The Lords of the Fallen 2 Team Had to Prove There Was No Plagiarism of Elden Ring Nightreign
Lords of the Fallen is one of the games most similar to the Souls series created outside of FromSoftware. It has several innovations that set it apart from competitors — for example, the double-reality lamp mechanic allows players to seamlessly see the dark realm hidden behind the real world. Yet, its medieval gothic fantasy atmosphere and complex combat system will make any FromSoftware fan feel at home.
However, following the recent announcement of a new enemy type for the upcoming sequel Lords of the Fallen 2, developer CI Games had to defend itself against plagiarism accusations, and now the company’s CEO has released evidence showing they did not copy design from Elden Ring Nightreign.
In a post on Lords of the Fallen's social media pages, a new character model was presented. Dressed in silver armor adorned with blue fabric, in a helmet covering the entire face, and with a massive jagged sword on his shoulder, this as-yet-unnamed enemy type or NPC looks suitably formidable for Lords of the Fallen 2. A member of the Crescent Order, "dedicated to Menasilde, the moon goddess of tides and transitions," he represents an intimidating foe. However, comments on the post show many people pointing out similarities between his design and Wilder, one of the character classes from Elden Ring Nightreign.
In a message from the studio's founder and CEO Marek Tyminski, he shares a screenshot of an internal Slack message, showing an employee posting the same character render (referred to in the message as HallowedBro) used in the image CI published on social media yesterday.
I am pleased to prove that yesterday's plagiarism accusations are 100% false. It was alleged that the new standard enemy copied Wilder’s armor from Nightreign. This armor was finalized on July 17, 2024 — more than five months before Nightreign's announcement — and the finished model was already implemented into the game engine by October 23, 2024. The character image from Lords of the Fallen 2 was shown in a private message at the workplace.
Visual coincidences can occur in the design of medieval fantasy settings. We respect FromSoftware, but we do not copy other studios. Lords of the Fallen's armor design has received wide acclaim, and we are confident that the sequel will be no exception. We fully support our artists, their originality, and the integrity of their work.