By “It’s bothering me, so I felt the need to express it.”
Earlier today, we brought attention to a statement that the 2024 Perfect Dark gameplay trailer was not “representative” of its overall advancement, with an implication that it was “effectively deceptive”. At this point, one of the developers responsible for the trailer has reacted to this.
Taking to social platforms earlier today, previous Perfect Dark level designer Adam McDonald clarified that while some segments of the trailer “did incorporate fabricated elements”, the demonstration was indeed playable and was not aimed at “deliberately misleading players about what the game will become” once it is eventually launched.
“This demo. It is genuinely in-engine. I was one of three level designers who worked on it. It functioned best if you engaged with it the way the individual in the video does, but it still operated even if you didn’t hit all the targets precisely.”
“There are some fabricated components, and the genuine gameplay mechanics displayed worked just enough to appear impressive in this video. We were swiftly making actual design choices to avoid deliberately misleading players regarding what the game would entail. The parkour is entirely authentic, the hacking/deception is primarily authentic.”
“The combat is “real” in that someone had to truly execute all that shown in the video, but it was arranged to be played precisely that way and did not perform well if you engaged differently.”
“I’m observing considerable debate over “THIS WHOLE THING WAS FAKE” and it’s bothering me, so I wanted to chime in.”
Naturally, it never came to be released anyway – Perfect Dark was shelved and the development studio The Initiative was closed down as part of yesterday’s layoffs at Xbox – a decision that seems to have caught McDonald off guard.
In subsequent posts, he mentioned that he had heard the team had “turned a corner in recent months” and that things were “progressing” and going “better than ever” – contrasting the “significant period of time” he endured in “development hell” at the studio.
To summarize, this trailer isn’t as “deceptive” as one might assume! Indeed, it seems there were numerous caveats and workaround adjustments to make it appear this impressive, but it was an in-engine demonstration – and someone genuinely had to play it to capture the footage.
What are your impressions on this? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
[source bsky.app]
Fraser is the News Editor at Pure Xbox, where he dedicates his time to covering the most significant stories in the realm of Xbox and beyond.