In the free to play MMORPG market – it’s really not uncommon for games to…. ‘copy’ each other. It’s actually a rare occasion when a developer goes out on a limb and actually creates something unique – as it’s more profitable these days to just copy popular established games than trying to make something entirely different. One growing trend for free to play game developers lately is to shamelessly copy Blizzard’s World of Warcraft. I say ’shamelessly’ because these games copy nearly every aspect of WoW – from graphics to gameplay. I’m actually really surprised Blizzard isn’t trying to shut these knock offs down – as they’re total WoW clones. Anyway – without further adu here is the WoW clone List!
#1 Runes of Magic – Runes of Magic is free to play shameless WoW clone MMORPG. Probably the most shameless of all of them – as it’s one of the first games to COMPLETELY copy World of Warcraft. Words cannot describe how similar Runes of Magic is to World of Warcraft. The developers must have been running WoW on one computer at all times while developing the game. I guess this isn’t exactly a ‘bad thing’ though as WoW is a good game – so copying a good game and making it free to play is a good thing in my book.
#2 Gates of Andaron – Gates of Andaron, also called 4Story in some parts, is yet another game which was surely inspired by World of Warcraft. Gates of Andaron was developed by a company called Game Forge – who also made Metin 2, Air Rivals, NosTale, Gladiatus and Bite Fight. The game’s graphics and interface are nearly identical to Blizzard’s game and the combat feels unusually similar as well. Though Gates of Andaron isn’t nearly as polished as World of Warcraft the game is still a great alternative – especially since it’s free to play. Personally, I like Runes of Magic a bit more than Gates of Andaron, but both are great games.
#3 Talisman Online - Talisman Online is a relatively old 3D Fantasy MMORPG that was certainly inspired by WoW to a degree. The game isn’t nearly as shameless as Runes of Magic and Gates of Andaron – but anyone who’s played Talisman Online and World of Warcraft should be able to quickly notice the unusual similarity between the games. I do remember the spell icon for frost bolt in Talisman Online was IDENTICAL, not similar… IDENTICAL, to the frost bolt icon in World of Warcraft – and I doubt it was a coincidence.
Hopefully in the near future more game developers focus on creating…. unique games rather than regurgitating more and more clever WoW clones. It would certainly be a welcomed change in the gaming community.
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