10 SHAMELESS God of War Knock Off Games

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00:00Welcome to Mojo Plays, and today we are looking at games that copied God of War a bit too

00:10closely, whether they were good or bad.

00:24But before we get into it, we publish new content all week long, so be sure to subscribe

00:30and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.

00:33Dante's Inferno

00:44When we say God of War clone, this is the game that probably comes to mind for many.

00:49It's loosely based on the first section of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, and sees

00:54you as Dante braving the nine circles of hell.

00:58Releasing the same year as God of War 3, it was impossible not to notice the similarities.

01:03Dante uses an extendable scythe that's basically a singular blade of chaos, and uses quicktime

01:10events on larger enemies.

01:11He can even take control of large beasts and crush other foes, similar to Kratos.

01:17Critics and players were quick to point out the resemblance on release, however it still

01:21had rich source material to pull from, and despite being a clone, it was still fun to

01:26play.

01:33Ghost Rider

01:40To be fair, it would have been hard to make a 3D action game starring Ghost Rider and

01:45not get God of War comparisons.

01:48Both have vengeful protagonists with flaming, chain-based weapons.

01:52But it seems outside of the motorcycle sections, the developers didn't try too hard to set

01:57themselves apart.

01:58In fact, they leaned into it hard.

02:02One must only look at a single combat scenario for proof.

02:06Combos are incredibly reminiscent of Kratos, you gain orbs from fallen enemies, and the

02:12camera stays pulled back except for finishers when it zooms in on the action.

02:17Still, it's better than some other tie-ins that also tried to copy Sony's homework,

02:22but we'll get to that.

02:28Hero of Sparta

02:35There are a lot of mobile releases that attempt to give players a more affordable alternative

02:41to games on expensive consoles.

02:43God of War has Hero of Sparta.

02:46Released in 2008, this isometric action game follows a Spartan king battling mythical creatures

02:52in ancient Greece.

02:54While a mobile game obviously couldn't copy the combat finesse or deep story of God of

02:59War, it did attempt to copy pretty much everything else.

03:03Apart from the premise, gameplay, and title, you also gain orbs that are color-coded the

03:08exact same way they are in God of War.

03:12Releases weren't too kind on release, but that didn't stop Hero of Sparta from finding

03:17success.

03:18People liked it enough for it to get a sequel in 2010.

03:25Heavenly Sword

03:32Released the same year as God of War 2, Heavenly Sword found itself in a similar situation

03:37to Dante's Inferno a few years later.

03:40That was where the similarities were most obvious.

03:43The player character's main weapon can change into different forms, including two small

03:48blades chained together.

03:50Noriko could even perform similar finishing moves.

03:53Still, its blood-drenched style, massive environmental puzzles, and reliance on quick time events

03:59seem to have also been inspired by God of War.

04:02At least Ninja Theory's game had a unique story and lore, as well as a secondary playable

04:07character with different gameplay.

04:09But as far as everything else goes, it was very much a God of War clone.

04:17X-Blades

04:24If you don't remember this game, don't feel too bad, it isn't really worth remembering.

04:30X-Blades follows a Yumi, a woman wielding two gun blades in search of two artifacts

04:35that can grant absolute power.

04:37On top of the fairly generic plot, the protagonist was about as scantily clad as Kratos in the

04:43early days, though not nearly as interesting.

04:46It almost solely focused on arena-style combat to clear areas, and a Yumi's weapons, despite

04:53having two functions, covered around the same range as Kratos' blades.

04:57But whereas he could gain a variety of weapons, her combat grew incredibly tedious.

05:03It got some unfavorable comparisons to God of War and even Heavenly Sword, but was seen

05:08by most as pretty dull.

05:17Clash of the Titans

05:22It's one thing for a company to greenlight an uninspired movie tie-in, it's something

05:27completely different for that tie-in to rip off another game.

05:30As Clash of the Titans was also steeped in Greek mythology, the developers knew exactly

05:35what to do.

05:37And you probably know exactly what we're going to say.

05:40Hack and slash gameplay, a ton of quick time events, and orbs that fly out of dead enemies.

05:46It wouldn't have been so bad if the developers had included anything unique like those of

05:50Heavenly Sword and Dante's Inferno.

05:53But with shallow gameplay that only amounts to button mashing and a bland color palette

05:58of various browns and grays, it's pretty clear they didn't.

06:02Oh well, it's not like the movie it's based on was any good anyways.

06:12Thor God of Thunder

06:19The last movie tie-in on our list, Thor God of Thunder at least had a different mythological

06:24world for players to explore.

06:26However, when it came to actually playing in that world, it seems the developers just

06:30looked to the biggest action franchise at the time.

06:33The game's UI, gameplay, camera, and combat scenarios are all essentially God of War,

06:40though at least Mjolnir has a little more range than the Blades of Chaos.

06:44It isn't as blatant a copy as some others, like Ghost Rider, but it also isn't nearly

06:49as much fun.

06:50It's the very definition of surface level, not even attempting to match the quality of

06:55the series it's copying.

06:56Weirdly, there's a DS version from a different developer that plays completely differently

07:01and was much more warmly received.

07:10Garshask the Monster Slayer

07:17Long before any God of War game made it to PC, Garshask the Monster Slayer gave players

07:23the God of War experience.

07:25Or at least, as much of the experience as a much shorter indie game could.

07:30It followed the titular hero, a figure from Persian mythology, fighting hordes of monsters

07:35to save the human race.

07:36The different mythology could have been interesting, but a lack of its own style certainly hurt

07:42it.

07:43The fixed camera angles, arena-style combat, and epic music were all there, though none

07:47of the aspects held the same high quality of Sony's franchise.

07:52Of course, you also had orbs to collect, though blue ones healed you instead of green

07:58ones.

07:59Reactions were appropriately mediocre, but the game did well enough to warrant a sequel

08:03the following year.

08:10Castlevania Lords of Shadow

08:19Back when Konami even cared enough to try rebooting Castlevania, it came up with Lords

08:24of Shadow.

08:25Series sales were on a decline, and so the studio turned to the popular hack-and-slash

08:30genre, not too big of a stretch from the action platformers that made up the majority of the

08:35series.

08:36Since God of War is one of the most popular within the genre, more than a few elements

08:40made it into Lords of Shadow.

08:42Gabriel Belmont's whip operates very similarly in combat to Kratos' blades.

08:47It also features a ton of other elements that we've already seen in other copycats,

08:51like gaining orbs from slain enemies.

08:54However, there were enough other unique features to set it apart and lead to a couple of sequels.

09:05Conan

09:12The Barbarian has starred in multiple games, but for his 2007 adventure, THQ and Nihilistic

09:19Software played a bit too close to God of War territory for comfort.

09:23The camera system, combat, a severe uptick in gore from previous games, and orbs, I'm

09:30sorry, runes, floated towards you out of dead enemies and smashed pots.

09:35It's no surprise this game turned out to be a knockoff.

09:39THQ set out to make an action game similar to God of War when it picked up the license.

09:44It even hired Mike Reagan to compose the score, who had previously worked on the God of War

09:49series.

09:50It seems most saw Conan for what it was, as it sold quite poorly.

10:00Have you played any of these God of War clones?

10:03Which do you think stands on their own?

10:11Share your thoughts in the comments, and be sure to subscribe to Mojo Plays for more great

10:15gaming videos every day.

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