Shameless Baldur's Gate 3 ripoff gets a much-deserved finger wagging from Larian

News
By published

This might just be the most shameless video game ripoff I've ever seen

Balder War
(Image credit: Initial Link)

An absolutely shameless, and thankfully short-lived, mobile Baldur's Gate 3 ripoff got the attention of Larian Studios, which gave it a much-deserved finger wagging.

At the time of writing, it does appear that *shudders* Balder War has been delisted from the the App Store, and it's hard to believe it was even a legitimate product at any point. I'm ashamed to even share this promotional image at risk of validating this unabashed clone and its yassified Astarion, but for the story's sake, here's the Baldur's Gate 3 promotional art it's cribbing from: 

Baldur's Gate 3

(Image credit: Larian Studios)

The only substantial difference between the two images is the fact that the characters in the ripoff have normal human faces, as if developer *checks notes* Initial Link just ran the Baldur's Gate 3 image through a filter that gives everyone the most generic video game face ever.

For its part, Larian's director of publishing Michael Douse shared an image from Balder War and accompanied it with a GIF of Judge Judy wagging her finger in disappointment. I would've preferred something a little more topical, like maybe the Faith Militant's Septa Unella from Game of Thrones repeatedly shouting "shame," but the message is clear all the same: don't do this, kids.

It's unclear if Larian got involved in a legal capacity with Balder War, but it does appear to have been scrubbed from online storefronts and buried in the annals of weird gaming history relatively quickly. 

Oddly enough, Hollow Knight fans recently found themselves in a similar position after a batch of Silksong ripoffs was found on app stores. 

A bunch of players were recently the target of Larian's finger wagging when Baldur's Gate 3's enormous Patch 3 quietly killed the most messed-up option in the game.

Jordan Gerblick
Jordan Gerblick

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.