Yeah it's a real step backwards from how The Witness was presented: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul7kNFD6noU
This looks to be the first of Jon Blows games to put writing front and center, so I wonder if the clunkiness goes beyond the trailer. That's not really his forte.
I think release trailers and announcement trailers are different things. This is what came up when I searched for announcement trailer of witness.
Would you not consider Braid to have put writing front and center?
Huh, featuring "Escape Artist" by Zoe Keating, I wonderful choice. I forgot about that.