The Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition trailer sets up a story of secrets and betrayal

The story trailer for Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition is an unexpected thing. It looks great, as you'd expect from a remastered release, but somewhat strangely, it also teases a hard-hitting tale of intrigue, betrayal, and—maybe, just maybe—redemption at the end of a long, hard road. There's even the subtle touch of the Inception sound.   

That Gears of War-flavored descent into melodrama contrasts rather markedly with the original Bulletstorm promotional campaign, which was packed with colorful linguistic tidbits like "Son of a dick," "You scared the dick off me," and of course, the classic, "Hey, dicktits!" No matter what you think of that sort of humor, the point is that it clearly wasn't positioned as a serious game. The story came off as almost aggressively disposable, as demonstrated by the "Whip, Kick, Boom" trailer, which really does tell you all you need to know about the game's narrative basis: "In the ass end of space, stranded mercenaries are perfecting the art of killing." 

On the other hand, Bulletstorm wasn't a huge hit by any measure, so it's not entirely surprising then that Gearbox would want to take a different approach. But setting it up as a "serious story" kind of game? I'm not sure we're far enough away from the original release for that to work, but it's an interesting approach to take. 

The Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition is available for preorder on Steam for 15 percent off the regular $50/£30/€45 price, and will be out on April 7. And just for fun, you can get an eyeful of that original "Whip, Kick, Boom" trailer below.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.