Horizon Zero Dawn-style open-world survival game previously blasted as "shameless" seemingly gets a thumbs up from Sony as it confirms a PS5 release

A screenshot from Light of Motiram showing characters fighting a huge Mechanimal in a snowy area.
(Image credit: Polaris Quest)

The new Horizon Zero Dawn-esque survival game Light of Motiram seems to have been given a thumbs up from Sony, despite rampant comparisons of it and Guerrilla Games' action RPG series, as it'll also be launching on PS5.

Light of Motiram was revealed last week and promptly gave everyone déjà vu with its concept and visuals. Set in a lush, open world "overrun by colossal machines" called Mechanimals, you'd be forgiven for thinking you were looking at another of Aloy's adventures at first glance. While it'll feel different to play, with it boasting what sounds more like a Palworld-style combination of survival, crafting, and creature collecting elements (you can tame and befriend the Mechanimals), that's not stopped people from calling it "shameless," and even former Blizzard president Mike Ybarra has spoken up about it.

Given how similar Light of Motiram looks to the Horizon games, you might have expected that its existence could have raised a few eyebrows over at Sony, but as it stands, that doesn't seem to be the case. As Gematsu reports, a new trailer for the game confirming its release on PS5 has been shared across Chinese PlayStation social media accounts on Bilibili and Weibo, suggesting that the company doesn't mind that Polaris Quest's upcoming release looks like a close relative of one of its main, iconic franchises. 

It was previously confirmed that Light of Motiram would be coming to PC as a free-to-play release next year, but Gematsu also reports that it's slated for a mobile release across Android and iOS– when translated via Google, the video descriptions of the aforementioned PS5 trailer mention that "mobile test recruitment" will be happening soon. It'll be interesting to see what it's like when it launches – on paper, the mechanics and concept sound like potentially loads of fun, but it remains to be seen if similarities and comparisons to existing games like Horizon will weigh it down. 

You can check out our roundup of the best survival games to play now for some new recommendations in the meantime.

Catherine Lewis
News Writer

I'm one of 12DOVE's news writers, who works alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.

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