SweetieGames

Back in 2020, a friend of mine told me to try out a brand-new open world game where we could play together during COVID lockdowns. I ended up playing this game a lot, logging in every day and playing solo as well as alongside my online friends. I also got my real-life friends to try out the game, and they started playing regularly too, and this game blew up all over the world. This was Genshin Impact, the hugely popular open world gacha game which still has a pretty dedicated fanbase today, six years later. I may not play Genshin regularly anymore, but I enjoyed it a lot for many years.

Something I noticed when Genshin was fairly new was the constant comparison to another hugely popular game: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which had come out three years prior as a Nintendo Switch launch title. They were both open world and had similar looking wilderness environments in places, used stamina and paraglider systems and similar weapon gameplay, and had anime style characters. So many people accused Genshin of being a “free” copycat of BOTW back in the early days, calling out its gacha aspects as a way to entice people to spend far more than they would on a regular game. There may have been aspects that were inspired by Breath of the Wild‘s popularity, but as someone who has now played and enjoyed both games, I feel that they’re different enough to warrant playing both if you’re a fan of open world adventures in beautiful sprawling landscapes. Their plots are entirely different and there are plenty of gameplay elements that don’t cross over, such as Link’s Sheikah Slate in Breath of the Wild and the variety of elemental powers given to each character in Genshin Impact. Sure, there are some Genshin characters that use a claymore which can also be obtained in BOTW, but each character in Genshin handles it entirely differently. It wasn’t long before the issue of Genshin being a BOTW copycat was put to bed; it had plenty of unique aspects going for it.

I was very surprised when, nearly six years later, this argument had resurfaced. On March 16th, an open world game based on the popular manga series The Seven Deadly Sins was released, named The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin. As Genshin Impact has been downloaded well over 230 million times in its lifespan, it didn’t take players long to notice distinct similarities in not only the locations and gameplay of Origin, but also its cutscenes and UI. Heroes in The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin have elemental attacks and bursts, explore a German inspired city with a big statue in the early stages and even see a dragon terrorising the heroes early on in the game. Sound familiar?

Of course, The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin is taking place in the world of The Seven Deadly Sins manga, which could explain the dragons and the architecture being similar as the manga is set in a fictionalised Britain. It also means its characters are entirely different to appeal to existing fans of the franchise. I will say that outside of the distinctive SDS art style on the characters, the wilderness locations and even the UI look remarkably similar to Genshin, even more so than Genshin ever did to Breath of the Wild. But the accusations of Origin copying Genshin has revived the argument that Genshin was copying Breath of the Wild. It seems to never end!

Some people do need to acknowledge that games in the same genre, in this case open world action games, are going to have similarities regardless. Paragliders make traversing the huge wilderness landscape quicker, and more importantly, more fun. You’re going to need to climb walls and cliffs to continue your journey, but having a stamina system allows you to keep away from higher level areas until you’ve progressed the story and also keeps you clear of out of bounds areas. Elemental magic attacks aren’t new or unique in any genre of game that involves combat, whether that be action or turn-based or fighting. Open world games are mostly going to be based in the wilderness, with open grasslands, caves and cliffs to explore. It’s a lot easier to make unique environments in the wilderness versus a built up city, although some games have pulled that off!

However, I will say that it would be nice to see a USP for The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin outside of its connection to the popular manga. I noticed that even some of the fonts looked similar to Genshin‘s. As both BOTW and Genshin have been hugely popular from day one, its not surprising to see other open world games take inspiration from them. It would be cool to see something totally different done with the genre though!