Last night's Game Awards wasn't the greatest ever, but it certainly gave us a glimpse of some potentially amazing games. However, one title in particular stood out for the wrong reason: it was similar (too similar) to CDPR. Cyberpunk 2077.
And that would be No lawdeveloped by Neon Giant from Climbing fame and published by the self-proclaimed pioneer of artificial intelligence, Krafton. Neon Giant's track record is truly great: Climbing it's one of the most visually striking games I've ever seen or played. The film is also set in a cyberpunk environment that delves into the realm of science fiction, making the cyberpunk atmosphere more of an artistic choice than an actual setting.
Despite this, the studio has established itself as a true team of creatives focused on science fiction and cyberpunk, which naturally led to the creation of more ambitious and large-scale games such as No law there should be. And everything would be fine if the game didn’t have such a big, eerie resemblance to CDPR’s 2020 game. Cyberpunk 2077.
Last night while watching the TGA show I saw No law made me think it was something Cyberpunk 2077-connected. The first-person view, the animation, the flow of the battle – all this reminded me of the CDPR game, not to mention the fragment showing a certain location, which is extremely difficult to distinguish. Cyberpunk 2077“Afterlife”.
Now, I understand that a first-person cyberpunk game is bound to have some similarities to what's already been created, but I can't for the life of me tell you that it won't. Cyberpunk 2077 if you hadn't told me. This brings me to my biggest fear about Neon Giant's upcoming game: it could end up in the same situation Tencent finds itself in. Lights of Motiram.
Sony has sued the company for stealing its assets, ideas and style, and is currently embroiled in a massive legal battle that has resulted in Motiram Light stop development. If No law doesn't show off more unique elements in the near future, I have a feeling CDPR might not like what the studio did here and might sue just like Sony.
This could ultimately lead to a potentially good game getting bogged down in a lawsuit because it chooses to follow established styles instead of developing something new, even if it's a derivative of one CDPR itself created.
No law offers an interesting setting and story, such as the city of Port Desire, which is an anarcho-corporate hellscape, but the way it implements everything makes it too close to the existing game, so much so that telling them apart becomes a real headache.
We'll have to wait and see how the game develops further, how its style evolves and translates into actual gameplay. But for now, its future appears to be hanging in the balance, and CDPR could decide to cut it short at any moment.
