Tencent's Light of Motiram prompts comments that it ripped off Horizon Zero Dawn
A female character with a bow, surrounded by lush scenery and robot animals. Not to be confused with Horizon.
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A familiar look to a new game. (Image source: Polaris Quest)
On 28 November, Tencent, through its subsidiary and game development studio Polaris Quest, announced a new game titled 'Light of Motiram', pitching itself as a multiplayer survival game that combines nature with machinery. A key mechanic is its 'mechanimals' that the player can use as mounts or for tasks.
One problem with it, though, is the game's eerie similarity to Guerilla Games' Horizon series.
A big aspect of this criticism is Light of Motiram's appearance and visuals. Tencent recently released a few screenshots and a reveal trailer for the game; aside from the resemblance in its aesthetics, such as the lush nature-esque setting with mysterious ruins, the game's colour grading and the characters' outfits, machine animals are another element that bears likeness to the Machines that inhabit Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West's world.
Tencent is doing itself no favours with a couple screenshots that almost invite comparisons:
One of the official screenshots from Light of Motiram. (Image source: Polaris Quest)
A Steam screenshot of Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, with machines also set against a natural landscape. (Image source: Guerilla Games)
People online have made their opinions about the game heard (take a look at the many "We have Horizon at home" jokes in the comments of the trailers), and Blizzard's former president is among one of the notable ones:
Its base-building mechanics also bear some similarity to Ark: Survival Evovlved, while the animal-taming mechanics of the game have invited comparisons to Palworld and the Monster Hunter series. Palworld's developer Pocketpair is itself facing legal troubles from Nintendo and The Pokemon Company for similar reasons.
There are a few differences from Horizon, with Light of Motiram focusing on survival and base camp building, along with what Tencent touts as "realistic physics simulation", and one can argue that no one owns the 'breathtaking nature' aesthetic, or the concept of machine animals. But while it skirts past being a complete ripoff under a generous lens, the amalgamation of familar concepts that have proven successful in previous games without a unique hook doesn't seem to attract favourable attention.
You could also make the case that its multiplayer sets it apart from Horizon as well, but a Horizon live service MMO is reportedly already being worked on.
In any case, Sony, the publisher for both main Horizon games, has yet to comment on Light of Motiram's likeness to the Horizon series. However, the game is set to release on PlayStation 5, so perhaps Sony isn't too agitated over the matter.
Light of Motiram does not currently have a release date, but will be released on PC through Steam and the Epic Games Store, as well as PS5, iOS and Android.
Source: GamesRadar
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