Tower of Fantasy is a hot new free-to-play game that many people are comparing to Genshin Impact. Given that the developers posed it was “Genshin Killer,” the comparison isn’t exactly unfair. However, is it actually a Genshin clone or ripoff? We’ll take a look below.
Is Tower of Fantasy a Genshin Impact clone?
As a Chinese-produced, anime-styled, gatcha MMO, yes, Tower of Fantasy shares more than a couple of similarities with Genshim Impact. The most obvious of these is the similar beginnings to their story. You start as a “Wanderer” with amnesia that awakens in an unfamiliar land and have a sibling that you’re separated from before the game begins.
However, the setting is more akin to Honkai Impact, Genshin’s sister series. Though it’s called Tower of Fantasy, it’s set in a sci-fi universe with aesthetics that call to mind titles like Evangelion and Akira.
Tower of Fantasy also differs in giving you the ability to customize your character. In this aspect, it’s a veritable waifu simulator, and many players who thought Genshin lacked customization options will be delighted when they discover the character creation screen. However, the Simulacra system allows you to call on the power of ancient heroes preserved as AI, which you wear as a skin. So, even though you play as your own character, you’ll very much still be chasing that gatcha high.
So, is Tower of Fantasy a Genshin Impact ripoff? It’s certainly similar. It also has an open-world and vertical exploration, but MiHoYo was far from the first to pioneer those gameplay mechanics. So, I’d say it’s definitely “inspired by” Genshin, and directly targets fans of that game. However, there are enough different ideas here to set the two games apart.
In its early days, Tower of Fantasy seems to be focusing on providing the multiplayer experience Genshin Impact doesn’t. So, perhaps there’s enough room for both of them to exist in the same space.
