Summary
A newly-revealed Tencent game dubbedLight of Motiramis receiving criticism from gamers online due to its blatant similarities to Guerrilla Games' renownedHorizonseries. While it isn’t unusual for games to draw inspiration from existing critically-acclaimed titles, theHorizoninfluence inLight of Motiramis a bit overbearing, to say the least.
Despite being less than a decade old, theHorizonseries has gained significant prominence among PlayStation’s roster of award-winning IPs. The franchise’s debut game,Horizon Zero Dawn, was lauded by players for its beautiful post-apocalyptic setting, which could turn lethal in moments thanks to the mechanized animals prowling the landscape.Horizon Zero Dawnultimately sold over 24 million copiesand spawned a highly successful franchise in the process. Guerrilla confirmed last year that it’s working on 16Horizonprojects.
Horizon’s setting is rather unique, so if any game were to draw inspiration from it, it’d be quite obvious. That’s exactly what’s happening withLight of Motiram, which was revealed very recently. Developed by Tencent subsidiary Polaris Quest,Light of Motiram’s Steam pagetouts it as an open-world adventure game set in a world where “human civilization has ceased to exist” and “nature meets machine.” This initial description already hints at some influence from theHorizonseries, butLight of Motiramtakes it multiple steps further.
Light of Motiram Looks Extremely Similar to Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West
The preview images ofLight of Motiram’s world bear a striking semblance to the Horizon games, right down to the lush green scenery, mechanized animals, and primitive human settlements. There’s even a female character who has red hair and wields a bow and arrow, much like Aloy, the protagonist of theHorizonseries. The robotic beasts (dubbed “Mechanimals”) can also be befriended and tamed, marking yet another similarity to theoverride mechanic for the machines inHorizongames. Glaring likeness aside,Light of Motiramdoes differentiate itself from theHorizonseries in a few important ways, such as co-op multiplayer functionality with up to nine players and the ability to build shelters.
Still,Light of Motiramhas been subject to extensive flak for its liberal inspiration from theHorizongames. Many have even been pondering whether Guerrilla Games and Sony have grounds to pursue legal action against Polaris Quest and Tencent. It wouldn’t be all that unfathomable, sinceNintendo suedPalworlddeveloper Pocket Paira few months ago for alleged patent infringement of certain gameplay mechanics.Light of Motiramis currently scheduled for a 2025 release on PC and mobile, but that could change if Sony decides it flew too close to the sun.
Horizon
The Horizon franchise follows Aloy as she is forced to contend with a series of powerful, towering robotic creatures in a post-apocalyptic landscape. The third-person action-RPG has already seen a sequel with Horizon: Forbidden West and gives players the freedom to explore the open world as they see fit.
