Nodusfall vs Elden Ring: The Starting Line of a Race Without a Finish

A trailer less than two minutes long. An ashen sky, a white-winged warrior spreading his wings, and within hours, the global gaming community was split into two camps: one raising the banner of "rip-off," the other standing still and waiting for real gameplay. For me, this moment does not resemble a match caught mid-field, but a 400-meter sprinter's starting block: all eyes are on the starting line, yet the medal can only be decided at the finish. I entered the archive as an archaeologist, and I left as a storyteller. The Nodusfall story, to me, is exposing the exact rhythm I have listened to for years: the rhythm of a sprint being judged by its first steps.

The context must be repeated, because it matters more than any emotional claim. HoYoverse, the Chinese company behind famous gacha titles such as Genshin Impact and the Honkai series, has just announced its new project called Nodusfall. For the first time in its development history, HoYoverse abandons bright anime style to step into a dark fantasy world with realistic graphics and cooperative gameplay. The biggest highlight: four players hunt bosses together, a mechanic many people compare to Monster Hunter rather than a purely single-player action RPG. But as soon as the first frames of the trailer appeared, a wave of comparisons to FromSoftware's Elden Ring erupted fiercely. Players pointed at characters whose designs reminded them of Malenia, a white-haired woman evoking Melina, and then dropped a heavy word: rip-off.

I have followed many major sporting tournaments, and I have noticed a recurring rule: audiences cheer or boo before the athlete has even finished warming up. The plagiarism accusation this time is no different. It is based on two elements: a short trailer and a series of side-by-side images. There is no gameplay, no mechanical comparison, no test of the actual feel of the game. In sports, this is like concluding that a sprinter is "mediocre" simply because his starting posture resembles a rival's. Viewers can see the frame, but they cannot see the breathing, the energy distribution, or the tactical decisions at the curve. With Nodusfall, all the elements that create a game's identity are still hidden behind the curtain.

The point I want to emphasize is at the core: the four-player co-op mechanic is the clearest evidence refuting the accusation of "copying Elden Ring." In most soulslike games, the player faces a harsh world alone, and solitude is an essential part of the experience. Elden Ring took this solitude to a new level with an enormous open world. But Nodusfall chooses the opposite path: bringing four players into the same boss hunt, turning a survival fight into a harmonious collaboration. In track and field terms, Elden Ring is a lonely marathon, while Nodusfall is a 4x400-meter relay, where every leg depends on the team's chemistry. Comparing two experiences that are so different simply because they wear the same dark tone is a serious analytical mistake.

Of course, the influence of Elden Ring cannot be denied. Since its release in 2026, the game won Game of the Year and became an unmissable milestone in the gaming industry. That enormous success created a wave of new projects adopting similar combat styles, somber world designs, and mystical atmospheres. Nodusfall, whether it wants to or not, is also standing in that flow. But standing in a flow does not mean copying. Many legendary athletes come from the same training curriculum and run on the same track, yet each reaches the finish with a rhythm entirely their own. The surface-level similarity between Nodusfall and Elden Ring only tells us that HoYoverse is learning the standards set by FromSoftware; it does not yet tell us anything about the true value of this game.

Look at HoYoverse's own history. When Genshin Impact first launched, it was labeled "a game similar to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild," even directly called a "clone." But once players actually took hold of it, they realized the elemental combat system, the four-character party, and the gacha business model created a completely different identity. Genshin Impact not only survived the criticism; it rose to become one of the highest-grossing games in the world. From my experience following matches and media races, I have learned that the first sprint never determines the final standing. The only thing that can judge an athlete, or a game, is the entire race.

However, I also want to look at the negative side. The community's anger is intense enough to use the word "rip-off," which is not a signal to be taken lightly. In football, a player suspected of diving is scrutinized in every subsequent touch. Nodusfall will now be examined under a similar lens: any frame that resembles Elden Ring will immediately be magnified, while original elements may be ignored. This is a real tactical disadvantage. But I also see a hidden opportunity: if HoYoverse soon releases long gameplay footage showing the four-player boss-hunting mechanic running smoothly and distinctly, this very controversy will become a massive marketing engine. Korir did not explode in Tokyo. Tokyo merely happened to stand near a brewing storm. Nodusfall might be in the same position: the negative attention today can be converted into the motivation to attract eyes tomorrow, if the final product is convincing enough.

I remember the debate around the 800-meter race at the Tokyo Olympics. Before the final, most experts predicted a high-tempo race where Kenyan champion Emmanuel Korir would start slowly and be left behind. But that very counter-rhythm, what I call the negative split, was what carried him to the gold medal. Korir was not faster than anyone in the first 200 meters; he simply ran smarter over the final 600 meters. With Nodusfall, I have witnessed a suspicious start, but I have not yet seen the middle of the race. I have not seen how four players coordinate to take down a massive boss, how the class system creates differences from a solo soulslike battle, or how the open world functions. If all of that is shown well, today's side-by-side images will become nothing but ashes in the archive of a race that reached the finish line.

From a legal perspective, everything remains in the realm of public opinion. No lawsuit has been filed, and there is no evidence of direct copying of artistic assets. In copyright law, game mechanics and dark fantasy settings are almost impossible to monopolize. FromSoftware cannot claim exclusive ownership of every desolate world with punishing combat. If Nodusfall only evokes visual resemblance, that is genre learning, not infringement. But I must also warn about a dangerous scenario: do not let the second wave explode when the game officially releases. If players then pick it up and feel the gameplay is genuinely similar to Elden Ring in a vague way, the community will consider the initial accusations justified, and the reaction will be far more intense than today.

What is interesting is how the community describes Nodusfall, revealing a fascinating contradiction: they call it an "Elden Ring clone," while also comparing it to "Elden Ring meets Monster Hunter." That second description is a sign that players sense the mechanical difference, even if they do not consciously admit it. When someone watches a relay race, they might say the runners are "copying" each other, but what they are actually seeing is coordination, handoff rhythm, and the difference in each athlete's role. I choose the second reading. Nodusfall is opening a door Elden Ring never stepped through: turning a lonely experience into a choral harmony. If HoYoverse achieves that, today's controversy will become a milestone in creating a new playground, where players do not merely watch each other run but run together.

The gaming industry, like sports, operates in cycles. After every Olympics, people talk about records, but they also wait for the next generation of athletes to break them. Elden Ring marked an era, but it is not the end of the soulslike genre. Nodusfall could be the new athlete daring to run the same track with a different cadence. I do not have enough evidence to say it will succeed, but I also do not have enough evidence to call it a clone. For me, this is the moment to patiently observe the middle of the race instead of shouting a verdict from the stands. Only when I stopped running did I hear the song of the Kazan stadium. And only when Nodusfall fully reveals its gameplay will we know whether today's cheers are applause for a new beginning or boos for an unrecoverable stumble.