Chinese gaming developer and publisher, Tencent has recently unveiled its brand new MMORG, “Tarisland” right after Blizzard and NetEase’s partnership contract ended and now people are pointing out the timing of the release and how the game looks a lot like Blizzard’s “World Of Warcraft.”
“Tarisland” is a new fantasy MMORPG with cartoonish aesthetics similar to Blizzard’s massively popular MMO. The game will feature a huge explorable open world with an action-based combat system. Players can explore the lands by flying, dive into dungeons with a large group of players, and follow an epic story full of heroes and villains. There are multiple fantasy races to choose from and different classes to master. Now any fantasy MMORPG has that, right? The issue stems from the visual design of the game and where concerns are raised. Everything from NPCs, vehicles, playable classes, races, environment, monsters, and even items all appear to be heavily inspired by Blizzard’s signature aesthetics for “World Of Warcraft.”
“Tarisland’s” announcement trailer was also called into question as the dragon featured in the video looks incredibly similar to “WoW’s” Deathwing. And speaking of dragons, the game also has a dragon riding feature, something that recently debuted in “WoW” with the “Dragonflight” expansion.
“World Of Warcraft” content creators and fans are now calling out Tencent for their “lack of originality.” It became so big that even Chris Metzen, one of the fathers of “World of Warcraft” noticed the similarities as well. Additionally, the reveal for “Tarisland” was conveniently announced just right after Blizzard games are set to shut down in China after their disastrous partnership break up with NetEase. The scheduling of the reveal was obviously an attempt to net players in China who played “WoW” and have no game to play anymore.
To give “Tarisland” credit, the gameplay is far from “World Of Warcraft.” it’s a bit more like “Genshin Impact” with its real-time action gameplay and active dodging. “Tarisland” is also clearly more polished since the game is developed with modern 3D graphics. Of course, whether the game is a rip-off or a “heavily inspired” kind of game, only the court can decide.
