Update: Hands-on impressions of "Bleak Faith": hands-on impressions from Forsaken (opens in new tab), along with numerous bug videos, which writer Lincoln Carpenter describes as "a cautionary tale written in junk."

Makers of the indie soul-like Bleak Faith: Forsaken have removed assets allegedly appropriated from FromSoftware's game (opens in new tab) According to Archangel Games, Epic Games is now, removing third-party listings from the Unreal Engine marketplace, but has not yet told the studio if they were actually stolen.

The similarities have been noted since shortly after Bleak Faith launched on March 10: Forsaken. For example, below is a comparison of the claymore in Bleak Faith and the straight sword in Elden Ring. The positioning and timing are almost exactly the same.

Archangel Studios denied the accusation of plagiarism, stating that the assets in question were purchased fairly and squarely from the Unreal Engine Marketplace. Later, one of the developers added that the team had filed a ticket with Epic's customer service regarding the issue.

"As a testament to the good faith in the Epic Marketplace and generally very satisfied customers, we decided to get ahead of it," developer ubermensch42 said on Archangel's Discord." We will let you know what they have to say about it and will respond accordingly."

Today Archangel announced that it had received a reply from Epic, which was not very informative.

"Pursuant to the Marketplace Distribution Agreement, each Marketplace Seller represents and warrants to Epic that it has the proper rights to upload the Content. However, as with any other store that hosts third-party content, Epic is not in a position to independently verify such rights, and Epic makes no such warranties to purchasers of content.

This means that Epic does not know or cannot say whether content sold through the Unreal Engine Marketplace is legal: whether it has the right to legally sell the content it offers depends on whether the seller is honest about it. It depends on whether or not the seller is honest about it. At the same time, the fact that the asset was removed from the Marketplace (open in new tab) is the reason why Archangel ultimately removed the asset from Bleak Faith: Forsaken

"Epic's response was not satisfactory to us. We have made the decision to replace assets purchased from the store over the next few days. Some changes were included in the recent patch and more will be coming in the next few days. Certainly, the fact that these assets on the storefront do not appear to be purchased in good faith is a great lesson for us and hopefully for other indie creators."

In a statement sent to PC Gamer, Archangel said it removed the questionable assets "out of respect for the original animation artists and players." The work to replace the assets is "ongoing" and will include frequent patches to address glitches, balance issues, and player feedback.

This is an unfortunate situation, but it appears to be consistent with Epic's Marketplace Sales Agreement (opens in new tab). It seems like a pretty standard disclaimer to me, but it is a bit odd that Epic would remove a marketplace seller's content without explanation. Given that the content was removed so abruptly, it seems likely that.

"The team sincerely thanks everyone who brought this issue to light," Archangel said. 'We don't condone the use of stolen assets and hope that other indie creators don't get caught in a similar situation. The Asset Marketplace is an important resource for development teams, especially those with minimal budgets. We hope that proper vetting and review protocols will soon be put in place to provide creators of all shapes and sizes with verified assets that they can use in future projects.

Epic declined to comment further on our inquiry.