all but overtook the industry with the unstoppable money-making machine that was GTA 5

the series cemented itself as one of the best thanks to GTA 3, Vice City, and San Andreas

Deeply cherished classics held highly by all who played them in the early 2000s

fans were eager to revisit these titles when Rockstar announced they'd be releasing this

Holy Trinity in one complete package set to give each title a shiny new coat of paint alongside

updated gameplay mechanics. Although the trilogy was never sold as a Resident Evil 2-style remake

the short trailer advertised that it would get an impressive visual makeover. However

while this was technically the case, with each game receiving a new lighting system and higher

resolution, the release was far from being the definitive versions of these games

Alongside the dozens of glitches, typos, and atrocious rain effects, these revamped ports

of the mobile versions lost the distinctive style of the originals because of the shoddy

technical upgrades. San Andreas doesn't feel like the original game without the atmospheric

orange haze covering the city. 6. Redfall 2023 Not the arcane experience that was promised. Coming from the developers behind Dishonored

Prey and Deathloop there was no shortage of excitement surrounding the announcement of Arkane Austin Redfall even if it was unlike anything they done before Much like their other games Redfall was promised to put a focus on improvisation

like giving players the means to approach objectives from any angle they saw fit

This mission statement was reinforced by allowing press to get their hands on a mission

which saw them infiltrating a creepy mansion and uncovering its secrets. From what fans saw, Redfall looked like it could deliver on its word

but the reality turned out to be completely different. In addition to the monstrous list of bugs that made the game borderline unplayable upon launch

the arcane style simply wasn't there. Aside from a handful of set-piece moments

the world and how players could navigate it was extremely one-note. Likewise, the promise of a

60 frames per second performance mode was noticeably absent from the game upon launch

5. Halo 5 Guardians 2015. The campaign was nothing like the trailers

After the lackluster sequel that was Halo 4, fans of Microsoft's flagship shooter

were hoping the series could get back on its feet for the next outing. And from the trailers for Halo

5 Guardians, it looked like that was exactly what was going to happen. The iconic Master Chief was

being labeled as a traitor for unknown reasons, and it would be up to new character Spartan Locke

to hunt him down. From the marketing, Halo 5 looked like it was going to turn the franchise

on its head, by giving fans a vastly different portrayal of the series' protagonist, all of

which would culminate in an epic showdown between the two Spartans. There was even the Hunt the

Truth podcast, which suggested that the Chief's background was shadier than fans thought. Those

who played the game, however, would soon learn that Guardians was nothing like what the marketing

suggested. Chief's treachery was little more than him going AWOL, whereas Locke was tasked with just

finding him. The pair's highly anticipated climactic showdown was likewise a massive

disappointment, with the battle itself lasting the length of a short cutscene

Number 4. Cyberpunk 2077, 2020, Fake Gameplay Demo Although Cyberpunk 2077 has come a long way from the abysmally broken state that it launched in

Seta Project Red nevertheless indulged in some shady tactics to market the game

First teased back in 2012, eager fans didn't get their first proper look at this dystopian RPG until 2018

when the developers released a substantial game demo that highlighted a section of gameplay elements in some early missions

However, the version that players eventually got their hands on omitted several key features

that were highlighted in that demo, along with its accompanying trailer. Night City's subway couldn't be used, wall running was disappointingly absent

net running wasn't as ambitious in the final game, and that's only some of the changes that were made

It would come out later in a report by Jason Schreier that this demo was mostly faked

The developers hadn't finalized the gameplay systems for many of the showcased features

which is why they never made it into the final game. After years of patches and hot fixes, Cyberpunk is finally in the state it should have been at launch

Number 3. Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2 The Sith Lords Switch 2022 Scrapped DLC

Out of all the Star Wars games that have released over the decades, none have captured the hearts of fans quite like Knights of the Old Republic 2

The game has been released on different systems over the years but it finally arrived on Nintendo Switch in June 2022 What was more exciting than the prospect of playing this classic RPG on the go was the promise that the Switch version would receive restored content as DLC after launch

This was a big deal because KOTOR 2 infamously launched Unfinished after its development was rushed

causing developers Obsidian to cut tons of content from the game. While fan mods have since restored this content on PC

having the complete game on console was something to get excited about. However, Aspyr, the studio in charge of the port, extinguished all hopes when they announced

on social media that they were scrapping their plans for DLC a year after the game's launch

As a way of apologizing, the studio offered players their choice of a free Star Wars game

from a list, including Kotor 2 on PC. However, no free game was big enough to feel the disappointment of being left with an unfinished game

Again. 2. No Man's Sky 2016 Everything Hello Games said First revealed at the 2013 VGX Awards, No Man's Sky was touted as an unimaginably large space exploration game

Audiences quickly gravitated towards developers Hello Games' vision, consequently making the game one of the most anticipated releases at the time

A large reason for excitement surrounding the game was that it was pitched as infinite exploration

within an infinite galaxy that would be made up of over 18 quadrillion procedurally generated planets

In short, No Man's Sky was supposed to be a galactic-sized sandbox that would allow players

to fully immerse themselves in the role of explorer. However, it didn't take long for

it to become clear that No Man's Sky wasn't the feature-rich revolution in exploration games

audiences were led to believe. For starters, footage from a leaked copy of the game revealed

that reaching the center of the galaxy was not the epic quest it was supposed to be

Tales of encountering other players in the wild also proved to be nothing more than a complete

fabrication on behalf of the studio to drive up hype. Despite its catastrophic start, Hello Games

eventually realized their vision, following a series of massive updates. Now, many years later

No Man's Sky is a phenomenal game. Number 1. Warcraft 3 Reforged. 2020. So many missing features

Originally released in 2002, Warcraft 3 is regarded as one of the best strategy games ever made

It's therefore easy to understand why there was a tremendous amount of excitement when

Blizzard announced that this adored sequel would be getting a fully-fledged remaster

in the form of Warcraft 3 Reforged. With the trailer promising shiny new character models

and animations, enhanced visuals for maps, and improved UI and world editors, this was set to be

the definitive way to experience this title. Upon launch, however, it became clear that Blizzard

weren't being fully honest about what Reforged would be. Accompanying the various glitches and

bugs that plagued its launch, this remaster simply didn't include a lot of what it said it would

There were no improvements to cut scenes, no new voice acting, no dynamic camera, no new campaign, and the gameplay didn't receive any modern enhancements

Adding further insult to injury was an extensive list of features from the original game that were nowhere to be seen

While Reforged has received a handful of updates in the years since its disastrous launch that added some of the highly requested features, the game is still a long way from being what Blizzard promised fans