Rage 2 (opens in new tab) has had a long line of pretty darn good and increasingly bonkers trailers, and the launch trailer released today may be the best and bonker-est yet. I mean, it opens with the game’s final boss – cyborg maniac General Cross – but it ends with… cat memes and the Big Bang, I guess? There’s a cool giant sandworm, too.
If you’ve seen the previous Rage 2 trailers – especially the one before this, which is basically an all-caps FAQ (opens in new tab) – you’re probably familiar with the bulk of the launch trailer. You play as the last Ranger in the post-apocalyptic wasteland, and it’s your job to, I don’t know, save the ruined world by shooting some dudes I guess. There’s certainly plenty of dudes that need shooting, from cyborg ninjas to monstrous mutants. You can also explode said dudes using a variety of powers, or just run them over in a death race.
It’s the little things that really make this launch trailer, like the dig at the original Rage at around 2:00, featuring a fake – but not unduly critical – review of the game’s abrupt ending. Around 1:55, there’s a nice throwback to Walmart Canada, which previously leaked info on Rage 2 (opens in new tab). As part of the trailer’s time travel gag, we also get a glimpse at the male and female playable characters around 1:50. But yeah, that sandworm I mentioned? It comes in around 2:26, and it’s definitely the high point of the trailer for me. Desert wastelands need giant sandworms. It’s the law.
We spoke to Avalanche Studios (opens in new tab) about how the studio’s building a better open-world wasteland for Rage 2.