There's something very unsettling about Park Beyond's new Valentine's Day trailer

The upcoming theme park management sim Park Beyond gave us a lovely Valentine’s Day-themed trailer, except, wait a second, this isn’t lovely at all, Oh God. I’m sure Park Beyond will be a wholesome bit of fun - creating outlandish rollercoasters and managing the nuts & bolts of a made-up business is always a good time. But, good grief, there’s something seriously disturbing about its latest trailer.

Lay your eyes on it here, if you dare:

The trailer doesn’t start off too badly. We get a nice look at some of the love-heart-laced rides and decorations that cover the park in soft, candy pinks. The silver fox Phil guides us through the trailer, making announcements through the park’s speakers in a cheery, enthusiastic voice. But, the longer things go on, the weirder they get, and I’m guessing it was all unintentional.

It’s hard to pin down exactly what makes the trailer a little jarring. After a while, the music introduces these weird chimes that are usually reserved for spooky haunted house films. Phil also gets increasingly creepy as the trailer goes on; teleporting into a ferris wheel pod to scare an unsuspecting couple, popping up in the background of other shots with an eery camera zoom. His announcements almost turn into commandments as he growls “love one another” across the park. It all builds together, feeling like a weird fever dream I woke up from, all sweaty and confused.

Maybe I just have the Tuesday blues. The trailer did show off some of the cool ways you can customise the park’s pathways, rides, and stalls, and I’m sure Park Beyond will be a nice time for fans of management sim games like Rollercoaster Tycoon, but this trailer just proves not every game needs a Valentine’s Day trailer. Check out Two Point Campus’ recent trailer if you want to see a not-so-scary way of doing the same thing.

Aside from this, Park Beyond is shaping up to be a good ride. In her early impressions, AliceB thought Park Beyond was a hilarious, and slightly ridiculous, sim with an impressive toolset for creating rides.

Creepy, or funny? We’ll find out later this year when Park Beyond releases on PC Steam and consoles.