While I haven’t directly worked in the field of video game marketing, having been involved in marketing campaigns for a number of other fields, to me the power of an attention-grabbing trailer is unquestionable. Being one of the bigger players in the gacha game space, particularly with their duo of 3D games for PC, console and smart devices – Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail – and making a lot of their revenue from having players pull banners to access limited-time characters, developer and publisher HoYoverse have released some amazing short trailers over the years.
Whether it’s the unveiling of a new update or the introduction of a novel character from their vast and ever-expanding roster of over 100 characters across both games, HoYoverse shines with creative trailers – to perhaps encourage that player to spend their thousands of hoarded premium currency or to take a real-world financial hit and spend real money to get their most desired character. Here, we spotlight five of their most enjoyable and immersive trailers that stand testament to the power of the trailer in marketing.
Before We Begin…
Just a quick reminder that both Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, the focus of this article, are both free-to-play gacha-powered games. What does this mean? It means that while there is no barrier to entry provided you have a powerful enough PC or smart device to play the games, they allow you to pull for characters and weapons using a premium currency – obtainable both in-game and through real-money transactions – and while there is a ‘pity’ system providing a guaranteed 5-star pull after so many pulls, the odds of pulling a character otherwise can be <1% per pull.
Therefore, neither is a game for those who have problems with gambling, spending over their head, or has negative mental health reactions due to FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). Gaming should always be a fun complement to your life and not something that should cause financial problems for the other aspects of your life.
Character Demo – Klee: Da-Da Da!
One of the earliest videos on this list, released in October 2020 when Genshin Impact was in its earliest updates is Character Demo – Klee: Da-Da Da!, which focuses on the iconic and lovable character which is Klee – the pyro-vision-wielding child who has a penchant for bombs. From the very start, this character demo immediately grabs your attention, wrestles it even, initially appearing as if this is the introduction of a prolific hero in the region of Mondstadt, before changing tone from intense to soft and whimsical, as viewers learn that the trailer is actually for the game’s second (at the time) child character.
Highlighting the pandemonium that comes through the combination of her cute, childish personality and love of hazardous weaponry, in its just over one-and-a-half minute trailer, players effectively learn everything about her – from her unique playstyle unlike other catalyst users in-game to her personality and relationships with certain characters, especially Jean.
Even if Klee doesn’t really sit in the game’s meta any more, due to her low defence and poor attack range, I think this trailer still does a solid job of selling her as a character worth pulling for. In my case, I pulled for her based on this trailer alone, and if in the position to do so again for the first time after this trailer, I probably would again.
Kafka Trailer – “A Dramatic Irony”
Rather than just repeating the same sorts of character videos that Genshin Impact had been doing up until its release in early-mid 2023, Honkai: Star Rail has been able to effectively utilise its sci-fi setting and gameplay differences to offer greatly different viewing experiences. This is most aptly demonstrated in their August 2023 trailer for Kafka, a character that many (including myself) were already gunning to pull for, but aptly highlighted why her mannerisms, tone, personality and badassness all contribute to her being one of the game’s arguably more interesting characters.
From the spider motifs which align with her special attacks, the fast-paced animations drawing viewers in and the incredibly high bounty for her as a wanted criminal Stellaron Hunter all help set the tone initially for who Kafka is, before sweeping the viewers off their feet, immersing them in a solid minute and a half of well-animated combat, which may leave some wishing Honkai: Star Rail was an action combat game instead of a turn-based RPG. But there is so much visual appeal crammed into the two-minute video, complemented by some smooth and elegant lines voiced by Cheryl Texiera, who voices the character in-game.
But even more impressive is the trailer’s song, ‘A Dramatic Irony’, which ties in well with Kafka’s in-game references to her playing the violin, with the song featuring a remix of Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons – particularly the summer and winter sections of the classic work. As the first character we play as in-game during the game’s introduction, who we were introduced to with her air-violining to the song ‘Canon in D‘, it also stands as a fantastic homage to how we were introduced to her, and the game.
Character Demo – Raiden Shogun: Judgment of Euthymia
From her iconic stance of pulling the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi from her bust to her unique and complex dynamic as the Electro Archon, this Genshin Impact character demo for Raiden Shogun has remained one of their standout works. Praised at the time for how creative its cinematography and storyboarding was, it was the start of HoYoverse’s more experimental era for their character trailers, and really pushed the creative boundaries of how they would market characters to players.
From my perspective, if we didn’t have this video, we might not have had our second entry in this series, the video involving Kafka in Honkai: Star Rail. From the amazing transitions to the awesome remix which features intense motifs among traditional beats, this was a trailer that honestly had me pulling (and thankfully obtaining) Raiden Shogun on her day of launch.
Honkai: Star Rail’s Launch Trailer – Interstellar Journey
I love opening sequences! The right opening sequence with the right series can start each episode off on the right note, getting you pumped for the experience that lies ahead. Although much more commonplace in anime, with the industry continuing to put out some bangers, whether a trailer or built into the game, a few developers have managed to give their launch trailers the same opening sequence vibe, or even built them into the game.
In the case of Honkai: Star Rail, their ‘opening sequence’ comes in the form of the game’s launch trailer, titled Interstellar Journey. Encapsulating the three main regions introduced in the base game and characters who are still being rolled out to players as of Version 1.4, it effectively gets players hyped for what the next year will have in store for them should they decide HSR is for them. Plus the song, titled Interstellar Journey as well from HOYO-MiX featuring vocals from Lea Sirk was an apt fit, not an overpowering song but suiting the tone and animation of the trailer well.
I hope that HoYoverse continues with this style of launch trailer for each of their major Honkai: Star Rail updates.
Overture Teaser: The Final Feast
For players of Genshin Impact, the release of a new major numbered update is a pretty big deal. While each regular update provides new events, places to explore on existing maps and a growing number of 4 and 5-star characters to recruit who you have typically met through the story events of that update, a major update is where a whole new region is opened up to explore, brand new characters are introduced, and a new phase of the main archon quest is underway. A month or so out from Version 4.0’s release, HoYoverse released this new ‘Overture Teaser’, providing a tantalising look at what awaited players in the world of Fontaine.
While only hinting at the events that would unfold in the coming year, this video, narrated primarily by Daman Mills (Lyney) and Anairis Quiñones (Lynette), provides viewers with a taste of the aesthetics, musical style and new faces that players have now had a chance to dive into. It helped set the tone and perhaps sated some of the more impatient players (Understandably given the Sumeru questline had effectively been wrapped up for a while since then) at the time. But most of all, rather than reading about the characters through information dumps, it was an effective and succinct way of giving gamers a taste of what’s to come and also setting the overarching tone through the narration of Lyney and Lynette. Plus I absolutely adore the dynamic between Sigewinne and Wriothesley in this trailer, which carries across well into the game.
HoYoverse tend to release one or two of these videos every release cycle, and typically fare as both an excellent preview of what’s to come, and providing some additional, valuable lore development. These have always been of consistently high quality, even from before the game launching, such as through the ‘Teyvat Chapter Storyline Preview: Travail’ trailer below;
Genshin Impact is now available on the PC, iOS, Android, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 platforms. Originally there was a Nintendo Switch port planned and officially announced, however there has been radio silence on this for several years now.
Honkai: Star Rail is now available on the PC, iOS and Android platforms, with a PlayStation 5 release imminent.
