BioWare Release 40-Second Trailer For Some New Thing They’re Making

When BioWare showed a brief, nondescript series of clips from its new, non-Mass-Effect, non-Dragon-Age, non-Star-Wars IP at this year's E3 conference, many were left scratching their heads. Why show footage with zero salient information in it? What will this mystery game end up like? How soon is now, anyway?

Keep scratching, because this live-action trailer doesn't clarify much other than a clear tonal direction. Bringing to mind David Lynch's PlayStation 2 commercials, the forty-second teaser features a smoke-faced dude, a light-faced dude, a doppelganger dude, and a frightened bedroom dude. There's also an ominous ring of fire in a parking lot, so you know it's not all dudes. The website at the end is more or less a placeholder, alerting Cologne, Germany that it has been chosen. Not coincidentally, Cologne (in addition to being a lovely city with a pretty river, a delicious and varied Christmas market and a knee-liquefyingly tall cathedral) is the location of Gamescom, a gaming trade show set for August, at which Bioware's parent company EA will have a sizeable presence.

What's the game called? As per Polygon:

The cover image for this YouTube upload, which was sent in an email to fans, has been saved under the name "ShadowRealms_Teaser_Video" which could suggest the game's title. It's worth noting that earlier this year the company filed a trademark for something called Shadow Realms.

I really, really hope the title isn't actually Shadow Realms. It's a terrible title, more appropriate for a low-rent Facebook game than a new IP from one of the industry's leading developers. But supernatural surrealism in a modern setting could be lots of fun, and the question of "what really happens when we sleep?" has great potential for gameplay and story mechanics alike. The game brewing in my imagination is looking pretty wild; BioWare have their work cut out for them trying to keep up with that shit. They'd best pull a reveal soon before my subconscious gets out of control and hurts somebody.