Nodusfall: The Elden Ring Rip-Off Accusation and HoYoverse's Identity Game

When the Nodusfall trailer first appeared on screen, viewers didn't need to see the studio name to feel a jolt down their spine. A white-winged warrior holding a sword amidst ruined remnants, the figure of a silver-haired woman hidden in mist. Within hours, thousands of comments flooded in: "How is this not Elden Ring?" "This is a rip-off." Sitting in front of my screen in Shanghai, I recalled the night in Doha in 2026 when I broke the news of Chelsea signing Enzo. I had only a short clip and a vague source, but I knew I was looking at a clear signal. With Nodusfall, the community signal is loud, but also highly fallible. In the 2026 archives, I learned to listen to the rustle of bills before seeing the paperwork. With this game, we have only heard the rustle of bills from a reveal trailer. HoYoverse, the Chinese company behind Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail, is known for its bright anime style and gacha mechanics. Nodusfall is a radical turn: abandoning anime, shifting to realistic dark fantasy, and focusing on cooperative boss hunting. This is a major strategic decision. From my 2026 World Cup analysis, I understand that when a giant changes direction, the market always reacts strongly. But that reaction often comes from fear of the new, not from understanding. The COVID season taught me one thing — when people stop meeting, data starts talking. Looking at current data: Elden Ring, released in 2026, won numerous Game of the Year awards and sold over 20 million copies. It redefined the soulslike genre, ushering in an era where any dark fantasy game is measured against FromSoftware's visual vocabulary. Nodusfall, even in its first trailer, contains images that evoke Malenia, Melina, and the lands of Limgrave. But is evocation plagiarism? Is using a sword and wearing armor an act of copying? The answer lies in mechanics. Nodusfall is not a single-player clone. It focuses on cooperative boss hunting with up to four players. This is the core difference, bringing it closer to Monster Hunter than to Elden Ring. In Monster Hunter, players hunt giant monsters in groups, each with a role, combining skills to take down the boss. Nodusfall seems to apply that model to a dark fantasy world. Elden Ring, despite having co-op, is designed as a single-player experience with exploration and story at its core. Comparing Nodusfall to Elden Ring in terms of gameplay is fundamentally misguided. Looking at gaming history: mechanics are not subject to copyright protection. Copyright law only protects specific expressions such as character designs, source code, and names. The community can call Nodusfall a rip-off, but that is merely a comment from a portion of players, not an official legal conclusion. FromSoftware would struggle to sue over a winged character or a silver-haired woman, archetypes that have existed in popular culture for ages. Successful lawsuits are based on direct asset copying, not overall style. However, the real risk lies not in the courtroom, but in the court of public opinion. When the community labels Nodusfall "rip-off," they are judging a game that has only just revealed a few minutes of footage. There is no gameplay, no real evaluation, no one knows how it feels in hand. I have witnessed many deals fail because one piece of misinformation spread faster than the truth. A beer in Moscow doesn't sign contracts, but it pours something stronger: belief. And the gaming community's belief is often based on pre-existing biases. HoYoverse is a controversial company. A segment of Western gamers criticizes the gacha model, calling it gambling. Others dislike the overly anime style. When Nodusfall unveiled its dark fantasy trailer, those people saw an opportunity to attack. They don't care about mechanical differences; they see images that remind them of Elden Ring and immediately jump to conclusions. This is a classic confirmation bias. The community already harbored animosity toward HoYoverse, and the Nodusfall trailer became the perfect excuse. But what really happens when a game is labeled "rip-off" too early? Look at HoYoverse's own reaction. They haven't made a single statement. In the transfer market, when a false rumor becomes too loud, the parties involved usually stay silent or deny vaguely. That silence does not mean admission. It means they are waiting for the right moment to unveil their hand. Nodusfall has almost certainly been in development for years, with a massive budget. A company with billions in revenue like HoYoverse will not cancel a project just because of trailer backlash. They will change their marketing strategy. What is the blind spot in the "Nodusfall copies Elden Ring" story? It is the absence of any real gameplay analysis. The debates revolve around still images and short clips. No one knows if the combat system resembles Dark Souls, no one knows how 4-player cooperation changes fight pacing, no one knows if the story has its own identity. A smart analyst would not draw conclusions from a 2-minute reveal. But the internet community is not an analyst. They judge emotionally, and emotion is fueling a silent boycott. Another angle: if Nodusfall is truly a cooperative boss-hunting game, then comparing it to Elden Ring is entirely misleading. Imagine a player entering Nodusfall expecting "a second Elden Ring." They will be disappointed because the pacing is different, because they must coordinate with teammates, because bosses have mechanics requiring group tactics. That disappointment will create unfair negative reviews. This is the trap of misidentification. Conversely, if gamers approach with the mindset "Elden Ring meets Monster Hunter," they will have a much more accurate experience. From an industry perspective, this controversy reflects a larger trend: Chinese companies are attacking the premium console/PC market. HoYoverse succeeded spectacularly in mobile gacha, but its reputation for high-end game design still lags behind Japanese studios like FromSoftware. Nodusfall is a test of whether that gap is closing. The Chinese have plenty of money and scale, but they lack design pedigree. This is the moment to prove they can master a genre rooted in Dark Souls. In my view, the biggest risk is not a copyright lawsuit or commercial failure. It is reputational risk. If the "rip-off" label sticks, it will erode HoYoverse's brand value. Players may not distinguish Nodusfall from their other products, and they will view the entire company through the lens of "copycat." That is far more dangerous than one game underperforming. Conversely, if HoYoverse releases a long gameplay showcase showing the 4-player co-op system working smoothly, featuring intense boss fights, the controversy could quickly subside. It could even become a marketing lever: "We are not copying Elden Ring; we are pushing the soulslike genre in a new direction." In gaming history, there is no shortage of titles initially called "clones" that later gained recognition for their own identity. Genshin Impact was once dubbed a "Breath of the Wild clone," but it became a global phenomenon with its own style, from character switching to storyline. Players rarely call Genshin a copy today. Nodusfall could follow the same trajectory. The community will forget the initial accusations if the game is truly good and different. But there's also the opposite scenario: if Nodusfall launches with gameplay that feels exactly like Elden Ring but inferior, the backlash will be even stronger, because everyone will feel validated in their early accusations. The only way to break this impasse is data. I learned from COVID that when there are no real matches, spreadsheets become the only weapon. For Nodusfall, they need a detailed comparison chart between their gameplay elements and Elden Ring: different stamina systems, targeting mechanics, healing pacing, four-person combo coordination, boss art style. If these differences are presented clearly in a 10-minute video, the community cannot blindly criticize. But if HoYoverse continues to hide gameplay, suspicion will only grow. Insiders never say "we copied" or "we didn't copy." Only outsiders are that certain. What I want to emphasize is that the community's current certainty comes from a short trailer, while game developers hold all the information. They know whether their game truly resembles Elden Ring. They know if the accusations are baseless or justified. And they will choose when to respond. I can only speculate based on available signals: the co-op mechanic signal, the brand transition signal, and the signal of an easily provoked community segment. If I were HoYoverse's marketing director today, I wouldn't panic. I would see this as an opportunity to create a new dialogue. I would release a series of comparison videos highlighting the major differences between Nodusfall and Elden Ring, turning the controversy into a lesson about the diversity of the soulslike genre. I would invite major gaming content creators to play a beta build and share their impressions. I would use the wave of outrage itself to boost brand awareness. Because in the gaming market, attention, even negative, is an asset. As long as the final product is good enough, the so-called "scandal" becomes a chapter in a success story. The important question is not whether Nodusfall resembles Elden Ring. It is whether HoYoverse can prove they have a unique vision. History has shown that the term "rip-off" is often used too early. Consider the music industry: how many artists were labeled "copycats" only to become legends in their own right? Don't rush to judge a game that no one has played yet. Wait until the screen flashes "Press Start" on the finished product. Then we can talk. But I fear that with the speed of the internet community, patience is a rare luxury.