Genshin Impact clone The Legend of Neverland is raising controversy

After the colossal success of Genshin Impact, we've predicted that it wouldn't take many years before we'd see a stream of clones. Some of these may be coincidences, others can be downright obvious attempts to cash in on the popularity of miHoYo's open world RPG. While Tower of Fantasy seems to be a game capable of standing comparisons, The Legend of Neverland will have a tougher time defending its case. Developed by Gameark, the Genshin Impact clone The Legend of Neverland has recently ended a closed beta in China, and is now getting attention from the rest of the world.

Don't Miss: Genshin Impact coming to Epic Games Store in June

The Legend of Neverland already has a Play Store page up and running, although it's only for SEA territories. The Facebook page is live as well, with a few videos where you can see brief glimpses of gameplay. One of the things it has going for it is that it's an actual MMORPG, like Tower of Fantasy – Genshin Impact is mostly a solo game with a co-op option thrown in. The world is called Cabala, and players are Cabala Warriors.

However, where things get weird is when you spot The Legend of Neverland advertisements, as noticed by Daniel Ahmad. Some of the images contain pieces of assets that are clearly taken from Genshin Impact, including the Mondstadt church, the big tree in Windrise, and even a character that looks like Amber with a new haircut and minus the bunny ears. Check for yourselves:

New Genshin Impact clone just dropped pic.twitter.com/wwias90kQz

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) June 3, 2021

Still, this doesn't mean that there isn't a game behind The Legend of Neverland. The artwork is very cute – although the in-game models are clearly inferior to Genshin Impact's – and the fact that it's an actual MMORPG means that you have different systems in play, including different classes. You can be a Swordsman, Ranger, Scholar, and Craftsman, among others, and there's a very simple (for now) character creation system.

There's mounts, life skills (fishing, bug hunting…), guild wars, and more. You can check this page for a handful of videos, some of them showing very decent gameplay.

Is this Genshin Impact clone The Legend of Neverland capable of rising above its premature label? We're not at the same level where miHoYo's game was accused of plagiarizing Breath of the Wild; this game is even looking for Genshin Impact when creating its advertisements, so there's an obvious goal here. Only time will tell how this story will end, and if there's such a thing as a The Legend of Neverland global release in the future.