Video Game Clones That Will Cause An Uproar In 2025

It might be early, but 2025 is already shaping up to be an incredible year for gaming. Fans are already feeling the hype for (hopefully) "GTA 6" and other AAA titles like "Ghost of Yotei." Aside from the tentpole titles, however, it looks like 2025 is also going to be full of attention-grabbing copycats. 

To be fair, there's no such thing as a completely original idea, and video game developers have always made progress by taking inspiration from peers. That said, some of these creations really blur the line between touching homage and straight-up rip-off. Video game clones have caused uproars in the past, and we're pretty sure they're going to do it over and over again in 2025. Clones will find varying levels of success, but no matter how popular they get, some gamers and developers will always see them as a potential problem. Now's as good a time as any to call some shots for 2025, so here are the clones we think are going to cause a commotion — even if millions show up to play them anyway.

"Palworld" already caused an uproar when it debuted in early 2024, but it looks like the game is going to do it again in 2025. Developer Pocketpair seemingly came out of nowhere and took the gaming world by storm. "Palworld" peaked with 2.1 million concurrent players on Steam, and almost everyone agreed that the game was a perfect combination of "Pokémon" and multiplayer survival games. While most of the internet was fawning over "Palworld," though, The Pokémon Company was setting its sights on Pocketpair. To be fair, the game is largely about capturing Pokémon-like creatures in magic balls and then arming them with guns. Because of that, people weren't entirely shocked when Nintendo finally got around to suing "Palworld." Nintendo's lawsuit accuses Pocketpair of patent infringement, with the company claiming the developer copied some of the mechanics from "Pokémon Legends: Arceus."

At the time of this writing, the lawsuit is far from being resolved, and the way these things tend to go, we expect the "Palworld" lawsuit to stretch well into 2025. We can probably expect a few more twists and turns in the case that will keep the internet on edge. Everyone is going to have eyes on "Palworld" now, and Pocketpair could capitalize on that attention by releasing more major updates. PvP is already on the way, so maybe a battle royale mode will be Pocketpair's next outrageous move. In the meantime, the dev has made moves to distance itself further from Pokémon, removing some of the Pal Sphere mechanics that seem to have raised the ire of Nintendo.

"Palworld" proved that sometimes games can find success by leaning into their cloned aspects. Developer Polaris Quest seems poised to push that envelope even more in 2025 with "Light of Motiram." The game is planned as an open world survival experience set in a time where civilization has collapsed and giant robotic creatures now roam the wilderness. There are some definite "Monster Hunter" vibes coming from the game, but all it takes is seeing one screenshot to figure out exactly where Polaris Quest seems to be taking inspiration.

"Horizon Zero Dawn" and its sequel featured hugely distinctive designs for characters, creatures, and the world they inhabit. Images of towering mechanical animals in the lush grassy expanses created a truly unique atmosphere for the series. "Light of Motiram" appears to be piggybacking on the love people have for the "Horizon" franchise, and it'll be interesting to see what kind of response Guerilla Games or its fans will have when Polaris Quest releases its new game.

It has been argued that "Motiram" has more going for it beyond the familiar visuals, and it could end up being a "Palworld"-sized hit. However, the early trailers for the game have been beset by a huge volume of complaints from "Horizon" fans, many of whom remain unconvinced, with @VideoArtGame on X calling it "Horizon Zero Originality." Even if the "Horizon" developer doesn't take any action against Polaris Quest, "Light of Motiram" could still be in trouble. The "Horizon" franchise has had some terrible luck when it comes to finding the right release window: The first game had to compete against "Breath of the Wild" and the second had to face "Elden Ring." "Light of Motiram" may end up cloning that curse by going up against 2025's heavy-hitting franchises.

Ironically, 2025 could see the release of a game that looks like a clone of "Palworld." Tencent is working with developer Tianjin Wumai Technology Co. to create "Auroria," a multiplayer game all about exploring distant worlds, constructing elaborate bases, and taming alien wildlife. We've only gotten a few official peeks at the game, but it looks like a classic survival experience blended with the aesthetics of "No Man's Sky" and the creature interactions of "Palworld."

That's right; "Auroria" is going to let you build some fancy alien labor camps. The videos of base operations in "Auroria" look very similar to those in "Palworld," and some promotional material for the game even refers to its alien creatures as pals. In a social media post, Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe actually called out "Auroria" for seemingly copying his game, saying, "Tencent is already making a 'Palworld' clone game! ... Amazing times." He also remarked on the idea that Tencent would be able to use 10 times the amount of money that the small team at Pocketpair had while developing "Palworld."

テンセントが早速パルワールドのクローンゲーム作ってる！
中国では各社が一斉にパルワールドのモバイル向けクローンを開発していて、しかも予算規模はパルワールドの10倍の100億円級・・・

来年は原神クオリティのモンスター（または美少女）育成ゲームが大量にリリースされそう・・・

すごい時代 pic.twitter.com/RKqLz2RGOH

— Takuro Mizobe | Palworld (@urokuta_ja) April 16, 2024

 At the time of this writing, "Auroria" doesn't have an official release date, but its Steam listing has been updated throughout 2024. We'd expect to see it debut in some form in the near future, at which point the clone discourse will no doubt erupt once again.