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The developers of Monster Fantasy have addressed comments that its upcoming title is perhaps a bit too similar to Capcom's Monster Hunter series.

Last month, the reveal trailer for Monster Fantasy was revealed from Jotoyo. The game is described as an action RPG with life sim elements, however, the trailer caught the eyes of many for another reason, that being some striking resemblances to another game with Monster in the title.

Now, the gaming community does have a bit of a tendency to be quick to label things a "ripoff" at the slightest similarity. Most new indie farming sims will be dubbed a Stardew ripoff (even if Story of Seasons heavily inspired Stardew), and we can even look as far back as the likes of Uncharted being dubbed a Tomb Raider ripoff and Digimon being called a Pokemon ripoff. However, I absolutely see the similarities when it comes to Monster Fantasy.

The game's trailer opens up with some landscape shots of biomes that look strikingly similar to the biomes from Monster Hunter Rise, and the music feels a few notes away from being the Capcom series theme song Proof of a Hero – with a similar build up to its main melody – as a Rathalos lookalike emerges. Fans have even noticed similarities with some of the weapon animations, specifically the bow and sword. The comments on the trailer aren't exactly shy about it either, with the refrain of "we got monster hunter at home" being a common comment.

In a Steam FAQ (via Automaton ) posted by the developers, the team is facing the comparison head on, with a question titled: "The game looks very similar to Monster Hunter. Does it have its own unique features?" The developers respond: "Monster Hunter is indeed one of our sources of inspiration, and our core creators are big fans of the series. However, Monster Fantasy places greater emphasis on the new experiences created by the interaction between different gameplay systems."

It continues, "We understand that some of the combat demonstrations in the trailer may remind players of Monster Hunter. However, once players actually try the game, we believe they will find that the overall experience is quite different."

The post claims that the hunting "is only one part of our gameplay" and the developers really want to present "a fantasy world where, beyond hunting and combat, players can truly immerse themselves: building villages, enjoying a relaxed life, and forming friendly relationships with villagers."

The devs add, "Of course, the content we have shown so far is still from an early stage, and we understand that some footage may have given players the impression of a high degree of similarity. We have taken this feedback seriously and are already adjusting and improving the design."

Obviously, there's nothing wrong with games taking inspiration from others, we wouldn't have most of the games we love if not for that, but sometimes the similarities are a touch too blatant to ignore. Especially when we've seen instances like the Pokemon Palworld alleged patent infringement lawsuit , even when the survival game is a different experience than Pokemon, it maybe wore some of its inspirations a little too much on its sleeve for The Pokemon Company to ignore – and the massive success probably didn't help.

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The Blood of Dawnwalker is taking remarkably big swings for developer Rebel Wolves' debut game. I played the upcoming RPG for four hours earlier this month , and came away fascinated by how physically it involves the player in its world. Time is an action point-style resource that keeps the game's world moving forward, while protagonist Coen's playstyle varies greatly as a vampire by night and human by day.

While its third-person action and open-world setting betray its developer's experience on RPG hits The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 , The Blood of Dawnwalker shows a clear drive to go deeper on role-playing elements. Catching up with game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, I suggest that a lot of the game's depth is typically reserved for isometric-style RPGs – think Baldur's Gate and Fallout, wherein rules and systems are used to reinforce their respective fantasies.

In another life, The Blood of Dawnwalker could have mirrored those examples even closer. "At the beginning of the game, we knew we wanted it to be third-person," shares Tomaszkiewicz, "[but] when we started thinking about combat, we thought maybe we would make it isometric."

"In the end, we thought that telling the story and being immersed with your characters is best when you see it all the time on screen," the director continues. "A big part of RPGs is itemization – changing your character, putting new clothes and weapons on, and so on. You want to see them on your character all the time, and in isometric games it works but the characters are smaller and the details are harder to see. We knew we had the technology and know-how to do really detailed characters, knew those materials would be really good, and decided to create a third-person [perspective] where you can change the distance from the character."

Fighting talk

(Image credit: Rebel Wolves) Starstruck

(Image credit: Bandai Namco) The Blood of Dawnwalker star was "slightly too excited" in his audition to veteran Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 devs: "I probably shouldn't have looked that up"

Rebel Wolves opted for real-time combat for the same immersive gains. "The goal we had was to not create combat where you see pretty stuff on the screen, like you're pressing a button and watching a movie. We wanted you to feel that you are in the center of combat, that you need to observe your opponent, and react, and learn to fight. I compare it to Guitar Hero, because there is a similar feeling that in the beginning – you cannot hit these buttons! – and after a week, you're doing it really fast [...] Here, you'll also have this learning curve."

I expected The Blood of Dawnwalker's combat to mirror The Witcher 3, which Tomaszkiewicz directed, but in play it's quicker and more dynamic. Your mouse or analog stick input determines the direction Coen's attack swings from – mixing it up makes enemies less likely to block your blows – and similarly, blocking or parrying a blow requires matching the direction it's aimed from.

How Coen fights depends on the time of day. When the sun is up, he's a fairly normal swordfighter, able to use combat techniques via an ability wheel – but not his vampiric powers. Those are limited to nocturnal use, letting Coen fight with his claws and other supernatural powers. A Dishonored-style blink allows you to reposition instantly and often, and while you can't heal by eating food in vampire form, you can snatch an enemy in combat to gain health with quick gulps of their blood.

(Image credit: Rebel Wolves) Playing Coen at the start of his journey means I don't have access to some of his more dramatic powers, but it already feels exceptional – comparable to Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 and Dragon's Dogma 2, but easier to get to grips with. It's right on the sweet spot, involved enough for the sickos and straightforward enough for more casual fans – how did Rebel Wolves get there without over-cooking?

"Oh god, it was a lot of iteration," laughs Tomaszkiewicz. Combat started with a simpler concept and "quite easy" opponents, but it "started to get boring" over multiple playthroughs, leading to further additions. "From iteration to iteration we'd add something, change something, and in the end we are where we are now. There is no other way [to get it right] than iterating and playing all the time. If you're playing this game hundreds of times and still have fun when you fight, that was the goal – to create a combat system you can enjoy and you can repeat."

"The example I like to give here is Max Payne," he adds. "I replayed it five times, because I like the things I can do there, how it looks, and so on. I wanted to create it here, with similar feeling [and] different tools."

(Image credit: Rebel Wolves) Through the lens of combat, I get the impression that Rebel Wolves has spent the last four years untangling itself from the RPG genre's norms and expectations – instead following the fun and seeing where it leads. Its much-lauded time system is "like Persona," says Tomaszkiewicz, but argues The Blood of Dawnwalker's shifting day and night dynamic is unlike anything we've seen before. "There are no games we could have compared this to. We created two different loops, and [essentially] needed to create two games in one."

"You can play the same quest at day or night, and it's a little bit different," the director adds. " Different choices, different consequences – it's a lot."