10 Copycat Games Better Than Their Inspiration

Imitation is the best form of flattery, and gaming has had many instances where this is the case.

Sometimes, the knockoffs are pretty bad, but every so often, the copycat game uses a blueprint to become something even greater than its inspiration.

This can be everything from the aesthetic to the combat to just the vibe that the game gives off.

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We’ve all played them, games that make you say “Oh, I get what they’re doing here,” and while sometimes that can backfire, others can create something greater than the sum of its parts and actually outdo its inspiration.

We’re going to check out a bunch of games that managed to outdo the games they were copying in the first place.

10 Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon

A Scrolls Like That Says “Bethesda, Hold My Beer”

Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is clearly trying to emulate the Elder Scrolls series, from its beginning in a prison cell to many facets of the world design.

However, it has questing and RPG mechanics far beyond anything in an Elder Scrolls game, since, dare I say Morrowind?

It’s got incredible side quests, a great, deep, and branching main storyline and tons of things to discover in the world organically without the help of a map icon.

It also has far better combat than any of the Elder Scrolls games and the writing in particular really shines, giving off shades of Baldur’s Gate 3 with an Arthurian twist.

Get these devs the budget of an Elder Scrolls game and magic will happen, I guarantee it.

9 Lies of P

The Best Souls Game

Lies of P may just be my favorite souls-like and that says a lot considering the quality of games available in the genre.

Taking its inspiration directly from Bloodborne, it starts off feeling little more than a high-quality knockoff, but if you stick with it, its world opens up, its story gets going and, soon, you’re absorbed in something of all its own that, in my opinion, outdoes the Fromsoftware formula.

The combat is endlessly customizable, with tons of abilities and unique weapons to play around with, and the story is easily one of my favorite in gaming over the past decade.

The way Neowiz twisted the Pinocchio story to fit this world is nothing short of genius, and the possibilities it opens up for future installments in the series mean this should be a name in the gaming world for a long time to come.

It also has incredible bosses, fantastic enemy variety, optional side quests, and even a new game-plus mode, so anything you could possibly want from a souls-like is here and, honestly, it’s better.

8 Pillars of Eternity

Bringing the CRPG Back

Pillars of Eternity basically looked at Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2, and said, “That, let’s do that”. In the process, though, Obsidian created an incredible new fantasy world that feels completely its own.

The gameplay felt like an evolution of Baldur’s Gate 2 when it came out in 2015 and was such a breath of fresh air compared to all of the open-world RPGs that were flooding the landscape at the time.

The party system, the mountains of text, the optional paths, the top-down perspective, the deep, philosophical questions, everything from Baldur’s Gate 2 was present in Pillars of Eternity with modern qualities.

It was a tribute in many ways and an evolution in others, and the sequel capitalized even more on this formula, becoming a certified hit.

7 Fortnite

A Stolen Idea, A Cultural Moment Born

Fortnite is arguably the most recognizable name in gaming to the point that it’s been referenced by shows, movies, and anything in the media space.

The idea for the game was not original, though, as Epic Games rather shamelessly copied Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds.

Everything from the island, to the parachuting in is stolen from the original Battle Royale game, but regardless, Fortnite is the objective winner here.

Fortnite has become a phenomenon of unstoppable proportions and has become everything from a social space to an evolving source of media that movies and TV shows and musicians use to widen their reach.

Fortnite added its own unique sauce to the genre, with the ability to build structures mid-game, and that, plus a friendly graphic style, was all it needed to take over the world.

It’s not a game for me, but there is no denying it outdid its inspiration.

6 Bioshock

From the Dead of Space To the Bottom of the Ocean

Bioshock is one of the best games ever made, but some don’t know that it was more or less directly ripped from System Shock.

See, Ken Levine worked on System Shock 2 before starting his own company.

The ideas of System Shock 2 resonated with him so much that he basically remade the game underwater, and that game became Bioshock.

The powers were similar, the ideas of control and obedience were similar, and the idea of a place that was supposed to be a place of good becoming a nightmare was used as well.

It was such a success that it gave the System Shock series new popularity as people suddenly wanted to know more about where this series was born.

But Bioshock outdid its predecessor by quite the margin.

5 Sleeping Dogs

Grand Theft Action

Sleeping Dogs is a stand-alone title and somewhat of a successor to the True Crime series, but it’s clear the big inspiration here is the GTA series.

Sleeping Dogs does something much different than GTA, though it offers a focused and urgent story that you have a serious need to pay attention to.

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The gameplay is the best part of Sleeping Dogs though, as it has an amazing melee combat system that’s pulled from the Arkham games and some incredibly memorable set pieces, like one at a wedding and another on an island that’s pretty much just Enter The Dragon.

If you like open-world crime games and want to try a more brutal flavor, check out Sleeping Dogs, which outdoes GTA in many areas in my book.

4 Splinter Cell

Move Over, Solid Snake

This might be controversial, but I think Splinter Cell outdid its clear inspiration in Metal Gear Solid in almost every way.

The stealth was taken so seriously, so stuff like hiding in cardboard boxes, using porn to distract soldiers and other of the unique calling cards of the Metal Gear series were nowhere to be found.

The missions felt so realistic and getting caught was pretty much game over, as you were no super soldier, but a grizzled espionage agent of Third Echelon.

The gameplay in Splinter Cell completely revolutionized the stealth genre and added a serious, military-based feel to everything as opposed to the rater-over-the-top soap opera of Metal Gear Solid.

The gadgets were also a great touch and were based on real equipment, making the actual action feel all the more intense.

Also, to this day, I don’t think a game has better lighting than Splinter Cell. I don’t know what the hell they did, but it still looks better than many modern games when the action takes place in the shadows. It’s brilliant.

3 Unicorn Overlord

Inspired By The Past

Unicorn Overlord is heavily inspired by the Ogre Battle games, but it outdoes them in so many ways.

Of course, nearly 30 years of gaming technology advances helps that, but we can’t hold that against the game.

The art style here is absolutely gorgeous, and it helps bring the various characters you’ll come across in the game to life.

The combat system is ripped right from Ogre Battle, but here, it is so in-depth and customizable that you can have a completely different approach than another player might.

It’s a revival of a long-gone genre, and it’s thanks to Unicorn Overlord shamelessly taking from the past to set up an amazing possibility for this genre in the future.

2 Bayonetta

The Action Standard

It makes sense that the director of Devil May Cry would try to make another action game when starting with a new company, but I don’t think people thought it would be as good, let alone surpass the iconic series.

We were wrong, because Bayonetta took the style, attitude and combat of Devil May Cry and kicked it into overdrive, with incredible combat and some truly jaw-dropping bosses to fight, all supported by your usual snarky attitude and half-serious nature that defined his previous series.

Bayonetta has become as iconic as Dante, perhaps even moreso, despite wielding much of the same types of weapons including a pair of guns.

But Bayonetta just opened up the combat in so many ways, from a bullet time feature called Witch Time to breakdancing while shooting from her high heels, it was so crazy in the best possible way.

It instantly became the new action standard and honestly, I don’t think any game in the genre has come close to matching what Bayonetta brings to the table.

1 Call of Duty

No Honor Here

Call of Duty was not the monstrosity in the gaming world it is today when I was growing up. You know what game was, though? Medal of Honor.

It was the definitive mainstream military war game, and its depictions of events like D-Day are still among the best in gaming history.

Then 2003 came along, a little title named Call of Duty dropped, and everything changed.

The serious nature of Medal of Honor took a backseat to a more Hollywood movie approach to showing war and fans bought in and they bought in big.

This is partially due to the multiplayer, which just felt far more put together and lively than the offering given in Medal of Honor.

Call of Duty was also able to evolve its era with its signature moment happening with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

Once that game was released, it was all over. Not just for Medal of Honor, but for any other military shooter.

It’s been almost 20 years since that title was released and there is still nothing close to overtaking it year to year in the military shooter genre. And Medal of Honor is nothing more than a pleasant, though distant memory.

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