Indie developers do some interesting work, but some of the trailers they release seem premature. It’s always good to get the word out early and build some hype, but there’s so much stuff coming out these days that a game with a release date of “when it’s done” isn’t exactly going to compete with Destiny or other mega-releases. The issue (if it is an issue) isn’t that a trailer is released, but it’s that a trailer without really a wow-factor is released. It’s like a dad posting a picture of his kid blowing out his first birthday candle. It’s super-cool if you’re the dad, but to most other people, it ain’t all that.
That’s how I felt after watching the teaser trailer for Friend & Foe’s new PC adventure, Vane. I’m sure the developers are jazzed about what’s on it, but all babies are cute to their parents. Don’t get me wrong, the stuff is pretty cool and stylistic. It’s just not jaw-dropping.
The game is called Vane and so there are a lot of weather vanes — lots and lots of weather vanes. Everyone’s got ’em. And of course, if there are weather vanes, there has to be weather. Storms, wind, lightning, it’s got it all. If that’s not enough to hook you, there’s a huge desert with towers jutting out from the wasteland. Birds of prey fill the air. The developers worked on The Last Guardian and there are similar elements: puzzles, action-adventure, and animals. There’s also a kid. He or she sprints through the desert and then later becomes a bird. Definitely some Miyazaki influence. The YouTube blurb also mentions slavery, which pretty much tells us what the story is about.
It’s a teaser trailer. Okay, that’s the out. But I want to be teased and a kid becoming an eagle isn’t the hook. Making these videos must be fun, but throw something in there to wow me.