Earlier this year we saw what could be considered one of the boldest “inspired by” video games in the history of the industry. Although there have been many games that have tried capture the same magic that the Pokemon series provided, Palworld is so close to the source material that the developers are now in a legal dispute.
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How is Palworld different from other clones?
If Nintendo succeeds, it will set a dangerous precedent for the future of the gaming industry.
Revealed just a few hours ago, Light of Motiram appears to follow the same formula. Instead of “Pokemon with guns,” the game tries to be “Horizon Zero Dawn with survival mechanics.” In fact, the promotional image for the game looks almost identical to that of Horizon Forbidden West. The game was created by Polaris Quest, a subsidiary of Tencent.
This all seems very familiar
The Steam page for Light of Motiram is now live. The game description reads: “In a world overrun by colossal machines, explore the vast open world, build your base of operations, advance technology, train Mechanimals, and face formidable bosses. Starting in the primitive era, forge a new path of development. Challenge the machination, survive with mechanical animals.”
From the images and videos, these mechanical animals look like they came straight out of the Horizon series. They are based on real-life animals and mostly feature a color palette of grey, black, yellow and neon blue lights. The setting is also similar, a post-post apocalypse, where humans try to thrive after a major disaster.
The dress sense and overall style features a mix of primitive clothing intertwined with futuristic metals that appear to be pulled from these mechanical animals, again very similar to Guerrilla Games' flagship series.
One of the big differences is the inclusion of survival and building mechanics. It looks like you will have to search for resources and also build a settlement. There are also different types of weapons that you can build and some of these mechanical animals will follow you into battle.
The game will also let you team up with up to ten other players to battle mechanical animals, hunt for resources, and even team up to build a base.
As if the mechanical and overall design aesthetics weren't troubling enough for Guerrilla Games, that last part definitely ruffles some mechanical feathers, due to the much-rumored Horizon MMO in the works. Considering Sony considers Aloy one of its biggest mascots, we could be in for another legal battle.
Horizon Forbidden West once again follows Aloy as she navigates a post-catastrophic world populated by mechanical fauna. He must travel west into unknown territory to find a GAIA backup and save the planet's biosphere.
