When Knights Look Alike: CI Games Fends Off Elden Ring Plagiarism Claims with a Stroke of Chronomancy (and Slack Messages)
AI Gaming News Author · Game Rant ·
CI Games found itself in a digital wizard's duel, battling accusations that a character from *Lords of the Fallen 2* was a carbon copy of an *Elden Ring Nightreign* design, only for their CEO to pull out irrefutable, time-stamped proof that their design predated the alleged inspiration.
Right, so you know that feeling when you're brewing up a new potion, and suddenly, your neighbour bursts in, accusing you of nicking their perfectly good eye of newt recipe? Well, something a bit like that just happened in the ever-chaotic realm of soulslike development. Our mates at CI Games, the folks behind *Lords of the Fallen 2*, found themselves knee-deep in a digital kerfuffle, facing claims they'd swiped a character design straight out of *Elden Ring Nightreign*.
Now, before we grab our pitchforks or start polishing our 'blatant theft' memes, let's unpack this. Earlier this month, on January 7th, the official *Lords of the Fallen* Twitter – or X, whatever we're calling it these days – dropped an image of an unnamed character for their upcoming sequel. This chap, fully decked out in silver armour, sporting some snazzy blue cloth accents, and leaning on a rather menacing, serrated blade, was described as a devotee to the moon goddess Menasilde. Sounds pretty cool, right? A bit grim, a bit mystical, exactly what you'd expect from a soulslike that's spent '1000 years beneath death's shadow.'
But here's where the plot thickens faster than a triple-strength healing draught. Keen-eyed gamers (and let's be fair, the internet has an eagle eye for this stuff) immediately started pointing fingers. 'Hold up,' they collectively seemed to shout across the digital ether, 'doesn't that look suspiciously like the Wylder class from *Elden Ring Nightreign*?' And fair dinkum, when you put the two side-by-side, the similarities jump out like a surprise boss encounter. Silver armour, blue accents, serrated blade – the whole nine yards. Some folks were just remarking on the uncanny resemblance, others were already crying foul, straight-up calling it 'blatant theft.' Bloody hell, the internet moves fast, doesn't it?
It's moments like these, when the digital wizardry of game development meets the ravenous speculation of the internet, that I find myself leaning into my inner chaos-optimist. Is it genuine design overlap? Or a devious copy-paste? Thankfully, this particular mystery didn't linger long enough to spawn a thousand conspiracy theories (well, not too many, anyway). Just a day after the initial post, CI Games CEO Marek Tyminski, bless his cotton socks, stepped in with the digital equivalent of a smoking gun – or, perhaps more accurately, a fully dated internal Slack message.
Picture this: it’s July 17, 2024. Long before *Elden Ring Nightreign* was even a blip on the public radar (that announcement came in December 2024, if you're keeping score at home), Tyminski shares a private internal message. And what does this message contain? A completed render of their 'HallowedBro' character – the very one being accused of plagiarism – along with a request for internal feedback. BOOM! Talk about pulling a rabbit out of a hat. Or, more fittingly, a knight out of a time-stamped chat log. Tyminski quite rightly pointed out that it would have been, shall we say, *impossible* for his artist to have 'stolen' a design from a game that hadn't even been publicly revealed yet.
This, my friends, is why I love digging into these stories. It's not just about the 'what happened,' but the 'why it matters.' In an industry where art styles and genre tropes often intertwine, distinguishing homage from outright theft can be a tricky business. The 'heavily armoured knight with a blue tabard' isn't exactly a groundbreaking concept, is it? It's a classic archetype, as foundational to fantasy as dragons and dramatic questlines. But the devil, as they say, is in the details – or in this case, the pauldrons and breastplates.
While the general aesthetic *felt* similar, a closer inspection, once the initial outrage subsided, revealed those crucial differences. *Lords of the Fallen 2*'s knight sports multi-segmented pauldrons and a unique breastplate, topped off with a wicked-looking full-face helmet adorned with five sharp fins. Compare that to *Elden Ring Nightreign*'s Wylder, who has simpler spaulders, a single-piece breastplate, and a helmet with a pair of silver wings. Yes, the blades did bear an uncanny resemblance – serrated edges are a popular choice for 'menacing' – but *Lords of the Fallen* is known for its variety of jagged weaponry. It’s like saying two wizards copied each other because they both used staffs with glowing crystals. There are only so many ways to look magically imposing, mate!
This whole kerfuffle also shines a light on CI Games' journey with the *Lords of the Fallen* franchise. The 2023 reboot, while turning heads, landed with 'mixed to average reviews' on PS5. Yet, it clearly did enough to warrant a sequel, which was proudly unveiled at Gamescom Opening Night Live 2025, with a 2026 release window. Intriguingly, despite reportedly hitting a massive 5.5 million players, the first *Lords of the Fallen* is still struggling to be profitable. That's a curious riddle for another day, perhaps, but it certainly paints a picture of a studio that needs its sequel to land well.
And by the looks of it, *Lords of the Fallen 2* is gaining some serious momentum. The gameplay trailer at The Game Awards 2025 apparently got some cracking reactions from the crowd. They're bringing back that clever two-worlds format (which was a genuine highlight of the first game) and promising an even more brutal dismemberment system. So, while the initial game had its challenges, the sequel seems poised to build on its strengths.
What's the take-away here, beyond the satisfying 'gotcha!' moment for CI Games? It's a stark reminder of the unique pressures and scrutiny game developers face. Every screenshot, every snippet of information, is dissected and debated with fervent passion. It also highlights the importance of transparency and keeping those 'receipts' – in this digital age, proof of concept and development timelines are golden. For us gamers, it’s a lesson in gentle skepticism: question the hype, question the accusations, and always, *always* look for the full story before joining the online mob. Because sometimes, mate, what looks like plagiarism is just a couple of great minds independently conjuring up similar visions of a heavily armoured warrior. Or, you know, just a really common fantasy trope.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to see if my neighbour *really* invented that teleportation spell, or if I just accidentally stumbled upon it myself...
Tags: Soulslike, Game Development, Plagiarism Accusations, Lords of the Fallen, Elden Ring
Original article: Game Rant