Nodusfall and the Elden Ring Shadow: When Data Hasn't Spoken, Emotions Already Roar

The first trailer of Nodusfall had been online for less than 48 hours, and the gaming community had already split into two camps. One side pasted images of Nodusfall's winged character next to Elden Ring's Malenia, calling it evidence of 'rip-off'. The other side, a smaller minority, mentioned the 4-player co-op boss hunting mechanic – something Elden Ring never had. This incident reminds me of a principle I learned after 23 years of observing the sports industry: when the data table speaks, the stadium must learn to be silent. But here, the data table is still completely empty. Nodusfall is a new project from HoYoverse, the Chinese company famous for anime-style gacha games like Genshin Impact. This is a major strategic pivot: abandoning the anime style to enter the dark fantasy genre with realistic graphics. According to data I tracked from discussion channels, within just 48 hours, direct comparison posts between Nodusfall and Elden Ring spread at a dizzying pace. The community used the word 'rip-off' – a rather heavy term – when placing images of the two games side by side. Some believe HoYoverse went too far beyond just 'taking inspiration'. But there are also opinions that dark fantasy and soulslike are not things FromSoftware can monopolize. The interesting thing is that this debate is built on a very fragile foundation. All the community has is a few still images from the trailer. Not a single second of gameplay has been released. In sports, I have witnessed too many times a player being criticized based on a single moment, while their entire career tells a different story. Mbappe's feet always tell the truth, but I still need numbers to translate. And here, the numbers don't exist yet. The core differentiator that many overlook is the co-op boss hunting mechanic for up to 4 players. This is a gameplay element that could bring Nodusfall closer to Monster Hunter – a completely different genre in terms of actual experience compared to Elden Ring. If this mechanic is executed well, the visual similarities will only be a superficial shell. In football, I learned that a team can wear jerseys identical to their opponents, but how they move on the pitch is what defines their identity. Every number has a story, my job is not to ruin it – and here, the story is still being written. There is a counter-intuitive perspective I want to offer: visual similarity does not equate to mechanical similarity. In years of sports data analysis, I have witnessed the phenomenon of 'false correlation' many times – two things that look alike but are not related in essence. The community's hasty conclusion of 'rip-off' based solely on a few still images is a classic methodological error. From a legal perspective, copyright law typically does not protect gameplay mechanics or dark fantasy settings – only specific expressive elements such as character designs, art assets, or names can be considered infringing. The described similarities (a winged character 'reminding' of Malenia, a white-haired woman 'compared to' Melina) are archetypal rather than direct copies. The real question right now is not 'does Nodusfall rip off Elden Ring' – because no one has enough data to answer. The more important question is: can HoYoverse prove its own identity through gameplay? Gaming history has seen many titles suspected of being 'clones' that later established their position through actual quality. And conversely, many games have been forgotten precisely because they were too similar without their own highlights. At 39, I learned that data also hurts when distorted – and jumping to conclusions based on emotion is the worst way to distort data. I will closely track the next signal from HoYoverse. If they release gameplay focused on the co-op mechanic, the story will shift from 'clone' to 'differentiation'. If they stay silent for too long, the wave of criticism could shape public perception before the game even launches. In sports, I call that the 'information vacuum' – something the market always fills with rumors and emotion. The long-range shot in memory always goes into the top corner, but in the spreadsheet it flies straight at the goal. And here, the spreadsheet is still waiting for the first numbers from HoYoverse.