Releasing yesterday on PS4, indie game Solbrain Knight of Darkness has caught the attention of a few eagle-eyed gamers. Though it already released on the Mac App store and on Amazon, it appears the game includes multiple stolen assents from other titles.
Recognizing the music played over the top of the game’s trailer, viewable on the PlayStation Store, Techraptor began looking into the game further. The song from the trailer turns out to be none other than a song from Ori and the Blind Forest. You can see Techraptor’s audio breakdown of the two below.
Soon, a NeoGAF thread began finding even more stolen assets in the game itself. There is a distinct similarity between the character’s shield and the dragonscale shield in Skyrim, the character model and that of a character model in Terra, and the bottom left UI symbol and an emblem from World of Warcraft.
Upon further scrutiny, even the game’s logo seems overly familiar. The font is similar to that used for Legend of Zelda games, while the picture is from a post on Deviantart.
And if all of that wasn’t enough, even the game’s description appears to be stolen from a Steam title called Odallus: The Dark Call. First the PSN description for Solbrain Knight of Darkness:
The old gods have forgotten this land (Cannae). No one could save our people when darkness began to spread and collect the souls of men for his army. Solbrain – Knight of Darkness is a 3D exploration game. Player takes place (Gaia), a young warrior tired of struggle that must wield his sword to rescue his people from the darkness, and avenge the death of his parents against the powerful (Anibal) and his army of monsters and warriors.
Then for Odallus:
The old gods have forgotten this land. No one could save our people when darkness started spreading and collecting human souls for its army. Odallus is a classic exploration/action game, inspired by Ghosts’n Goblins, Demon’s Crest and Castlevania. Player takes place of Haggis, a warrior tired of fight who must wield his sword once more to rescue his son from Darkness.
Save for a few changed or added words, the two are strikingly similar.
Solbrain Knight of Darkness is developed by Lightning Game Studios. According to their Twitter page, the company is stationed in the United States, Japan, and Brazil. Unfortunately the website link provided on that page simply redirects to an iTunes page of games, not an official website.
In the same NeoGAF thread mentioned above, Ori and the Blind Forest artist Thomas Mahler says he has contacted Microsoft, asking them to investigate.