Tencent has announced plans to release its controversial open-world survival crafting game Light of Motiram on PS5 as well as mobile and PC.
As reported by Gematsu, Tencent announced the PS5 version on PlayStation‘s Chinese social network accounts on Weibo and Bilibili.
Light of Motiram, from Shanghai-based Tencent subsidiary Polaris Quest, is a free-to-play survival game “where nature meets machine.” Screenshots and gameplay videos reveal a visual style remarkably similar to Guerrilla Games’ Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West, complete with robot beasts in a post-apocalyptic setting. IGN has asked Tencent and Sony for comment.
Today, Tencent revealed a new seven-minute video showing more of Light of Motiram’s gameplay. After an intro that rekindles memories of Destiny’s famous Ghost ‘wake up, Guardian’ opening, we see gameplay that looks heavily inspired by the likes of Capcom’s Monster Hunter and Pocketpair’s Palworld, which itself was accused of “ripping off” Pokémon.
Light of Motiram lets players befriend and raise various ‘mechanimals’ alone or with friends. You need to set up a base camp and ride tamed mechanimals as mounts, getting them to help with logging, farming, and crafting. Mechanimals can serve as ground, air, and water mounts, help in combat, and assist with resource gathering.
Tencent said Light of Motiram has hundreds of realistic survival gameplay mechanics. “Trees need to be carefully cut down else they deliver a swift death, a shelter has to be ventilated before lighting a fire so as not to choke, and lightning may strike (more than a few times) if you’re caught wearing metal in a storm,” the company said. “These realistic details can be used to players’ advantage, as for example lightning damage can electrocute fishes and make the process of fishing much easier and faster.”
While this sort of multiplayer survival gameplay is not featured in the Horizon games, the look and feel of Light of Motiram’s characters, monsters, and world are undeniably similar. Guerrilla is of course working on a multiplayer, live service Horizon game - Light of Motiram may be treading on its toes somewhat, although we’ll have to wait for a reveal to find out.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
