Only a few days ago it was confirmed during the Indie World Showcase the launch of Gleamlight in the eShop of Nintendo Switch throughout the summer of 2020.
This installment makes good use of the scenarios, the somber design and an ingenious game with the lights and shadows that give it a mysterious addition. However, it has a defect (or maybe a virtue, depending on how you look at it) that the viewers detected from the official announcement: it looks a lot like Hollow Knight.
Hollow knight it is a platform title, single player adventure; developed and published by Team Cherry with designs by Ari Gibson and William Pellen. The title had a favorable reception by the press and some media define it as a 2D masterpiece or "a new classic," according to PC Gamer
Hollow Knight is so popular in the community that fans have not been able to avoid noticing its strong influence on Gleamlight and they have had no qualms about pointing it out, accusing the title of "being inspired" or even of being "a cheeky copy." As is often the case in diverse communities, fan reactions vary in perplexity and indignation with resemblance.
You can see some tweets about it below:
Gleamlight: "Can you lend me your homework / homework?"
Hollow Knight: "Yes, sure, just don't copy everything the same."
Gleamlight: "Ok."
Gleamlight: "Can I borrow your homework"
Hollow Knight: "Yeah sure just don't copy it exactly"
Gleamlight: "ok" pic.twitter.com/3hpVvMuxtm
– ShawnEXE (@shawn_exe) December 10, 2019
Gleamlight is a cheeky copy of Hollow Knight
Gleamlight is a fucking Hollow Knight rip off pic.twitter.com/ePGhk0DMTx
– Void (@nome_vazio) December 10, 2019
The more you see it, the more you realize that Gleamlight is just a bad clone of Hollow Knight.
The more you look into it, the more you realize Gleamlight is just a bad Hollow Knight clone pic.twitter.com/jW9CKSasOW
– Void (@nome_vazio) December 10, 2019
It's still crazy how much Gleamlight looks like a copy of Hollow Knight … Even the design of the environments …
https://twitter.com/GamesCageZ/status/1204637858348318720
I think what bothers me the most is that Hollow Knight is unique in so many different ways, from history to design style and music; and Gleamlight didn't even TRY to do his things differently.
i think what bothers me the most is that hollow knight is unique in so many different ways, from storyline to art style to music score & gleamlight didn't even ATTEMPT to make theirs different. i feel for @TeamCherryGames what with silksong on the way pic.twitter.com/PnpQoqVP2B
– chelsea³⁶⁵ 🖤 (@tsukiterasu) December 11, 2019
The comments on the YouTube video also follow the same line, accusing the game of being a copy of Hollow Knight and remembering that they are already waiting for the announced sequel to the game, Silksong
Without going too far, your comments in the news of the game announcement did not let the similarity of Gleamlight with Hollow knight:
Given all these criticisms, Polygon got in touch with D3Publisher and the developer responded with the following message:
Gleamlight is still in development and is not in its final version at this time. The development team is aware of "Hollow Knight" but the game has nothing to do with that title.
Sometimes it is difficult to define the line between inspiration and appropriation, but because of the reaction of the fans, it may be Gleamlight I have crossed it. What do you think about it? Even if the developer has not inflicted any legal norms, could the disapproval of Hollow Knight fans affect her sales?
Via.
