Nodusfall: When HoYoverse Leaves Its Comfort Zone and the Price of Being Compared to Elden Ring

I look at xG, then at the scoreline, and learn to trust neither. But in the gaming industry, I've learned a similar lesson: look at a trailer, then at the wave of community outrage, and trust neither.

When HoYoverse released the first trailer for Nodusfall, I was in Busan, watching reactions across Korean gaming forums. Within 24 hours, hundreds of posts comparing every frame of Nodusfall to Elden Ring appeared. A winged character reminded players of Malenia. A white-haired woman was placed next to Melina. The term 'rip-off' appeared densely across comments.

I've witnessed this many times in my esports analysis career. When a rising team is compared to a champion, when a new game is placed next to a legend. Communities always rush to judge based on surface appearances, forgetting that the real match hasn't started yet.

An empty stadium doesn't diminish football; it only reveals variables we once overlooked. Similarly, a trailer doesn't reveal the entire game; it only exposes the viewer's preconceptions.

Context: HoYoverse's Big Gamble

HoYoverse, the company behind Genshin Impact and the Honkai series, has never been known for dark fantasy. They built their empire on anime aesthetics, gacha mechanics, and colorful open worlds. The announcement of Nodusfall — an action RPG with realistic graphics, grim settings, and cooperative boss-hunting mechanics — came as a major shock to the community.

Based on my experience following matches and analyzing tactics, I recognize this is not just a new game. This is HoYoverse's strategic declaration that they want to expand into the premium console/PC market in the West — where FromSoftware's Elden Ring has demonstrated massive demand with over 20 million copies sold since February 2026.

Elden Ring is not just a successful game. It has reset the standard for the entire open-world action RPG genre. Every dark fantasy game released afterward has been placed on the comparison scale against Hidetaka Miyazaki's masterpiece. This is the context that makes Nodusfall so heavily scrutinized.

Core Analysis: The Difference Lies in Mechanics, Not Visuals

What catches my attention most in this entire debate is how the community focuses entirely on static trailer images while ignoring the most important information HoYoverse has revealed: Nodusfall is a cooperative boss-hunting game with up to four players.

This is a fundamental difference from Elden Ring. While Elden Ring is primarily a single-player experience with limited co-op elements, Nodusfall is designed around cooperative play. In terms of actual gameplay, Nodusfall may be closer to Monster Hunter than to Elden Ring.

I recall the match between Germany and South Korea at the 2026 World Cup. Germany held 74% possession but generated only 0.8 xG, while South Korea had 1.6 xG from counterattacks. Possession doesn't reflect truth. Similarly, a Nodusfall character having wings and reminding viewers of Malenia doesn't mean the game copies Elden Ring.

When analyzing data, I always ask: how many actual chances were created, rather than who controlled the ball more. With Nodusfall, the right question must be: does the cooperative boss-hunting mechanic create a different experience from Elden Ring? The current answer is that we don't have enough data to answer, because no gameplay footage has been released yet.

Contrarian Angle: 'Copying' May Be Strategy, Not Mistake

Morocco doesn't need to hold the ball much; they need to hold it in the right places. Similarly, HoYoverse doesn't need to create a game completely different from Elden Ring visually — they need to create a different experience mechanically.

What the community is overlooking is that in gaming industry history, learning from successful games is normal. Dark Souls wasn't the first game with punishing difficulty. Elden Ring wasn't the first game with an open world. But FromSoftware combined these elements in their own way, creating a unique experience.

The issue isn't whether Nodusfall is influenced by Elden Ring — it certainly is, like every upcoming dark fantasy game. The issue is whether HoYoverse can transform those influences into an experience with its own identity.

I've witnessed many teams underestimated for 'copying' the playstyle of stronger teams. But when they had time to develop and find their own style, they surpassed their own teachers. Data from major tournaments shows this happens more often than people think.

Takeaway: Lessons from Judging Too Early

Three years, two World Cups, one question: is data born to understand football or to conceal it? With Nodusfall, the similar question is: is a trailer born to introduce a game or to conceal the truth about it?

The answer lies in what hasn't been revealed. HoYoverse still has plenty of time before release to prove Nodusfall is not a copy of Elden Ring. The four-player cooperative boss-hunting mechanic is a genuine differentiator, not a marketing gimmick. But if they can't demonstrate this through actual gameplay, the current wave of criticism will only be the beginning.

I entered this industry for the numbers, but stayed for the stories that numbers don't tell. Nodusfall's story is still being written, and we — the observers — need to learn patience before delivering final judgment.