Chrono Odyssey players find out-of-bounds area identical to New World siege castle

Chrono Odyssey, the upcoming MMO inspired by Soulslike gameplay, has come under fire after New World content was reportedly found within it. Several players have gone out of bounds to find that several forts that were created for New World are in this upcoming MMO. It’s been a cause for quite a bit of discussion, and as of this writing, the Chrono team hasn’t made a statement about any of it.

Some players dug further and found that more than simply some areas were in the game; others found war camps, territory ownership, and taxes were hidden in that out-of-bounds area. Here’s what we know about this fascinating situation that has unfolded.

Forts from New World reportedly found in out-of-bounds areas in Chrono Odyssey

Quite a few players in the Chrono Odyssey weekend playtest have uncovered bits of New World content within the game world. As someone who played in the early days of New World, it definitely looked exactly like I remembered from those earliest moments of playing the MMO.

Though locked away in out-of-bounds areas, it was still located by players. While some players fiddled with the character creation and others tried to find the most overpowered class, others dove into forbidden territory.

Twitch streamers and regular gamers alike have dove into the playtest, and suddenly were riding around in familiar forts and war camps from New World, instead of playing the new content of Chrono Odyssey.

Now, there are a few things worth discussing here. It isn’t uncommon for MMOs to be accused of stealing content from other games. World of Warcraft was accused of taking ideas from EverQuest, Lord of the Rings Online, and several other titles. However, this is something a bit bigger.

These are direct 1:1 maps from a competing game. If these were never meant to be seen, which is likely, and the Chrono team were using these as inspiration for forts, or other designs in their game, I don’t really see it as such a big deal. However, other game devs and publishers may not look at it the same way.

On the left, we see New World. On the right, we see Chrono Odyssey (Image via Amazon Games & Kakao Games/Reddit@Ninjacat74)

One of the other problems is that New World used its own engine (Azoth Engine), so it's not likely that it has saleable assets to use. It's not like it's an Unreal Engine game where you can just purchase assets easily.

It is incredibly fascinating to see such a blatant copy in another game, though. In the past, we’ve seen some similarities lead to lawsuits, such as between the developers of Lineage 2 and ArcheAge War (interestingly enough, NCSoft and Kakao Games). We’re curious to see how this unfolds, but right now, the playerbase is decidedly mixed.

Some are mocking it, calling it New World 2.0, while others don’t see it as a big deal at all. Whatever the purpose or reason, this being found at such a critical time is a really bad thing for the upcoming MMO. It could lead to some irrevocably bad PR, but we’ll just have to see how this situation shapes up.

Check out our other Chrono Odyssey guides and features

About the author

Jason is an Esports and Gaming journalist at Sportskeeda holding an amazing 11 years of experience under his belt. Having put out 4000-plus articles and amassing over 12 million reads for Sportskeeda, he is among the company’s most experienced writers. Jason holds a Bachelor's degree in English from UNC Pembroke and was inspired to become a gaming journalist very early on in life after reading Nintendo Power.

Jason is a jack of all trades when it comes to gaming journalism. He’s a key writer in Sportskeeda's MMO department, but he also likes to help out in other categories, like streamers, RPG, card games, and whatever else is needed. A solo gamer at heart, Jason's favorite titles include Earthbound and Dragon Warrior.

Jason places high value on accuracy and relevance in his write-ups. He achieves this with thorough research to sift facts from rumors. One of the biggest highlights of his career is his interview with Canadian pro wrestler Kenny Omega about his inclusion in the Like a Dragon game series. He is also good friends with journalist Kazumo Hashimoto, who he admires for the kind of stories he works on and his deep ethics.

A true cinephile, one of Jason’s primary hobbies involves enjoying cinematic experiences. He also loves reading, be it fiction or manga, when not working. Additionally, he streams on Twitch and posts his gaming insights on YouTube.

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Edited by Jason Parker