New official Godzilla game accused of “borrowing” too much from Into the Breach

Toho Games announced the upcoming title Godzilla Voxel Wars on September 1. Developed by Nukenin, the game is scheduled for release in November 2023 for the PC (Steam). As details and visuals of the game were released, users started raising doubts that the upcoming title might bear a bit too much in common with the popular strategy game Into the Breach. 

Godzilla Voxel Wars is a turn-based strategy game, in which players can play as the famous Toho franchise monsters such as Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah as they fight to ward off a “Fungoid mushroom invasion” on an 8×8 grid field. Battles in Godzilla Voxel Wars are fought in a turn-based system, and the fewer turns it takes to clear a stage, the higher a score one can earn. The game will contain numerous stages across 6 different worlds, and each stage will bring new enemies and allies, creating the need for new strategies. The game will encourage replaying stages in order to try different approaches and discover optimal tactics. The game’s world will have two layers, the surface, and the more challenging underground, and will also include the feature of creating custom stages and sharing them with other players. 

The developer of this title is Nukenin, behind which lies Ken Watanabe, who had previously worked on titles such as Pikmin 3 and Splatoon as a graphic programmer while working for Nintendo. He is currently active as a freelancer, developing mobile games predominantly. The music for Godzilla Voxel wars is being led by Shiiba Daisuke, who had been involved in Nintendo’s Rhythm Tengoku and Jam with the Band. 

The announcement of the new official Godzilla game has been met with mixed reactions, as many users point out similarities with the strategy game Into the Breach, which seem to be too close to be coincidence. Into the Breach likewise features turn-based strategic combat that takes place on a grid field. Some consider that the gameplay system and visuals of Godzilla Voxel Wars overlap with Into the Breach to a point which can no longer be called inspiration, and question why an official game of such a large franchise would include such overt copying of another title. 

As the game is still unreleased and judgments are being made based on information currently available on the title’s Steam page, it remains to be seen how players will feel about the topic upon experiencing the game directly. 

Godzilla Voxel Wars will be available for PC (Steam), and is scheduled for release in November 2023. 

Written by. Amber V based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2023-09-01 13:29 JST)