Overwatch receives suspiciously similar Chinese mobile knockoff

Excited to play Overwatch on a mobile phone? Well, you absolutely can’t do that. What you can do is check out this bootleg game, featured by YouTuber ohnickel. Immediately, the game looks exactly like the smash hit Overwatch, and that’s clearly by design. Players pick a champion from one of four categories, charge their ultimate, and contest the point or escort a payload.

It isn’t gameplay alone that makes this game such a blatant knockoff. After all, Battleborn and Team Fortress 2 both have similar gameplay styles. What’s really blatant here are the characters.

Meet Mechanical Angel: Sofia.

ohnickel

Sofia is just one of many characters that are clearly inspired by Overwatch, including a female McCree, a Sephiroth with Genji’s kit and a squat panda with a big gun. While there are some differences in the characters’ in-game kits (Mercy’s primary fire is an assault rifle instead of a healing beam), it’s still pretty clear where the developers drew inspiration from. Sofia may have a gun, but she still has access to a golden, single-target healing beam and a mass resurrection.

As the Overwatch train continues to pick up steam, it seems likely that we’ll continue to see a black market of games like the above emerge. For those who have always wanted to play McCree as a sexy lady without pants while on the go, this may prove to be a godsend.