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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.