Archangel Studios, the studio behind Bleak Faith: Forsaken, has defended itself from accusations that they stole animation assets from Elden Ring.
This information was published by Archangel Studios via their Discord server (via VGC). If you’re interested in new games, you can check out our other articles here.
Archangel Studios Accused of Stealing Elden Ring Animation
A new controversy arose when a new souls-like game called Bleak Faith: Forsaken was accused of stealing animation assets from Elden Ring.
Dark Souls modding tool developer Meowmaritus uploaded a video on Twitter showing footage from the game alongside footage of Elden Ring.
When compared side-by-side, the player and enemy animations in each video appear identical and suggest that they were taken from Elden Ring and used in Bleak Faith: Forsaken.
Saw this footage floating around. Bleak Faith: Forsaken 100% uses animations ripped directly 1:1 from Elden Ring.
I do NOT condone people using my DS Anim Studio software to help export animations for inclusion in commercial products or selling them on the Epic Games Store.
Meowmaritus
Archangel Studios response
While many players immediately accused Archangel Studios of plagiarism, one of the game’s artists is now claiming that they have no idea where the assets came from.
From a statement on the Discord server Bleak Faith: Forsaken, a developer named “überfaith42” claims that the animation was purchased as part of an asset pack available for sale on the Epic Games Store.
We’ve always been transparent in using Epic Marketplace for good animations that fit our theme. The rest I made myself – we just needed more variety and I’m not an animator, I had to learn for this game.
The only other things from Epic Marketplace that I use are for generic VFX that are a waste of time to make because I’ll make things that look pretty much the same and very generic things (like some rocks) that don’t require artistic direction.
The whole world is built by hand. So about 10% of the artwork is outsourced, whereas AAA companies outsource about 70% of their artwork (because they have the budget, we don’t have that option so whatever ideas we have have have to be made in-house).
überfaith42
The artist then linked to an Epic Games Store asset pack that they claimed was the source of the animation, but the link now leads to a “not found” page.
The next day, überfaith42 returned to Discord to add that they were working on an alternative animation, “even if everything is fine and nothing is problematic and this seller is a legitimate person”.
I would like to emphasize that this decision comes purely from an artistic point of view, as an artist, I am proud of all the manual work and unique things I have made over the years.
I wanted this game to stand out and carry its flare in a variety of ways. I didn’t realize there were animations similar to others, I just thought that we were doing business with a legitimate entity and that their work matched our vision of combat.
If it turns out that this seller is not legitimate, we will all be victims of malicious behavior.
überfaith42
