Branding 'Tone' VS The Actual Game
Today I was reading a comment on the steam discussions that resonated with me. It mentioned the tone of most recent trailer and how it doesn’t seem to line up with the actual game and I have to agree.
Watching PC Gaming Show’s ‘Most Wanted 2025’ I saw the trailer myself and by the end of it I wasn’t sure if I would send this to my friends or anyone really. It felt weird and disconnected in a way. “This isn’t the game I played for the whole weekend during the second play test”, I said to myself confused.
To me Rogue Point feels a like terrorist hunt game with a variety of random modifiers and scenario’s -with hints of Rainbow Six, Zero Hour, Dirty Bomb and some rogue-lite progression. This is how I interpret the game and what vision I stick to it.
The trailer was more like a whirlwind of Saints Row, Borderlands and some Borderlands in an almost extraction shooter scenario. Get in, get out. Weird masks. Bang bang. Silly, non-serious, action movie type shit. And here I sat wondering where the tactical side went which I might have been imagining?? (which having a lean in your game creates imo). I remember reading about the setting of the game which comes off as serious and dark while the trailer makes it appear as a ‘meme shooter’.
I’m not going to pretend to know how to develop, advertise or sell a game, but this trailer (or tone) doesn’t do it justice, the game itself however, will.
Could it be an identity crisis or is it me wanting the game to be or go a certain direction?
I hope the tactical part will remain and grow alongside with stronger stealth options. The team is getting closer to a nice ‘play your way’ balance for everyone but taking that too far could inevitably touch the core of the game’s idea. Perhaps it requires leaning more on specific aspects.
My unsolicited two cents,
Good luck on the road to early acces!
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Comments4
Adam Engels
Dec 22, 2025
Genuinely thanks for the feedback. I think opening the game up to more playstyles DOES make it a bit hard for us to set the tone.
The games you mention you LIKE are all games we referenced, while the ones you don’t, we really didn’t reference at all (though the Dead Drops did come from me watching my friends play Borderlands back in the day). So you don’t have to worry about it going more in those other directions.
I don’t have the data in front of me, but I think this trailer did better than the last one in terms of getting eyes on the game, though PC Gaming Show may have had a hand in that.
The challenge is showing the game’s strengths and lighter elements. The flip side is us being called a copy of [tactical shooter], so it is hard to balance, but it is our problem to solve. :)
shapelessdnb
Dec 22, 2025
I guess I’m already feeling invested after a single playtest. Maybe I sound like an ass but know that it comes from a place of passion and I want to see Rogue Point succeed. Thank you so much for taking the time and I wish I could better word what to add as opposed to ‘what I don’t like’. Again, thanks Adam.
Cromakoth
Dec 15, 2025
I will join you in saying that the new trailer kind of sucked. The overexcited voice-over reminded me of the Mighty No. 9 and Hyenas trailers, in a very bad way. Just some gameplay and maybe a little in-universe exposition from Raven Actual (whose VA is awesome) would have done the game justice. I disagree with this hardcore pivot into Borderlands-tier dumbness.
I liked the way they did it before, where the concept is kind of silly (MERX enemies look like amateur cosplayers and so do the player characters because none of them are real soldiers or police), but the game itself treats it seriously. Kind of like Counter-Strike.
Adam Engels
Dec 22, 2025
The problem then is people take it at face value and don’t understand we WANT the MERX to look like cosplayers 😋 So the feedback then becomes “wow, generic enemies“. Like I said above, that’s our problem, but it is hard to balance and meet the audience where they are at.
I really like the idea of using Raven for the next trailer. We’ll look into that. Maybe she can flat out CALL them cosplayers in the trailer to insult them and help set the tone with other lighter elements mixed in.