The studio behind indie soulslike Bleak Faith: Forsaken has denied claims that it ripped off Elden Ring.
Bleak Faith: Forsaken, the new indie soulslike from developer Archangel Studios, launched last week on PC, and from first glance, FromSoftware's influence can be seen in everything from its dark fantasy visuals to its gruelling combat. But some feel the similarities go beyond mere likeness, and there are claims that Archangel stole animations used in Bleak Faith: Forsaken from Elden Ring.
On Twitter, Dark Souls modder Meowmaritus accused the developer of exporting animations from the acclaimed FromSoftware title using their modding software, the Dark Souls Animation Studio. Meowmaritus wrote, "Bleak Faith: Forsaken is "100% using animations ripped directly 1:1 from Elden Ring". They added, "I do NOT condone people using my DS Anim Studio software to aid in exporting animations to include in commercial products or sell them on Epic Games Store."
Saw this footage floating around. Bleak Faith: Forspoken is 100% using animations ripped directly 1:1 from Elden Ring. I do NOT condone people using my DS Anim Studio software to aid in exporting animations to include in commercial products or sell them on Epic Games Store. pic.twitter.com/9JHGMeu9asMarch 12, 2023
The tweet was accompanied by a video showing a side-by-side comparison of various animations from both games. The footage highlights the similarity between attacking with the claymore in Bleak Faith and using the uchigatana and the straight sword in Elden Ring. It also shows how certain enemy attacks in the new soulslike bear an uncanny resemblance to foe's movements in FromSoftware's latest offering.
In response to the claims, Archangel issued a statement claiming that the animations weren't stolen but purchased on the Epic Marketplace from an asset-seller known as PersiaNinja. "We've always been transparent about using the Epic Marketplace for animations that are good and fit our theme," the developer said. They also pointed out that Bleak Faith's "entire world was built by hand" and that only "about 10% of the art is outsourced".
Acknowledging Archangel's response in a follow-up tweet, Meowmaritus wrote, "I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. I'm mostly mad at the person who uploaded the assets". A quick look on PersiaNinja's store page on the Epic Marketplace shows that it now displays the message "no content found", so seemingly, the controversy surrounding Bleak Souls: Forsaken has resulted in the assets being pulled from sale.
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