How Light of Motiram Mirrors PlayStation’s Horizon and Palworld Takes Cues from Pokémon

Hey, guess what? We’ve got another game that seems like a straight-up copycat, and it’s probably going to land them in hot water legally real soon. The gaming giant Tencent Games and its subsidiary, Polaris Quest, have just unveiled Light of Motiram. It’s their ‘totally not the same’ version of PlayStation’s Horizon series. Surprisingly, this one’s an MMO that’s initially only hitting PCs.

This announcement pretty much came out of the blue. There was a detailed press release captured by Gematsu, complete with trailers, screenshots, and a Steam page that already spills quite a bit of info. The game will also be available on the Epic Games Store. As for how much it’ll cost or if it will be free-to-play? No word on that just yet.

On the bright side for the folks behind Palworld, they can probably breathe a sigh of relief for a bit, since Light of Motiram is likely to grab the spotlight in the upcoming weeks for being an obvious copy of a well-established property. It’s tough to think Sony won’t react and start throwing lawyers at Tencent. Seriously, from the overall look to creature designs that had me doing double and even triple takes, Light of Motiram really seems to be pushing the boundaries.

Want to take a peek? They’ve dropped a teaser trailer among other videos, and here’s a taste:

The funny part about this whole situation is that this announcement surfaces even before PlayStation has officially rolled out its own online-only Horizon game. That seems like their big attempt at breaking into the live-service space, which has been giving them plenty of headaches recently. If Palworld’s early success taught us anything, it’s that casual gamers don’t mind if a game looks a lot like somebody else’s as long as it’s entertaining. If Polaris Quest nails the gameplay loop, PlayStation and Guerrilla might have to watch their backs with their live-service version of Horizon—a legal spat might just be on the way!

Light of Motiram aims to stick to the survival and crafting gameplay that’s been raking in profits lately. The combat seems to mimic Monster Hunter-style battles, which makes sense when you’re trying to adapt Horizon’s machine fights into a co-op setting. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if Guerrilla is heading in that direction with their long-awaited Horizon project, too.

Here’s a glimpse of the action in Light of Motiram, and no, it’s not Horizon:

Honestly, this is just another hurdle for Horizon’s rocky journey. Despite the franchise seemingly becoming one of Sony’s flagship products, it’s struggled to maintain buzz beyond the initial launch period. It constantly ends up releasing alongside much more exciting games, and from what I’ve heard, the recent Lego Horizon Adventures didn’t exactly light up the sales charts on PC.

Even the planned live-action series on Netflix has hit a snag. PlayStation Studios and Netflix have put things on pause after reports emerged about showrunner Steve Blackman, known for Umbrella Academy, creating a “toxic work environment.” Ouch.