Nodusfall: When HoYoverse Is Accused of 'Ripping Off' Elden Ring, I See a Misunderstood Strategic Move

Nodusfall is not Elden Ring. Nodusfall is also not the typical anime-style gacha game that HoYoverse is known for. And it is precisely this difference that is causing a storm across the global gaming community.

Fans hate the truth, but I am not here to be loved. Today, I am not talking about a football match, but about another kind of battle — a battle for identity in the gaming industry, where HoYoverse, the Chinese giant with billion-dollar anime games, suddenly announced a pivot into the dark fantasy soulslike genre. And immediately, the whole world screamed two words: rip-off.

I have watched the first trailer of Nodusfall. I saw a winged warrior that reminds people of Malenia. A white-haired woman that reminds people of Melina. The gloomy atmosphere, the classical architecture, the slow and calculated combat pacing. Yes, it looks like Elden Ring visually. But I also saw something the shouting crowd is ignoring: the words 'co-op boss hunting for up to four players'.

This is not a football match, but it is exactly like one. There are attackers, defenders, and a crowd passing judgment. The question is: are we witnessing a blatant act of plagiarism, or a smart strategic move being harshly misunderstood?

Let's dissect this, not with emotion, but with data and logic.

Hook: The moment I realized things were not what they seemed

Last month, during one of my 'Solo Roundtable' livestreams, I made a statement that got viewers calling in to curse at me for 20 minutes. I said Nodusfall is not a rip-off, but an extremely bold business move by HoYoverse. Someone shouted: 'Are you blind? Look at that winged monster, it's exactly like Malenia!'

I am not blind. I see the similarities clearly. But I also remember the 2026 World Cup, when I said on live radio that Germany would be eliminated in the group stage. People called me an idiot. Then South Korea beat Germany 0-2. And I learned a lesson: the crowd rarely sees beyond what is right in front of them.

That moment taught me that to understand Nodusfall, we need to look at strategic motives, not just the trailer's surface.

Context: HoYoverse and the trillion-dollar pivot

First, let's talk about HoYoverse. This is the company behind Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail, Zenless Zone Zero — anime gacha games that generate billions of dollars in revenue each year. Their team is famous for polished anime graphics, colorful combat systems, and gacha mechanics that make players spend money endlessly.

Yet now, they announce Nodusfall — a dark fantasy game with realistic graphics, completely abandoning the anime style. No chibi. No pastel colors. No public gacha system revealed. Just a dark world, intense boss fights, and four-player co-op. This is like a coach famous for beautiful attacking football suddenly switching to defensive play, or a wealthy club cutting all its stars to rebuild from the youth academy. It contradicts everything they have ever done.

The important context: FromSoftware's Elden Ring, released in 2026, won Game of the Year and set a new standard for open-world action RPGs. Its success was not just commercial but also influential. Many new projects after it chose similar combat styles, world design, and atmosphere. Nodusfall is just one of them, but because it is a product of HoYoverse — the Chinese company dominating the gacha market — it became the center of criticism.

Remember the 2026 national U19 tournament. When Huynh Cong Den dribbled past four players to score the decisive goal, no journalist covered it in a 'hot' way. I wrote about it, and I was called crazy. But three days later, my article was shared 2,300 times. The lesson I learned: the truth often lies in details the majority overlook. With Nodusfall, that detail is the co-op mechanic.

Core: Breaking the consensus gap — Why 'rip-off' is a hasty conclusion

The crowd is looking at static trailer images and concluding Nodusfall copies Elden Ring. But I have followed the gaming industry long enough to know that a reveal trailer often does not reflect actual gameplay. It reflects artistic ambition and marketing strategy.

My analysis focuses on the key difference: Nodusfall focuses on co-op boss hunting with up to four players. Elden Ring, at its core, is a solo experience (co-op in Elden Ring exists but is limited and complicated). Nodusfall is moving toward an experience more like Monster Hunter, where players gather to take down massive bosses.

This is not a minor difference. It completely changes how the game is designed. In a co-op game, coordination tactics become central. You cannot copy Elden Ring's formula, where solitude and personal challenge are the core points. Nodusfall must create a system for enemy balancing, support skills, and resurrection mechanics that are entirely different. If the actual gameplay reflects this co-op direction, then the comparison to Elden Ring becomes meaningless. It is like comparing a goal-scoring striker with a sweeper defender. Both play football, but their roles and evaluation criteria are completely different.

Look at the data I gathered from the community: there is a segment of players comparing Nodusfall as 'a combination of Elden Ring and Monster Hunter'. This is an important signal. When the community itself recognizes the co-op element as a differentiator, even while criticizing, it shows the game has its own identity forming. The issue is not whether Nodusfall looks like Elden Ring — it is whether HoYoverse can prove the difference in gameplay mechanics when they release full gameplay.

I used to be afraid of being wrong on air, until I was wrong and realized I was born to speak. I could be wrong about Nodusfall. But if I am wrong, I will correct it. However, I am rarely wrong.

Another blind spot of the crowd: they are judging Nodusfall based on majority opinion, not legal facts. In the gaming industry, game mechanics (soulslike, dark fantasy) are generally not protected by copyright. Only specific expressive elements like character designs, art assets, or names can be considered infringing. The similarities the community points out — a winged character 'reminding' people of Malenia, a white-haired woman 'compared to' Melina — are archetypal, not direct copies. HoYoverse, with its powerful legal team, almost certainly reviewed intellectual property rights before releasing the trailer. They were confident enough to release it as is.

This brings me to an important conclusion: this is not a case of plagiarism, but a calculated strategic move. HoYoverse wants to escape the 'anime game giant' label and enter the premium console/PC market of the West — where Elden Ring proved enormous demand. They have money, resources, and technology. But they lack experience in this genre. And instead of fumbling from scratch, they chose a setting and visual style that players recognize as 'classic'. That is a market entry tactic, not an act of plagiarism.

Is it blameworthy? In football, when a new coach arrives, he often adopts the tactics of a top team that is succeeding. They do not call it plagiarism; they call it 'learning from the best'. HoYoverse is doing the same.

Contrarian: The counter-intuitive view — Where I could be wrong

But I am not entirely on HoYoverse's side. There is a possibility I am wrong, and I need to admit that. Suppose Nodusfall, when released, actually feels like Elden Ring in terms of gameplay, not just visuals. Suppose the co-op mechanic is just a thin decoration, on top of a slow, dense single-player core from FromSoftware. In that case, the community's backlash would be completely justified. The 'rip-off' accusation would become reality, and the wave of criticism would be far more intense than now.

I also need to consider another possibility: the problem is not financial or legal, but reputational. HoYoverse is betting its reputation — built over years as a 'deep and creative developer'. If they fail, they not only lose Nodusfall's revenue but may tarnish the image of the entire Genshin Impact and Honkai brands.

The U19 story that year taught me a lesson: the silence of editors is a crime. But the haste of the crowd is also a form of blindness. I may be too generous in believing in HoYoverse's strategy. Maybe they are simply copying a successful formula without the ability to replicate its depth.

What I am certain of is this: the current 'rip-off' accusation is based on too little evidence. A trailer does not show gameplay. It only shows artistic direction and atmosphere. The crowd's conclusion is a hasty one.

Takeaway: A verifiable prediction

In the next six months, HoYoverse will reveal Nodusfall's actual gameplay. This is the decisive moment. If they show a truly unique co-op boss-hunting system where players must coordinate skills, take on role responsibilities, and fight at a completely different rhythm from Elden Ring, the 'rip-off' narrative will quickly subside. If not, the backlash will explode even more violently.

I bet HoYoverse knows this. They have planned for that moment. The current controversy is not what they wanted, but it creates enormous attention. If they leverage that attention with an impressive gameplay reveal, they will turn a 'scandal' into their greatest marketing campaign.

Don't tell me to analyze objectively. I love football, and love is not objective. But I also love the gaming industry, and I believe in innovation.

An empty stadium, but I still hear my own echo.

Nodusfall is not a plagiarist. It is a gamble. And that gamble will be judged not by a 2-minute trailer, but by its actual gameplay. When that happens, remember what I said today. And if I am wrong, I will tell you that I was wrong.

But I am rarely wrong.