Announcement Trailer Deep Dive

There are very few assets in the marketing campaign of a video game that are as important as the Announcement Trailer. We put a lot of thought into how we want to frame the conversation around Chronicles: Medieval, and our team put together some truly awesome work to make that vision a reality.

We’d like to take a moment to celebrate our talented colleagues, the awesome work they’ve done, and shine a well-earned spotlight on some of the incredible things they’ve created.  

Protagonist

Backstory

From the very beginning, we knew the trailer’s narrative had to revolve around a single character. Chronicles: Medieval is about your own personal story. Tapping into that premise, we chose to focus on one of the many “chronicles” you may write as a player. This particular chronicle? One of a man who never sought battle. But when a brutal raid rips everything away - his family, his home, his purpose - his whole world crumbles.

Grief turns to fury, and fury turns to resolve. A broken man steps onto the warpath. Thrust into the chaos of medieval warfare, he’s dragged into a conflict he never wanted to be part of. Revenge drives him forward… but deep beneath the surface, there’s a quiet, painful search for redemption.

But war changes a man. Once you pick up the sword, turning back isn’t an option. You might’ve been a farmer, a craftsman, a man of peace - but in this world, war finds you. Battle after battle, he begins to lose himself in the thrill of combat, and the spoils of victory. Until one day, he forgets why he ever picked up the blade at all. The path is set. And it’s too late to turn around.

He’s neither good, nor bad. He’s hollow. That trance-like look in the opening shot says it all. You can almost see the emptiness behind his eyes - the flicker of a soul that's seen too much.

The Helmet

We needed our “Commander Shepard” - a recognizable face for the campaign. But we decided to take a different path than Mass Effect did.. After all, Chronicles: Medieval is an immersive, player driven experience.

Our protagonist isn’t a fixed hero. He’s an empty vessel. That was the key to communicating the idea that you could live this story. Or even rewrite it entirely.

That’s why the design of the armor you see (especially the helmet) was far more important than the face beneath it. It’s the outer shell. A blank canvas waiting for you to step into it and change the course of history.

Our character art team knocked it out of the park. They created historically sourced, visually striking designs that help the hero stand out from the crowd of soldiers under his command. Dynamic shapes of the helmet reflect his personality, while the chipped red paint hints at many hard-fought battles already behind him. He’s seen war.

Fun fact: You might’ve noticed the small cross-shaped holes near the bottom of the helmet. They actually had a very practical use. When knights weren’t in combat, they could use those holes to hang their helmet onto their armor via a chain. It freed up their hands, so they could eat, or just get some fresh air while having their helmet close and ready.

This image actually shows a helmet being attached to a chain, to free up the Knights hands. It is taken from the tomb Effigy of Albrecht von Hohenlohe (d. 1338) at Schöntal Abbey Church in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

Though rooted in historical accuracy, we did take a few minor creative liberties. We tightened the silhouette, and made it a bit more “aggressive” looking. To fit the smaller frame, we even adjusted the character’s ears to sit comfortably under the helmet - allowing for maximum customization without compromise. 

And you might notice this helmet showing up in other artwork here and there. Keep your eyes sharp - can you spot them? 

The Armor

Let’s take a closer look at the armor our protagonist is wearing: You’d need to win a few major battles and haul in some serious spoils of war to afford something like this back in the day. (Even today an armor like that costs a fortune according to our in-house HEMA Expert, Bjorn Rüther.

But what’s really exciting about armors in Chronicles: Medieval is what’s happening under the hood: a versatile shader system packed with nodes and masks that lets us alter every piece of clothing dynamically and on the fly.

During Early Access, customization won’t be entirely free-form. Your armor will reflect your faction and heraldry. The more detailed customization like  the options to change fabric colors, paint metal plates, swap out materials, all with precision, is something we're envisioning for post-early access.

The best thing is, this system doesn’t stop with military gear. Civilian clothes follow the same logic. On or off the battlefield, you’ll have the tools to truly express yourself.

Weapons

Some of you noticed it already - but we showcased a lot of polearms, including spears and pitchforks. That was absolutely intentional as polearms were in widespread use during the timeline of our game. There are several reasons for this: they were cost effective to produce, granted a longer reach and were also better suited to resist cavalry. When the trailer was made we did not yet have all the polearm types available in 3D models so we had to use what was available. Rest assured that when the game is released we will have a wide selection of polearms to equip both low and high tier troops with historically plausible weapons. 

But if you look closer, you’ll notice even more weapons in the trailer. And they follow the same design principle as our armor: modularity. Chronicles Medieval will feature many different weapon types. These will both have a cultural variation as well as low and high tiers. This way your character's progression will be more visible, going from the lower ranks of society to defending your territory as an army commander. The more prominent you are, the more prominent you’ll look.  

The sword our protagonist wields in the trailer is forged by his own hands. Beautiful. Brutal. And Personal.

There’s a whole arsenal waiting to be revealed. Including ranged weapons like bows and crossbows. But that’s a tale for another day.

‍Props

Gough Map

That map you saw in the war planning scene was not just set dressing. That’s a faithful recreation of the Gough Map - a late medieval map of Great Britain believed to date back to the mid-14th century. The very detailed map and pawns you see, were all created by our awesome friends at Trailer Farm.

It’s another example of our commitment to historical authenticity. Even a seemingly unimportant prop like this is a testament to our dedication. The Gough Map is especially interesting: it lays out the British Isles horizontally, with the southern end of Britain on the right-hand side. Worth a Wikipedia dive if you're into cartographics.

Did we just reveal more of a map you’ll explore in-game? Yes. Yes we did.

Flags, Coat of Arms

Another chance for players to express themselves. The trailer draws heavily from the conflict fueling the Hundred Years’ War. We designed a collection of motifs representing various factions from both the English and French sides of the battlefield.

While the banners and flags you see in the trailer were made for that specific scene, we’re now working on making an actually modular version of this. We’re going deep into historical heraldry and for a good reason. This will allow us to capture and portray historical regions, factions etc. as well as provide some exciting customization options for the players, and how they will dress for battle.

Summary

We hope you enjoyed the Announcement Trailer (and our breakdown). It has been incredible reading your reactions and watching your comments roll in. And as a huge plus - seeing it resonate with you all makes the journey even more rewarding!

Everything featured in this trailer will be used in the game. That means you'll be able to wear the armor, wield the swords and raise the banners. Nothing mentioned was made bespoke for the trailer, but with game usage in mind. Everything you see is rendered in Unreal Engine 5. Some few elements received a bit more polish, but are still assets from in-game that you can encounter.

Did anything in the trailer spark your curiosity? Got a detail you want to know more about? Let us know - this is just the beginning of the conversation.

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