Gods of Asgard sure look like Hades

We all did it. Usually, “it” means taking the test answers off the child in front of you, or pretending that you are the one who made up this really funny joke. More rarely, “it” means copy and paste a much acclaimed and hugely successful game down to the pixel. Well, allow me to introduce you Myth: Gods of Asgard.

Myth: Gods of Asgard is a dungeon-crawling roguelike played from an isometric perspective. You play a character from the Nordic myth – Thor, Valkyrie, Siegfried or “many other characters” according to the description of the game on YouTube – and your task is to put a stop to Ragnarok. As you progress through the runs, you can earn “blessings” from the “Asgard Gods” who “augment your strength.” Here’s a 12-minute clip of gameplay footage that made the Internet rounds this weekend:

As of this writing, there are more than 120 comments on the video, most of which share a similar opinion. A sampling:

• “HAHAHAHAHA THAT’S literally HADES”
• “It looks more like that Hades than any other Supergiant game looks like Hades. What a slap in the face for the company known for their willingness to push their design forward! “
• “That is literally Hades re-skinned. “
• “They absolutely stole every part Hades and threw up a terrible skin and called it a new game. “
• “Hades to minimal “
• “This is one of the ones I can copy your homework moments”
• “AHAHAHAHAHA”

Disagreeing with that is a difficult feeling. Top down, Myth: Gods of Asgard bears a striking resemblance to Hades, right down to the stylized doors.

Hades, for those who don’t know, is a scruffy roguelike played from an isometric perspective. You play as Zagreus, the son of Hades, and you have the unique goal of escaping the underworld. As you progress through the runs, you are your bestOwed with blessings from Olympic gods, who give you new skills and make you more powerful in general. Here is a gameplay trailer:

But you probably knew all that. At long last, Hades, developed by Supergiant Games and published for the first time via Early Access in 2018, is one of the great success stories in gaming in recent years. Supergiant was released last September Version 1.0 to immediate applause. As a GameSpot reported

, during the introductory week, Hades crossed the million dollar sales mark, a third of which were sold within days of official release. It showed itself to be impressive the Game Awards 2020, grabs more than half a dozen nominations and stands up against his own kind Spirit of Tsushima and The last of us part 2, both of which were backed by Sony’s Goliath marketing apparatus (and budgets). March, it won “best game” at the BAFTA Awards. The time will come later this year Playstation and Xboxwhere it will be available as part of the Game Pass library.

In other words, it’s nearly impossible to play games – let alone do they – and have neither seen nor heard of it Hades.

Continue reading: Why everyone is so horny Hades

Blatant copycats are of course not uncommon in the gaming world. Just this month, developer Pocketpair stunned the gaming world with trailer for Palworld, a seemingly open world game that has some suspicious features in it Pokémon– looking creature designs. And who can forget Super monster bros., the featured Mario-like platform gameplay and put the players in the lizard feet of a protagonist who can only be described as Offbrand Charmander?

There is more to be said about the nature of fan products and how derivative works can, to some extent, be their own form of flattery. But then you see things like the last line of mythYouTube’s description – literally, it says “Copyright by Gaming Mobile Channel” – and wonders. When there’s money on the table and copyright comes into play, do you show appreciation for a venerable work of art? Or have you crossed the line? (Gaming mobile channel declined to comment Kotaku.)

Myth: Gods of Asgard is currently planned for release on Android and iPhone. At the moment there doesn’t seem to be any official offers on any of the storefronts, although an Android beta is available via TapTap.io. (Kotaku did not test it. Download at your own risk.) According to this site, a “Mana Games” is the obvious developer behind it Myth: Gods of Asgard. Note that this is a different mana game than the France-based independent developer founded in 2004 The mainly publishes tennis games.

“We have nothing but the greatest respect Hades, [as] all of our members have spent more than 200 hours in the game, ”says the developer behind it Myth: Gods of Asgard wrote in a Facebook post. “We consider Hades as the ultimate work of American comic book style, but American comic book style isn’t necessarily Hades Style. We always tried to do better with an American comic book style, but we found that Hades’ Colors and tones are the correct answer; it really is a work of art. However, we will continue to learn, develop and challenge ourselves to make a better game. “

Mana games – the myth The developer, not the tennis developer, did not immediately respond to a request for comment in time for release.