Rage 2 Gameplay Trailer Offers a Look Into Its Zany, Violent World

Bethesda, through yesterday’s Rage 2 announcement trailer, revealed that an official gameplay trailer for the title would release today, May 15, and the gameplay has landed with enough explosions and spent shells to make the Doom Marine, from 2016’s Doom, second-guess his handiwork in the field of anarchy.

The Rage 2 gameplay trailer mixes moments of chaotic gunplay and combat-focused driving with smaller, more human moments of existence in the wasteland that Rage 2 takes place in—suffering is on display, but it is all tinged with oddball humor. For example, a character is seen spinning in circles around his gun in the same way that one would spin around the top of a baseball bat after a little league game. The most striking moment comes in the way of a beautiful shot of two wasteland survivors playing baseball atop a moving train as the golden hour envelops the surrounding landscape. Yet, this tranquility is broken by the realization that their baseball is a hand grenade and their bat is a rifle of some sort.

As varied as the tone seems to be, the environments of the “wide open world” seem to vary even more so. One moment the trailer is in a desert, much like the first game, and then dense and sun-choked forests are shown. The world seems to be as volatile and choked of natural life as it is beautiful and, in moments, breathtaking.

Rage was known, if only, for having a great arsenal and Rage 2 seems to be following the same path, though it already seems a better game. The weapons on display look to be equally fun in use and varied in type, and they are accented by the overall player movement that the game seems to offer. Speed and verticality seem to be the name of the game, especially when fighting some of the larger enemies on display in the trailer. Enemy types seem varied from classically dystopic wasteland raiders to larger-than-life mutated monsters that seem to be pulled right out of a Fallout game.

All in all, the gameplay trailer for Rage 2 looks very promising and hopefully, it can balance its tone as well as the trailer does. If not, then it may suffice as a loud and boisterous open-world experience. Check out the gameplay trailer below.