What happens after this ad?
Since the release of its trailer, Project Mugen has been talking a lot on Twitter, and sadly not necessarily for a good reason, but is it really justified?
NetEase Games presents its urban open-world role-playing game
On August 18th, NetEase Games gave us a date for the 24th to discover their next free-to-play project, which current name is Project Mugen. This title wants to offer players a new experience in a more urban setting, and it is precisely in the trailer that we were able to give a small taste of what it will offer. What we can say is that it makes you want to play it. Whether it’s free movement in a vehicle, on foot, fast movement with a grappling hook, or even melee or long-range combat in real-time, we see some interesting potential in this.
Granted it’s something that already exists in other universes, but it’s safe to assume that when it comes out it’s just a small preview of what’s to come. Of course, since it was only just announced, we’ll have to wait quite a while before it comes out on PC, Android, iOS, PS4 and PS5. Still, many people on Twitter responded to this presentation with a differentiated opinion between the fact that other games were “plagiarized,” such as Marvel’s Spider-Man for the grappling hook part, and the fact that it really felt like it makes me play it.
Isn’t it too quick to talk about plagiarism after a single trailer?
NOW, Is it really necessary to shout plagiarism once an animation is very similar or a game uses a mechanic originally created in another game? This is the question we can ask ourselves, and finally: Isn’t that just a wink or an inspiration? Given the number of potentially “plagiarized” works from this famous Mugen project, you’d think it’s just a game that accepts right and left, and puts all of that in a manga-style urban universe. However, not much is known about him.
As an example we have Genshin Impact, which for a long time was considered a pale copy of The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild because it inherited the stamina system, levels and glider system, but is it a plagiarism today? No, he could deviate from this image by offering his own mechanics, especially with the Fontaine region where it is possible to go underwater. Also, if there were a third open-world game, The Legend of Zelda, that takes the principle introduced in Genshin Impact down to the smallest detail, would we call it plagiarism or genius? In conclusion, we would like to say on this question that IIt’s still a bit early to talk about plagiarism after a single trailer, and one has to be patient to see the potential there is at the time of release.